SHP Baseball Wins PAL Tourney

If nothing else, the Peninsula Athletic League baseball tournament will test a team’s pitching depth.

Playing for the third time in three days, both the Capuchino and Sacred Heart Prep teams had to go to seldom-used arms for the third-annual PAL championship game at Half Moon Bay Friday afternoon.

Turns out the Gators have the depth. Sean Clark got the starting nod from manager Anthony Granato and, along with a aggressive batting lineup, pitched the Gators to a 6-1 victory.

“Clark’s had only a couple innings (pitched) this year,” Granato said. “But I have confidence in his ability.”

After getting off to a shaky start that saw him give up a run on four hits in the first two innings, Clark settled into a groove and shut down the Mustangs the rest of the way. He needed just 78 pitches to throw a complete game, holding Capuchino to just five hits.

“We were popping things up. We couldn’t square balls up. We rolled over a lot of balls,” said Capuchino manager Matt Wilson. “If you’re going to beat a good team, you can’t do that.”

Wilson knew he team was going to be in for a tough test and the Mustangs could not match the Gators.

“I know Granato really well,” Wilson said. “I know his teams are going to be spot on and disciplined. He’s going to get everything out of his team.”

With Clark locking things down on the mound, the SHP offense went out and banged the ball around the park, finishing with 10 hits.

Leadoff hitter Andrew Daschbach, who was the designated hitter instead of playing his normal shortstop position, jump-started the Gators’ offense. He led off the bottom of the first with a booming double to the right-center field gap, the first of two doubles and three hits altogether for the Stanford-bound Daschbach. He also scored two runs, drove in third and also added an intentional walk that loaded the bases in the second inning.

Schafer Kraemer, the No. 2 hitter, was the only other starter to have two hits and he also had an RBI. Clark helped his own cause by driving in a pair of runs.

Jakob Uriarte led the Capuchino offense with a pair of hits. Armando Vanegas drove in the only run for the Mustangs.

The Gators came into the game ready to hit and wasted little time in jumping on Capuchino starter Damian Hernandez, who worked three innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on six hits.

“We struggled with location,” Wilson said. “I don’t think Damian was wild at all. Half inch off the plate or up and they know when to swing.”

After taking the first pitch for a ball, Daschbach launched Hernandez’s second offering to the wall in right-center field. Kraemer came up with a single and Clark drove in Daschbach with a sacrifice fly to center.

After the Mustangs tied the score in the top of the second, SHP took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning. Mike York blooped a single into shallow right field and Nick O’Donnell reached on a fielder’s choice. Following a groundout for the second out of the inning, the Mustangs took the bat out of Daschbach’s hands by issuing an intentional walk to load the bases.

That must have gotten into Hernandez’s head because he went on to throw eight straight balls, walking Kraemer and Clark to drive in two more runs for a 3-1 SHP lead.

The Gators tacked on three more in the fourth. Jack Molumphy led off the inning with an infield hit and scored when Daschbach followed with his second double of the game to nearly the same spot as his first. Kraemer followed with a bloop single that moved Daschbach to third who would score on a wild pitch.

Kraemer, meanwhile, had moved to second on a groundout and took third on the same wild pitch. He would score on Brendan Semien’s groundout to put the Gators up 6-1.

Granato said his hitting philosophy is to have his players concentrate on swinging at good pitches. He tries to keep a simple and direct approach.

“We’ve been preaching a lot of being aggressive in the zone. Early in the season, we were a little too passive,” Granato said. “At this level, when you start giving them too much (instruction), they start thinking too much.”

Capuchino’s second-inning run came about when Max Stines hit a dying fly ball to left field that the left fielder couldn’t catch with a slide and the ball got by him. Following a groundout, Vanegas skewed a single between first and second base, with Stines chugging home with what was the tying run at the time.

Now that the regular season is finished, the Gators will await their Central Coast Section fate. They’ve already assured themselves an automatic bid as has Capuchino and are just waiting on a seed and a destination.

So the PAL tournament also gave the teams involved some critical experience in a playoff atmosphere and Granato believes his team can learn from it.

“We played really well. We made a couple mental mistakes, but we’ve been minimizing those lately,”?Granato said. “The big thing I’ve been talking about is having a championship mindset. A champion has to be in tip top shape every single game.”