May 7, 2008

Scott gets Serra off to a strong WCAL start

Top-seeded Padres need two more wins to claim championship

By Scott Campbell / Bay Area News Group

Serra High right-hander Logan Scott had a simple goal when he learned he would take the mound when the Padres opened the West Catholic Athletic League tournament against St. Ignatius.

"Setting a dominant tone," said Scott, mindful that Serra would need three victories in three days to win the tournament.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior did just that on Tuesday afternoon. Shaking off an unearned run in the first inning, Scott powered through St. Ignatius' lineup to lead No. 1 seed Serra to a 6-1 victory.

Scott (8-0) allowed three hits - all singles - and recorded six strikeouts while walking one batter. He needed just 80 pitches to wrap up the complete game.

"You look at almost all of the at-bats at the end," St. Ignatius coach Ted Turkington said, "and he was getting ahead 0-1, 1-2."

"(Scott) is over-matching a lot of guys, which is good to see because he has that kind of arm," Padres coach Pete Jensen said. "Now we need our next guy, our other guys to do the same thing."

Serra (23-6) advances to play No. 6 seed Riordan, a 4-3 winner at third-seeded Mitty, in today's 7 p.m. semifinal at Santa Clara University's Schott Stadium.

Junior Dan Chavez (1-0) gets the call tonight, and Jensen hopes to hand the ball to ace Ryan Allgrove (5-1) in Thursday's final.

A deep tournament run will likely hinge on eliminating the errors that Serra was able to gloss over against No. 8 seed St. Ignatius. After the Padres fell behind 1-0 in the first by committing an infield throwing error on an attempted double play, Serra's new-look lineup paid immediate dividends.

Junior Tony Renda (3-for-4) hit a leadoff double off St. Ignatius left-hander Jon Rand (5-4), and then leadoff hitter Allgrove followed by singling him home. New No. 5 batter Cody Larson put Serra in front 2-1 with a stand-up double to left that drove in Allgrove.

The Padres continued to meet Jensen's goal of more run production as Renda crushed an RBI single in the fourth to pad the lead.

But then a two-error sixth threatened to wipe out Serra's 3-1 advantage.

With one out, Scott struck out Joey Murphy, only to see the St. Ignatius left fielder take second on a dropped third strike and a throwing error. The Wildcats (13-17-1) looked primed to score on the next play as the ball squirted into left after a fielding error, but Serra left fielder Justin Maffei rifled a one-hop throw to nail Murphy at the plate.

St. Ignatius' Ryan McWhirter singled to give the Wildcats runners at first and third, but Scott induced a foul out to get out of the inning unscathed.

"How we survived that, I don't know," said Jensen of the two-hit, two-error sixth.

Serra's batters gave Scott more of a cushion as Renda capped a three-hit, three-RBI day by greeting reliever Tom O'Malley with a first-pitch, two-run homer over the 37-foot left-field wall. Zack Turner, who went 2-for-4 in his initial cleanup slot duties, added a two-out RBI single to push the lead to 6-1.

On the heels of an uneven week that included a 12-inning win over sixth-place Sacred Heart Cathedral and then a 4-1 defeat at WCAL co-champion Valley Christian, Serra was pleased to begin the postseason with a game it controlled throughout.

"I think this game got us back on track. We're going to roll from here," said Renda, the traditional No. 3 hitter who seamlessly moved atop the lineup to spark Serra's 12-hit attack. "This week's for pride."