Jul 13, 2008

San Mateo all-stars shine

13-AND-14-YEAR-OLDS TOP MOUNTAIN VIEW FOR TITLE

By Greg Lydon / Daily News Correspondent

A two-out rally in the fourth inning and strong pitching helped San Mateo hold off Mountain View and cap a perfect run to the Babe Ruth District 6 14-year-old All-Stars championship Saturday.

The 7-5 win gave a happy group of San Mateo all-stars reason to celebrate on a hot afternoon at McKelvey Park in Mountain View.

San Mateo had defeated Mountain View 11-2 earlier in the tournament. Mountain View beat Belmont 4-1 Friday to advance to the championship round.

"Once their starting pitcher got out of the game, we made some good contact and swung the bats really well," San Mateo coach Tim McNeil said. "We had three starters out today on summer vacation, so I wasn't quite sure how this group would respond in this tournament. Our depth really showed itself nicely today."

Sho Sato of San Mateo and Luke Wiechec of Mountain View both had their A-games working early in the ballgame on the hill.

Wiechec left after two innings because of a sore arm. The game was tied 1-1 after two innings.

"A couple of our pitchers were dealing with sore arms, so we had to adjust the original pitching plan for today," Mountain View coach Paul Hernandez Sr. said. "We kept on pitching after Luke left the game and didn't give up. I was very proud of this team's effort during the entire tournament."

Adam Spencley drilled an RBI single to right to put Mountain View on the board in the first inning. San Mateo evened the score at 1-1 in the second but didn't find its groove until late in the bottom of the fourth.

Paul Hernandez Jr. relieved Wiechec in the third inning. The right-hander got a quick 1-2-3 inning with three fly outs. Hernandez Jr. retired a fourth straight hitter via the fly ball to open the fourth, then hopped off the mound on a slow roller to flip the ball to first for the second out of the inning.

Michael Strem, one of two 13-year-olds playing for San Mateo, was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat. Taking one for the team, Strem walked to first, starting a two-out surge by San Mateo.

Strem was the first of seven straight San Mateo hitters to reach base in the six-run, fourth-inning march by San Mateo.

Christian Larsen gave San Mateo the lead with a clutch double to the gap, bringing across two teammates.

Adam Goldstein blooped in an RBI single to shallow left to build the lead to 4-1. Then after a dropped fly ball in right field brought across one more runner, Trevor McNeil rocked an RBI double to the wall in deep center field to put a bow on the inning with a two-RBI double.

"They get a lot of contact hits," Hernandez Sr. said. "They don't have the big power hitters, but they make their hits count. We didn't match them when we needed the big hits."

After the big inning, Hernandez Sr. pleaded to his troops not to fold up the tent and continue to battle. Mountain View answered their coach's wishes, pushing in two runs in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth to make things interesting.

Spencley recorded RBI Nos. 2 and 3 on a two-out, bases-loaded single to center in the fifth inning to bring his team within four runs.

A costly San Mateo overthrow to first that would have ended the inning allowed Kendall Lee and Rueben Tejada to cross the dish, slicing the lead to 7-5 in the sixth.

"Our pitching did a phenomenal job," McNeil said. "We were a little sloppy on defense, and that hurt us a bit. We played strong defense and pitched well all tournament long. Our pitching has been the strength of our team."

Goldstein came in to pitch two innings of relief for San Mateo to close out the win.

San Mateo will travel to Woodland next Saturday to begin sectional play.