Jul 5, 2008

San Carlos Pony's best

Last-inning rally paves way as San Carlos sweeps San Bruno to claim Pony crown

By John Reid / Daily News Staff Writer

Fourth of July fireworks went off early and often Friday as San Carlos and San Bruno vied for the Peninsula Region 13-year-old Pony Baseball All-Star title at McGarvey Park in Redwood City.

San Bruno had a powerful, initial outburst, but San Carlos had the final explosion, sweeping its way to 8-7 and 6-5 victories to take home the first-place hardware.

San Carlos advanced to the eight-team regional tournament at J.D. Morgan Park in Campbell. San Carlos meets the Los Gatos-area winner Thursday at 5:30 p.m. A team from the East Bay dropped out of the regional, so San Bruno received a spot in the tourney, opening up with the North winner Friday at 5:30 p.m. Should both San Carlos and San Bruno win their openers, they will play each other one more time.

"If there is a silver lining, it's that we keep playing," San Bruno coach Dennis Mitchell said. "Hats off to San Carlos. They had to come all the way through the losers bracket to win it. We told our kids that we had to play error-free baseball to beat San Carlos. But, in the second game, we fell apart, giving them some runs on three errors. San Carlos is a well-coached team. They're a good-hitting team, too."

"San Bruno is a classy team," San Carlos coach George Descalso said. "They're good sports, a good bunch of guys. They deserve to play in the next tournament."

San Carlos can thank, in large measure, Roman Rosado for prolonging its summer run. Rosado clouted a clutch three-run homer in the first game and belted the game-winning home run in the second game. He also pitched the last five innings of Game 2 to get the win. That was the first time Rosado, who was nursing a sore arm, had pitched in the tournament.

"We weren't sure if Roman would be able to pitch," said Descalso, a former player at St. Mary's College in Moraga. "I told him that we might have to go to the well and ask him to pitch. He came up big for us."

San Bruno, which could have wrapped up the title with a victory in either game, looked to be in control after the first inning of Game 1. After leadoff hitter Jake Steenvoorde got on board via an error, Jordan Jauregui deposited a home run that barely cleared the center-field screen. Paul Murray followed that with a no-doubt shot to right-center and San Bruno had taken charge 3-0, chasing starter Tyler Martin in the process. Martin was replaced by junkballer Keenan Donath, who went the rest of the way to record the victory. The journey to that victory, though, was quite manic.

San Carlos manufactured a run in the bottom of the second inning when Jake Mauldin's bounder squirted away from Steenvoorde at second base, scoring Jason Marley. With Tyler Leary on at third, Mario Mazzoni attempted a squeeze bunt. However, the play was aborted when Jauregui, San Bruno's starter on the mound, fielded the ball and threw to left-handed catcher Tim Gretter. Leary dodged Gretter's initial tag, but couldn't dodge a second tag by Gretter.

San Bruno did some manufacturing of its own in the top of the third. Jauregui walked, then stole two bases before scoring on a ground out by Murray.

Murray, who had three hits and three RBIs, was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double leading off the fifth inning. Rosado exhibited a fine arm from center as Mazzoni made the tag on a sliding Murray. That play proved monumental after Ryan Brown reached first on a two-out error. Jason DeSanto followed a Michael Wolf single with a slow roller on the infield that went for a hit as Brown scored. Anthony Higuera's ground ball went off Donath's glove and caromed to Mazzoni at short, who made a diving play to force out DeSanto at second for the final out of the inning.

Things looked dire for San Carlos down 6-2 in the sixth as the hard-throwing Jauregui had allowed just four hits through the first five innings. Mazzoni drew a one-out walk, seemingly innocent at the time. With two outs, Anderson hit a ground-rule double to right field, the ball bouncing over the portable fence.

That brought up Rosado, who ripped a deep liner down the left-field line on an 0-1 pitch. The ball went foul, however.

"Just make contact!" yelled someone from the stands to Rosado. "Don't try to crush it!"

Rosado ignored that bit of advice, crushing a towering home run over the left-field fence to bring San Carlos to within 6-5. Martin followed that with a threatening long fly ball to left field, but DeSanto staggered to make the catch, ending the inning.

San Bruno tacked on what looked to be an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Brown came home on a San Carlos fielding error with two outs.

Brown relieved a tired Jauregui to begin the seventh inning and got the first out on a comebacker. The bottom of the San Carlos order strung together three straight singles by Leary, Charles Gould and Hunter Huss to fill the bases. Mazzoni got one run home on an infield groundout, putting the tying run on at third and the winning run on at second. Donath checked his swing, hitting the ball foul down the right-field line, adding to the suspense. Donath then forced the winner-take-all second game by singling to right field, bringing in the tying and winning runs.

San Carlos, which went 6-1 in the tourney, had to win four games in the final two days to take the title. San Carlos dispensed of San Mateo and South San Francisco on Thursday.

"A lot of people didn't think we could do it," Descalso said. "I had doubts myself. That's why baseball is a great game."



E-mail John Reid at

jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.



Peninsula Region 13-year-old Pony Baseball

championship at McGarvey Park



Game 1

San Bruno 301 011 1 - 7 10 2

San Carlos 010 103 3 - 8 10 4

Jauregui, Brown (7) and Gretter; Martin, Donath (1) and Leary. WP-Donath. LP-Brown. 2B - Gretter (SB); Anderson (SC). HR - Jauregui, Murray (SB); Rosado (SC). 3 hits - Murray (SB); Anderson (SC). 2 hits - Brown (SB); Donath (SC). 3 RBI - Murray (SB); Rosado (SC). 2 RBI - Jauregui (SB); Donath (SC).

Game 2

San Carlos 6, San Bruno 5