Jul 6, 2008

Paly strikes back

Palo Alto all-stars claim title by taking two from a team that had beaten them

By Vytas Mazeika / Daily News Staff Writer

It was two for the price of one Saturday as Palo Alto avenged an earlier loss by winning twice against Belmont to become the Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Star champions.

"We wanted to come back and beat them twice," said Palo Alto's Kyle Barnes, the Game 1 starter.

A pair of 9-2 victories - which had only the final score in common - sends many of the Palo Alto players back to the state playoffs they participated in last year as 14-year-olds. This time the state playoffs, which start Saturday, are in San Leandro.

"It feels better to win two in a row than last year," said Palo Alto's Jack Hannan, who delivered two RBIs in each game.

Belmont won an earlier meeting in the tournament and needed to win just once Saturday to lay claim to the throne. But the two losses did not take away from the team's accomplishments.

"I'm not disappointed a bit," Belmont manager Steve Vega said. "These boys accomplished something that's never been done in the city of Belmont, and that's go to the championship."

Game 1 just wasn't meant to be for Belmont. The top of the first started with two walks and an error, loading the bases with no outs. A second error allowed two runs to score, and that was just the start.

Palo Alto loaded the bases again with no outs in the top of third, and Hannan, a Gunn High product, doubled the lead with a two-run single.

"I just saw the ball well and swung it hard," Hannan said. "I got a couple of lucky bounces here and there, but I felt I hit the ball well today."

After Hannan stole second, Joe Xavier (Serra-San Mateo) followed suit with a two-run single of his own to make it 6-0.

While Belmont managed single runs in the fourth (a Willy Baroncini bases-loaded walk) and the fifth (a Derek Rosaia infield hit), both times the bases were left loaded. Belmont stranded 12 on base between the second and sixth innings and 14 for the game, squandering countless scoring opportunities.

"It was the timely hit and not finding the right hole for it to go through for a base hit," Vega said. "Palo Alto is very sound defensively, and they made the plays when they had to make the plays."

Said Barnes, who delivered a six-inning Houdini act by scattering six hits, six walks and hitting three batters: "I just threw strikes when we needed it, put the ball on the ground. We turned the plays and just played good defense."
Palo Alto added two runs in the top of the fifth thanks to a duo from Menlo-Atherton High. Austin Hume hit a sacrifice fly and Gabe Kaplan hit an RBI single. The ninth and final run came courtesy of a Cory Tenanes (Paly) single. To record the final three outs, Conner Mather (Woodside Priory-Portola Valley) came out of the bullpen.

An hour later, Game 2 got started.

This time Belmont was the one to jump ahead 2-0 in the top of the first. Four singles did the damage, with Tim Byrne and Taylor Crawford driving in one run apiece. But Belmont managed just four more hits the rest of the way against Palo Alto's Ryan Lockareff (Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton), who went the distance in Game 2.

"The first inning I was kind of frazzled a little bit because they told me I was pitching about 10 minutes before the game," Lockareff said. "I was a little bit nervous, and then I found a groove. I just got a lot of balls on the ground and made them hit the ball."

The Belmont lead was gone by the bottom of the second, as Hannan cut the deficit in half with an RBI single and Lockareff scored on a delayed double steal. By the bottom of the third, when Travis Bowers' (Gunn) flare fell into center field, Palo Alto was up for good 3-2.

Belmont was able to turn away Palo Alto in the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, no outs and the infield in, Baroncini fielded a grounder at second base and threw home for the out. The next batter grounded a ball up the middle that Byrne gloved from the mound to turn a 1-2-3 double play.

But RBI singles from Hannan and Lockareff added much-needed insurance runs and made it 5-2 after five innings.

"We needed to get as many runs as we could because Belmont can put up runs with the best - unless Ryan is pitching," Hannan said.

To end the game, Palo Alto shortstop Danny Diekroeger (Menlo School), who hit a two-run double that highlighted a four-run sixth, started a pair of 6-4-3 double plays - the first to end the sixth, the second to claim the championship.

"They were starting to get some momentum in the sixth inning, and the double play just took a lot of weight off my shoulders," Lockareff said. "At that point is when I realized that, 'Hey, we can actually pull this off.' "

Said Vega: "Palo Alto earned that game. And if you're going to win a game, that's the way to do it."



E-mail Vytas Mazeika at vmazeika@dailynewsgroup.com.