Palo Alto clears VCHS hurdle, to play St. Francis for Division I title
SAN JOSE >> Palo Alto got another swing after years of playoff disappointment on the baseball diamond, most recently to powerhouse Valley Christian.
This time, the Vikings did not miss.
Danny Peters slugged a two-run homer in a three-run first inning Wednesday, highlighting a keepsake day for the Palo Alto senior, as the Vikings ended Valley Christian's four-season reign atop the Central Coast Section with a 7-0 victory in the Division I semifinals at Excite Ballpark.
Palo Alto will return to the venue formerly known as San Jose Municipal Stadium on Saturday night to play for the championship against top-seeded St. Francis.
Peters made sure the third-seeded Vikings got there. In addition to clearing the left-field fence in the first inning, he doubled, singled, knocked in four runs and pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings.
“Honestly, it was kind of payback time,” Peters said. “They've ended ours three years in a row now. It was time.”
Palo Alto (26-5) never let second-seeded Valley get going, taking charge in the first inning, widening the advantage to six with three in the third and finishing the scoring with another RBI from Peters in the fifth. Along the way, the Vikings were superb in the field. In the first, shortstop Xavier Esquer robbed Quinten Marsch of a hit and somehow fired a dart to second base for an inning-ending forceout.
In the third, third baseman Russ Filter made a great stab on a sharply hit ball by Easton Kreshel, did a pirouette and fired a strike to first for the out.
In the fifth, second baseman Charlie Bates robbed Marsh again and threw to first for an inning-ending out. Valley had two on base.
Then in the sixth, Henry Bolte, who had a rare hitless game, made a diving catch in center field to prevent a potential late-inning rally.
“Our defense was incredible,” coach Pete Fukuhara said. “Not to take anything away from what Danny did because it was an absolutely special performance, but we had guys making plays. We've got guys diving in center field. We've got guys taking away foul-ball doubles. Very, very good team effort, top to bottom.”
St. Francis pitcher settles in
Bellarmine had a chance to do significant damage in the first inning of its CCS Division I semifinal against St. Francis.
The Bells had four hits in their first five at-bats. They had already scored a run. The bases were loaded with one out.
When St. Francis pitching coach Jamie Ybarra paid
a visit to the mound to settle down Jack Surdey, a small group of Bellarmine students took a page out of their basketball cheering playbook, chanting: “Talk it over. Talk it over.”
Whatever St. Francis talked about clearly worked. Surdey settled in, Bellarmine unraveled and soon the anticipated matchup between longtime West Catholic Athletic League rivals turned into a one-sided outcome.
St. Francis won 9-1 at Excite Ballpark to advance to the final.
Surdey pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts. Wyatt King doubled twice and scored three runs. Max Ross knocked in three runs and also scored three times.
“It was a rough way to start it, but it was only the first inning,” St. Francis coach Matt Maguire said about Surdey. “He settled in unbelievably well and did a great job. Really proud of how he pitched.”
After Surdey got the final two outs of the first to leave the bases loaded, St. Francis scored two in the home half of the inning and four in the second to break the game open.
Bellarmine hurt itself with a slew of wild pitches and passed balls. They led to St. Francis' runs in the first and caused a collision at the plate in that inning that ended the night for catcher Ethan Payne, who unsuccessfully lunged toward the plate to tag Ross.
Now, St. Francis (28-4) will get ready for Palo Alto, a team the Lancers beat in April.
“We got here with about 21/2 innings left and it felt like every ball they hit was hard,” Maguire said. “It's like, `All right, we're going to have our work cut out for us.' ”