Lowell tops Mission for S.F. baseball title

Lowell High School’s baseball team won its record sixth consecutive Academic Athletic Association championship Monday, but it got all it could handle from Mission. The Cardinals broke open a scoreless tie with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to defeat the Bears 3-0 at AT&T Park.

“It feels great,” winning pitcher Alex Bradshaw said. “We had one goal at the beginning of the year: that was to come out and make history, win six straight. And we came out here and did it. It feels amazing.”

Lowell (22-9) advances to the Transbay Series against the Oakland Section champion.

Bradshaw and Mission’s Adam Sabatino were locked in a pitchers’ duel for most of the game. Bradshaw ended up going six innings, striking out six and allowing five hits and one walk. Sabatino gave up all three runs (two earned) in 52⁄3 innings, and three of the five hits he allowed came in the fateful sixth.

There were also two key errors in the sixth by the Bears (17-9). Bradshaw led off the sixth with a walk. Sabatino threw away a pickoff attempt, moving Bradshaw to second. Mission coach Chris Ayag then decided to intentionally walk Owen Mahoney. Levi Humphrey bunted into a forceout at third, which brought Cameron Tong to the plate.

Tong hit a shot to third on which Carlos Ramirez made a terrific stop. However, Ramirez sailed his throw past first baseman Will Cohen. The play went as a hit and an error and Bradshaw scored the game’s first run.

After Trey Chase lined out to first, Devlin Stanley roped a

single to right to score two runs.

“I was just trying to hit the ball hard,” Stanley said. “I wanted to pick my teammates up. I wanted to stay up the middle, and I was able to do that.”

That was more than enough for Mahoney, who took the mound for the seventh. He set down Mission in order, striking out pinch-hitter Graham Williams to end it.

The Bears committed four errors, forcing Sabatino to work harder. He struck out the side in the first but didn’t have another 1-2-3 inning.

Mission had several chances against Bradshaw, getting the leadoff man on three times. Each time, the senior got out of the jam.

“He was just dominant,” Stanley said of Bradshaw. “For the last two years, he’s just been great on the mound. It’s

awesome to watch. It’s great to play defense behind him.”

Said Bradshaw: “It’s probably one of the best times I felt pitching. Any pitch I threw went exactly where I wanted it to go, did exactly what I wanted it to do. It was great.”

It was a case of the might-have-beens for the Bears.

“We weren’t able to push them across, and we kind of ran ourselves out of some innings,” Ayag said. “You just can’t make mistakes against this team. I’ve been coaching against them for a long time now, and you’ve just got to play the cleanest game possible. You can’t give them anything.”

Ayag said he’s proud of his team, which is on the rise. Mission hasn’t won a league title since 1990.

“It’s heartbreaking that I have to send my seniors off with a loss, but the work that they put in, the culture that they set as far as the workouts and what you have to do to compete at this level has been extraordinary, and I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of seniors than I’ve had this year,” Ayag said.