With big inning, Washington gets it done at Oracle
History and statistics heavily favored Lowell heading into Tuesday’s San Francisco Section title game against Washington at Oracle Park.
Seven straight SFS titles. Sixteen consecutive wins over Washington since 2017, including three this season. Eight straight victories overall by a combined score of 115-17.
But Washington just needed one big inning to post a stunning 6-1 win and give the Eagles (16-10) their 12th SFS crown, but first since 2012.
The Eagles used four hits, two hit batters and two Lowell errors to score all six runs in the top of the fifth. A two runsingle by Bora Aymakoglu erased a 1-0 deficit, Ethan Levenson added a sacrifice fly and senior pitcher Devon Benningfield had a run-scoring single in the rally.
Benningfield largely did the rest, scattering six hits while going the distance. He was helped by spotless and at times spectacular infield defense, led by senior shortstop Kayne Moody, who helped turn two double plays.
Benningfield, who also hit a triple off the fence in right with two outs in the fourth to break up a perfect game by Mateo Poon, retired 13 of the last 14 batters. Benningfield struck out five and walked two.
Washington advances to the CIF’s first Northern California tournament in two weeks. Lowell, which was after its 25th SFS title, finishes 21-8.
“Very, very exciting,” said Washington first-year head coach Thomas Mora. “We knew we would poke through eventually. We needed more than one to win and things just went our way.”
Moody, who as a freshman lost to Lowell 5-0 at Oracle Park in the 2019 final (the last time the title game was played because of the pandemic), said the victory was “a dream come true. Being a little kid, growing up in San Francisco, playing here twice and actually winning is unbelievable. We wanted to be the villains.”
A 1-6-3 double play prevented Lowell from jumping out big in the first inning. The Cardinals had singles from Roman Fong, Jake Medicoff and Elias Grosfoguel, and an RBI double by Landon Lee. The double play limited the damage.
After that, Lowell did not send more than four players to the plate any inning.
Said Lowell head coach Daryl Semien: “It’s hard to beat a team four times. But hats off to them. We made more than a couple of mistakes and they capitalized the way you’re supposed to.”
There was a victory of sorts for one of the Cardinals. Roman Fong’s twin sister Isabella was called up from Washington’s junior varsity and celebrated with the Eagles. This was the first time the twins had played against each other after Isabella wasn’t picked in Lowell’s onetime, merit-based and now-lottery enrollment system.
She grew up playing for the
San Francisco Bay Sox, an all-girls baseball program.
Sibling rivalries run in the Fong family. The twins’ father Roger attended and played baseball at Lowell, but his siblings and his father Joe attended Washington. On Tuesday, Joe sat on Washington’s side, the twins’ mom Pia was behind home plate, and Roger — sporting a cap with both Eagle and Cardinal mascots — rooted for both kids.
“We are both so happy to have both of them playing here today,” Roger said.
The twins embraced near home plate about 15 minutes after the final out. Roman, a minute older than Isabella, eventually accepted the tough defeat like a good big brother.
“It’s awesome” she won, he said. “But it’s always awesome that she’s a girl playing baseball. Everyone is always like, ‘She plays baseball? Not softball? No, it’s baseball.’ And now she’s on the varsity team. And she won a championship. … It feels bad to be on the losing side, but I’m super proud of her.”