Jul 2, 2008

Tribe takes pair from Hawks

By Julio Lara / Daily News Correspondent

San Carlos' Brad Sentman ventured into some uncharted territory Sunday morning in his start against Los Altos.

Game 1 versus the Hawks at Carlmont-Belmont High marked the first time Sentman had pitched more than seven innings this summer - a huge accomplishment for the right-hander as he recovers from a hamstring injury suffered earlier in the year.

Sentman's pitched into the ninth in a 9-4 win, his third in the 19U American Legion season.

"I felt strong," Sentman said of his 111-pitch performance. "It was my first time going into the ninth so it was a little different."

Sentman came in averaging about 6 1/3 innings a start and he was pretty dominant for that length of time on Sunday.

His teammates spotted Sentman a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. With runners on second and third, Nick Misa singled to collect the first of his five RBIs. The Tribe missed a couple of opportunities to score in the innings that followed, but that changed during the bottom of the fourth when Jonathan Fukuhara doubled to right, scoring Sentman, who had walked to get on base.

Meanwhile, Sentman cruised through six innings of work, allowing only two hits in the process. He was efficient too, needing 61 pitches to get through those six frames.

Sentman finally showed signs of being human in the seventh when the heart of the Los Altos order finally came to life. The Hawks strung together four straight singles to start the inning - five total - scoring three runs in the process. Sentman fought his way out with a strikeout to close out the seventh, but questions over stamina had begun to arise in the San Carlos dugout.

The Tribe had their pitcher's back though, getting all three of the runs right back, two on an absolute bomb to left by Misa for RBIs three and four.

Sentman walked the first batter he faced to start the eighth inning, prompting coach Rich Vallero to get some action up in his bullpen. Sentman must have seen that, since he got the next hitter to pop into a double play.

As he came off the field and into the dugout, Sentman was met by assistant coach Grant Gavasse, who looked him in the eye and asked him point-blank, "Do you want this last one?"

Without hesitation Sentman responded, "I want it."

He got some extra insurance by the man selling it most on Sunday. Misa singled home his fifth run of the game, plating Adam Costello who had singled to start off the frame.

When the third out was recorded, out came Sentman to try and finish things off.

"I feel the job isn't done unless I can do the whole thing," Sentman said.

With a six-run lead, Vallero allowed Sentman to try and end things, but after surrendering back-to-back singles, Vallero had seen enough and went with Kyle Stahl.

Things didn't start off the way they were supposed to - Stahl found himself in a little trouble, but was able to collect three fly balls to end the game.

"That's the main thing," Sentman said about his team's ability to focus, "when we come together, we're pretty solid."



Game 2

Apparently, if you have Kyle Leong on your team, no three-run lead is safe.

In the second game of a Sunday doubleheader against Los Altos, Leong went from his familiar role of getting on base and scoring runs for the San Carlos Tribe, to busting out the whopping stick and hitting a grand slam during the bottom of the third. The granny was one of two four-run innings for the Tribe as they completed the sweep of the Hawks by scoring 10 unanswered runs and taking the contest 10-3.

Kyle Stahl provided the Tribe with their second straight solid performance on the mound, the latter being the most effective. Stahl went all nine innings, surrendering four hits and striking out nine while walking only one.

Leong collected four RBIs on the grand slam, but his day didn't end there, as a single and a sacrifice bunt helped bring in another pair of runs.

Jonathan Fukuhara had a three-hit game for the Tribe. He also scored three runs.