Jul 4, 2008

PALY STARS ARE CHAMPS

13-year-olds qualify for regional tournament in Eureka

By Greg Lydon / Daily News Correspondent

The San Mateo Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Star team needed a win Thursday night against Palo Alto to force a winner-take-all Game 3 on Saturday.

Erratic pitching from San Mateo early in the game and timely hitting by Palo Alto throughout the night ended San Mateo's hopes of continuing the series into the weekend as Palo Alto defeated San Mateo 11-3 Thursday evening at Baylands Athletic Complex in Palo Alto.

Palo Alto defeated San Mateo 9-4 on Tuesday in Game 1 of the series.

Palo Alto will move on to next weekend's regionals in Eureka. Its first game will be Saturday, July 12.

"All the kids played well tonight," Palo Alto coach Bob Budelli said. "They played sound defensively and got the job done at the plate."

San Mateo hit three Palo Alto batters and walked four more during the opening two innings. Palo Alto only recorded one hit in the opening two innings, but feasted on the wild pitching to jump to a 3-0 lead.

"We gave up five walks and hit four batsmen after the first handful of innings," San Mateo coach Jack Tawasha said. "It's tough to win a ballgame like that."

Once the San Mateo pitching started to settle down, the Palo Alto hitters starting swinging away.

Three more Palo Alto runs came across in the third inning, including a hotshot RBI single off the bat of Nick Wells to give Palo Alto a 5-0 lead.

Charles Grose provided the shot of the night for either side, taking a belt-high fastball and blasting it over the head of the San Mateo center fielder.

The long ball rolled all the way to the fence in center field, scoring two more runners to put Palo Alto up 7-0.

"Their balls were falling, our balls were hit right at them all night long," Tawasha said. "You have to tip your cap to Palo Alto. Hopefully, we'll learn from this and be a better team when we see them again next season."

While Grose provided the big hit of the night, Palo Alto third baseman Luke Thomas came through with two stellar defensive gems, aiding his team's winning effort.

The second play came in the third inning when Thomas reached across his body to make a diving stab at third base on a hard-hit ball by San Mateo.

Thomas corralled the liner then threw a perfect one-hopper to the first baseman to get the San Mateo runner by a step.

Cole Ervin was in his comfort zone at the plate, leading San Mateo with two RBIs on the night. Ervin hit a deep sacrifice fly to center in the fourth and ripped an RBI single to right field in the sixth inning for San Mateo.

David Oyer closed out the game for the second time this week for Palo Alto. The hard-throwing righty retired three of the four San Mateo hitters he faced in the seventh inning.

"I'm proud of this group," Budelli said. "Our closer did a nice job to end the game. With the 13-year-old group, so few players pitched and played in the infield during the regular Babe Ruth season, it's a big challenge as coaches to find the right mix of where to play these guys out there."