Westmont loss clinches top-four finish in league for SHS
Editor’s note: Due to a reporter’s error, the Times incorrectly stated that Sobrato baseball’s final regular-season game is today. It was played Thursday at Pioneer.
SAN JOSE — Don’t be surprised if Leland manager Mike Sparrer gets a thank-you card in the mail this weekend from Sobrato skipper Shorty Gutierrez.
The Bulldogs entered Thursday’s regular-season finale at Pioneer with a make-or-break mentality, knowing they could slip out of the top four in the Mount Hamilton Division by the end of the week.
Sobrato lost 4-2, but that didn’t break anything.
On the other side of San Jose, Sparrer’s league-champion Chargers were busy putting away Westmont — the one team that could supplant Sobrato as the league’s fourth and final automatic playoff berth — by a score of 3-1.
And just like that, all is right again in the world of Sobrato baseball. Following a topsy-turvy regular season that didn’t quite pan out the way they had hoped, the Bulldogs are heading back to the Central Coast Section playoffs for a third consecutive year.
“We went from upset to relief,” Gutierrez said Friday. “The Pioneer coach told us Westmont lost after our game, but I never wanted to leave anything to chance. It’s a hope-and-pray situation when you’re not automatically in.”
The Bulldogs (12-15 overall, 11-10 league) will finish no worse than tied for third in the division after the last Mount Hamilton games are played today; Live Oak is hosting Leigh, and Branham is visiting Santa Teresa. If Live Oak and Branham win, Sobrato will fall into a five-way tie for second place but still holding two key tie-breakers: series wins against the Acorns and Leland.
The Bulldogs have lost four of their last five since beating the Chargers on April 30.
“Our goal was to win the division, and we didn’t do that, but we’re definitely happy to be going to CCS. It’s like a new season and a fresh start,” said Gutierrez, whose headed his program since its inception seven years ago. “We knew every team in this league was good top to bottom. It’s survival of the fittest here. Whoever’s still standing can say they’ve had a pretty good season.”
Ryan Williams doubled and singled Thursday for the Bulldogs, who weren’t exactly blindsided by Pioneer (12-13, 11-10).
The Mustangs were also fighting for their postseason lives as the fifth-best team in the division going in. They trailed 2-0 after the first inning and were held scoreless until the fourth, when they cut the deficit in half. They put across three more runs in the fifth.
Pioneer will learn its fate Saturday at the CCS playoff meeting in San Jose.
The Bulldogs are scheduled to play in the first round of the Division II tournament Thursday, a day after the other two playoffs begin. Sobrato, which reached the final in 2009, will represent the Mount Hamilton along with automatic qualifiers Leland and Santa Teresa.
Should the Acorns slip up today against eighth-place Leigh and not make the top four, Pioneer will earn the fourth automatic entry. Live Oak, however, will still be the leading candidate to earn the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s wild-card eighth playoff spot, having a plus-.500 overall record and ample playoff points.
