Bradley pitches eight innings, scores winning run in 1-0 victory
over division-leader Leland
MORGAN HILL — Sobrato manager Shorty Gutierrez would have liked Friday’s game against Leland to end earlier, but he couldn’t complain with the result — no matter how far-fetched it seemed.
After 7 2-3 innings of scoreless five-hit baseball at Sobrato High School, the Bulldogs won it when Chris Bradley crossed home on a wild pitch in the eighth, sending SHS to a crucial 1-0 victory over the Mount Hamilton Division front-runners.
And with one small run, the Bulldogs (11-11 overall, 10-6 league) pulled within two wins of the Chargers (15-7, 12-4) with four games left in the regular season.
“It wasn’t pretty, but we did what we had to,” said Gutierrez, whose club took the season series with Leland two games to one. “I’ve been telling the guys all season that the league title’s going to come down to who wants it more. We’ve still got work to do, but this is where we wanted to be at the end of the day.”
Scoring the game-winning run was only part of a huge afternoon for Bradley. The lefty carried his team, pitching a three-hitter that included nine strikeouts and three walks. Bradley threw more than 130 pitches.
“I was just hoping we’d score soon. I was exhausted,” he said. “When I woke up today, I wasn’t planning to go that long, but I was definitely ready to do anything to help us get a win.”
Bradley scored after he reached on an error and moved to second on Tanner Di Sibio’s single — Sobrato’s second hit of the game off starter Daniel Rodriguez. Dylan Bell took over from there and got Ryan Williams to ground into a fielder’s choice for out No. 2. Bradley moved to third on the play.
Bulldogs sophomore Conor Havstad came up to bat hoping to be a hero in his seventh varsity game but never got the chance; Bell’s first offering bounced between the legs of catcher Chad McCarthy.
“I was a little bummed I didn’t get to hit, but it worked out pretty well, Havstad said.”
Sobrato, now 9-0 at home, will play host Westmont at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Live Oak 11, ST 3
The Acorns kicked off a pivotal stretch with one of their biggest wins of the season Friday at Sarich Field.
They received five multihit efforts and five steady innings from pitcher Jakob Conlan on the way to taking over fifth place in the Mount Hamilton — less than a game out of the key No. 4 spot.
Live Oak (12-10 overall, 7-9 league) trails fourth-place Westmont by a half game, but it might as well be a full one; the Warriors (12-9-1, 8-7-1) are polishing the 5-5 tie they had with Leigh on March 11. Live Oak can make up the difference this Friday when the team closes a three-game week at Westmont.
The Acorns looked playoff-ready in taking the season series with Santa Teresa (13-8, 9-7). They pasted the defending league champions with a dozen hits, including a 3-for-3 effort from senior Michael Schreiber.
Cody Van Aken had a triple, double, two runs and four RBIs, and Rich Martinez, Nick Pusateri and Ken Hall added two singles apiece for Live Oak, which broke a 6-3 lead open with five runs in the sixth inning. Martinez also had a sacrifice fly, and Schreiber scored three times.
The mountain of support helped Conlan (3-1) win his third straight decision. He struck out two and surrendered five hits.
Nick Robles gave up one hit in the final two innings to pick up his third save of the season.
The Acorns have won six of their last seven and will go for another series win against visiting Branham at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
