With heavy clouds overhead, and the bases loaded for Sobrato with no outs in the second inning, Live Oak starter Mitch Hickey gripped the ball tightly in his right hand and went back to work.
“Got to man up, dig deep and do whatever you can,” he said.
And so the sophomore did, responding to adversity the same way the Acorns did all week. While their bats thundered to life Saturday at Sarich Field, Hickey retired 16 of his final 18 batters to cap a brilliant three-hitter and a 9-0 victory over Sobrato.
Switching from a hard fastball to a deceptive changeup and breaking pitch, Hickey struck out eight and walked two in his first complete game at the varsity level. He threw 93 pitches.
“Mitch did what a good pitcher does in a big game,” Live Oak catcher Jalen Salazar said. “He goes out, throws strikes, makes plays. And our hits just came.”
On a dark and dreary afternoon, Hickey shone like a beacon for an LOHS team that looked lost less than a week earlier. The Acorns lost seven straight from Feb. 25 to March 16. Now they are back in playoff contention after sweeping two games against Silver Creek in Santa Teresa Division play Wednesday and Friday, and winning their only meeting with Sobrato of this year.
“Anybody could, after losing a few games in a row, put their heads in the sand and say, ‘Oh well, season’s over,’” LOHS manager C.J. Goularte said. “I give a lot of credit to them for sticking with it.”
Salazar said the hard times have made the team stronger.
“It weighs on you, definitely. But our whole bond with the team, we just mesh and talk to each other,” he said. “Even when we’re down, we’ll talk it out. Just having a team like that, you can’t have it any better.”
The Acorns (5-8, 2-6) will finish ahead of their crosstown rivals in head-to-head play for the first time since 2006, granted they didn’t meet again until ’09.
“It feels good because it’s our last time – my last time playing them,” said Jakob Conlan, one of three seniors for Live Oak. “We definitely feel like we’re coming around. Two games in a row we’ve been getting it done from our pitchers.”
Kyle Quadros came through for a complete-game shutout, 7-0, Friday over Silver Creek. Saturday it was Hickey who was in the zone. He got in a jam during the second inning but, from there, did not allow a runner past first base.
“Mitch has just plenty of God-given ability,” Goularte said. “Kids like Mitch make you look good as a coach, but it’s all him. He’s the one who went out there and did it. I didn’t do anything. I called the pitches; he threw them. He’s just a good kid, works hard. He’s got a bright future on the mound.”
Hickey (2-2) gave up a single to Conor Havstad to lead off the third inning, with the Acorns ahead 4-0, but picked him off. It was the Bulldogs’ last hit of the game. Hickey retired the side with six pitches in the fifth, struck out two and got a great catch by left fielder Aaron Armijo in the sixth, and fanned Sean Schlafli on three pitches to end the game.
“I just got more comfortable as the game went on,” Hickey said. “I was a little bit nervous, but I was pretty excited for it.”
Hickey gave a slight fist pump after the final out as teammates swarmed the mound to celebrate.
“He’s a good pitcher, decent speed, throws strikes,” Sobrato shortstop Andrew Bueno said. “We needed to face him like any pitcher on the mound, treat it like another game. I think we all just came out here like, ‘We’re gonna beat them.’ That didn’t happen.”
Sobrato (3-7, 3-5) was coming off a hard-earned split with Leland in Mount Hamilton Division play. The Bulldogs won 4-3 at home Wednesday on a walk-off single by Havstad and lost 9-8 Friday in San Jose.
Saturday they committed three errors, including two that led to runs in the first inning, and mustered little support for starter Casey Conforti (5 ER, 6 H, 5 BB, 3 K), who was chased after 2 2/3 innings.
“It’s just one loss, so we’re still feeling good; it just sucks it was to our rival,” Havstad said. “But we should be able to get back to winning in league and keep it going.”
Live Oak’s nine hits came from eight players, including a 3-for-3 effort by junior John Forestieri, who upped his season average to .472.
“He’s just as big as everybody from top to bottom,” Goularte said. “The most important thing is that when he’s got those two-strike ABs, he’s still being offensive. He’s had to adjust to the three hole from last year, when he mostly led off for us. He’s doing a fantastic job coming up and getting that big knock for us.”
Live Oak small-balled the Bulldogs to death, capitalizing on errors with aggressive base-running. Nowhere was that more telling than Adrian Garcia’s squeeze bunt to score Hickey in the second. Armijo drew a base-loaded walk, and Garcia added a two-run single in the third to make it 7-0. In the fourth, Hickey plated Conlan on an infield single with two outs.
“We were just keeping the ball in the dirt,” Salazar said. “Perfect small ball.”
Sobrato sophomore Alejandro Torres worked a solid 2 1/3 innings of relief, allowing one run on two hits. Conforti and Erick Zepeda had back-to-back singles in the second for the Bulldogs.
“Our hitting was completely flat today,” Havstad said. “We just can’t have that anymore.”
Saturday’s forecast called for heavy showers, but the weather held up just long enough to get in a dry seven innings. A large portion of the standing-room-only crowd stuck around to socialize afterward even as rain began falling steadily.
It did little to dampen the Acorns’ spirit.
“When we play the game that we’re capable of playing and doing the things the right way, it doesn’t really matter who’s in that other dugout,” Goularte said. “It feels great, obviously, to beat your rival. I’m more focused on what our guys are doing. We’ve still got a long ways to go, but this is definitely a step in the right direction for us.”
