The Sobrato High baseball team saw its season come to an end on Wednesday in a 2-1 loss to Pacific Grove in a Central Coast Section Division V playoff semifinal. The No. 2 seed Bulldogs finished 15-7, which included a Blossom Valley League Santa Teresa Division championship. Bulldogs coach James Pozas said afterward the team will be playing in the BVAL’s top division, the Mount Hamilton, next season.
“That’s where we want to be,” he said.
In a tense pitching dual, No. 3 seed Pacific Grove (7-12) came out on top by being a tad better in capitalizing on its opportunities. The Breakers scored single runs in the first and sixth innings, while Sobrato scored its lone run in the fourth aided in part by a Pacific Grove error. The Bulldogs had baserunners in five of the seven innings, including the leadoff man in four of them.
Seth Hernstedt allowed just five hits and two earned runs in 5 ⅔ innings, and Shane Callison pitched 1 ⅓ innings of scoreless relief. Sobrato was limited to four hits, receiving one each from Callison, Thomas Martinelli, Tyler Pina and Nathan Medeiros. Pina also had a walk, but Sobrato left six runners on base. The Bulldogs will lose some key seniors in Medeiros, William Conn and Wil Nikitas, but they will return a vast majority of their starters for next season.
