Locals 13U Pony teams will square off tonight for regional
berth; championship round of Santa Clara County Sectional scheduled
to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday
SANTA CLARA — For the local 13U Pony A All-Stars, the only thing tougher than Thursday’s 7-4 loss to Santa Clara in the Santa Clara County Sectional was the aftermath. Only one Morgan Hill team will be going to Regionals.
That is the unfortunate backstory to today’s 5:30 p.m. game at Lou Vierra Field, where the A All-Stars will face the Morgan Hill B All-Stars in an elimination game to decide which team will play Santa Clara for the sectional title Saturday. The two finalists will advance to the Santa Clara and Alameda County Regional tournament in Campbell.
If the A All-Stars won Thursday, the B team would be playing Santa Clara instead with a chance to make next week’s regional a very special one for Morgan Hill.
“The guys are pretty disappointed it came to this,” Morgan Hill A coach Mike Zanotto said. “It’s rough having an all-Morgan Hill semifinal, but we’re going to have to pretend it’s a regular game and a regular opponent.”
The Santa Clara County Sectional has been full of surprises, including several big wins by tournament darling Morgan Hill B. The Santa Clara All-Stars provided the latest twist. They overcame a 3-2 deficit with three unearned runs during a disastrous fourth inning for Morgan Hill A and dealt the Thrill its first All-Stars loss outside of the Bronco World Series in two years.
“We flat out gave them the game,” Zanotto said. “We felt like we were the better team or at least equal. Santa Clara is a class act, a very good group. But, like we told our guys afterward, we played good enough to be in it but not good enough to win it.”
Despite a slow start, the Morgan Hill A All-Stars were in good shape until the fourth inning. There were two outs and nobody on base when disaster struck: a bobbled pop fly in the outfield, a blocked third strike that put men at first and second, an error at second base and another dropped ball in the outfield.
“You can’t give a team seven outs in an inning and expect to win,” Zanotto said.
The A All-Stars had tough luck at the plate as well. They outhit Santa Clara 7-5 but could not land a big one. Morgan Hill nearly tied it in the bottom of the fourth when, with two men on, slugger Mike Porras hit a line drive right to the left fielder.
Seven batters had hits for Morgan Hill, including doubles by Alejandro Torres, Travis Moulden and Patrick Muller.
Torres pitched into the fourth inning and allowed two earned runs, and Porras and Mark Quinby scattered two unearned runs the rest of the way.
Ben Hughes, who will start today, drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.
The championship round begins at 10 a.m. Saturday.
“The expression one coach used last night is, you have to take this out on the next team,” Zanotto said. “Unfortunately, it’s our brothers.”
