Scouts eye Williams in 9-5 win over Westmont
MORGAN HILL — Radar guns creep up at Sobrato High School when Ryan Williams takes the hill.
Collegiate scouts are taking aim at the powerful 6-foot-4 righty, who has two big choices to make in the not-so-distant future: Which school to play for, and which sport to play.
“I’m pretty far from deciding anything,” Williams, the 2009-10 Co-Senior of the Year in Santa Teresa Division basketball, said after Wednesday’s 9-5 victory over Westmont. “I’m not really thinking about it right now.”
He wasn’t trying to be coy. Williams had just given up 11 hits, four earned runs, two walks and hit two batters in an unpolished complete game. He did pick off a runner and strike out six, switching between a mid-80s fastball and a much-improved bender that got Brian Scott’s knees to buckle in the fifth inning.
“He didn’t have his best stuff. He knew it; I knew it, but it was enough,” SHS catcher Alex Davis said. “From the beginning, we sort of knew it wasn’t going to be an ‘A’ game for him, but we’re definitely going to see his best later. He performs his best under pressure.”
Williams (3-1) didn’t feel any of that Wednesday; not with shortstop Bryan Bradley providing three hits and four RBIs, including a two-run homer in the sixth inning, and combining with second baseman Tim Andrade for two double plays.
“I had a tough time finding the zone today,” said Williams, who chipped in two singles and an RBI. “I was a little bit wild, so I just had to focus down and try to get as many strikes as I could. It makes me comfortable knowing we can hit. I just have to put this behind me.”
Overcoming frustration has been the unexpected theme of Sobrato’s season early on. Though favored to win the Mount Hamilton Division pennant, the Bulldogs (4-6 overall, 4-3 league) entered Wednesday’s game after dropping three straight for the first time since opening week a year ago.
It began with a botched fly ball Friday that would have clinched a season-series win over Leigh. Instead, Sobrato lost that one, 5-4, then fell 2-0 Saturday at The King’s Academy and 7-3 Monday at Leland.
“Losses like that stay with you for a couple days,” Davis said of Friday’s defeat. “We felt the hangover effects Saturday and Monday for sure. Tuesday, we kicked it all out and had a great practice.”
The players even held at impromptu meeting early this week.
“When you lose three straight, it’s a wake-up call,” manager Shorty Gutierrez said. “It’s tough to bounce back, but the players took it upon themselves to do it together.
“With Ryno throwing, it helps pick everyone up.”
Against righty Brett Solano (0-3), SHS opened up a 2-0 lead with two outs in the first inning when Bradley singled in Williams, and Timmy Giles scored during a misplayed run down between second base and first.
Giles doubled home Andrade in the third inning, and Bradley followed with an RBI single into the left-center field gap. Bradley finished 3-for-4 batting.
After Westmont (5-5-1, 3-3-1) put two across with consecutive singles by Justin Edgar, Marshall McKinnon and Solano in the fourth inning, the Bulldogs answered with bases-loaded walks drawn by Andrade and Williams in the bottom half to make it 6-2. They put the game out of reach when Bradley launched a 3-1 offering from Josh Jacobsen over the wall in left-center.
Williams watched a two-run homer by McKinnon go over his head in the seventh. He refocused and struck out Solano with his 112th pitch to end the game.
“Nothing gets to Ryno,” Davis said. “We know we don’t need much to win when he’s out there. It’s sort of a bad mentality to have, but if we give him a lead, he’ll take care of it.”
The Warriors will host Sobrato at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
