The Sobrato baseball team defeated Leigh 4-0 in the Division II
quarterfinals Saturday in PAL Stadium
SAN JOSE — Is there another CIF-Central Coast Section baseball championship in Morgan Hill’s near future?
A year after Live Oak won Division III’s top prize in 2008, the Sobrato Bulldogs are one win away from playing for the Division II crown, the result of their 4-0 quarterfinal victory over Leigh on Saturday in PAL Stadium.
“It’s a unique experience,” coach Ulises “Shorty” Gutierrez, now in his fifth season at Sobrato, said Monday. “When I first came here, I was surprised — and happy — with the talent I saw in Morgan Hill. This town has a good thing going with baseball.
“What we’ve done so far this season puts Sobrato on the map. It puts Morgan Hill even more on the map, too.”
The No. 2-seeded Bulldogs (19-13 overall) are within striking distance of becoming the first Sobrato team to play for a section championship. They will have a chance to do so at 7 p.m. Thursday in San Jose Municipal Stadium.
Their opponent is No. 14 Willow Glen (23-9), winner of a 7-2 upset over No. 6 Westmont in the quarterfinals and an 8-7 knockout over No. 3 Palo Alto in the first round.
“We have the better seed, but we constantly focus on what we need to do, not who we play,” Gutierrez said. “Obviously, (Willlow Glen) is playing pretty hot now, too. We were in the same division as them last year, so we know what we’re up against. Our guys like that feeling. They have a lot of confidence knowing they can take care of what they need to take care of.”
Saturday the Bulldogs took care of Leigh’s offense, blanking a team that was averaging 6.6 runs a game.
Less than a month after going the distance in a 9-0 win over Leigh (18-14), Sobrato lefty Chris Bradley struck out 11 in his fifth complete game of the season. Bradley (1-0) also batted 2 for 3 with an RBI.
The No. 4-seeded Longhorns, who took 2 of 3 from the Bulldogs during Mount Hamilton Division play, managed four hits.
“We limited them,” said Gutierrez, who was the pitching coach on Leigh’s CCS-championship team in 2000. “We got great defense from (Ryan Williams) at third base, and our outfield chased down balls. Chris dominated the whole way. He kept them off balanced again and threw strikes.”
Sobrato broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth inning, getting a bases-loaded single from Bradley and a three-run double by Williams.
“Offensively, we knew we could get to them,” Gutierrez added.”
Winners in seven of their last eight games, the Bulldogs on Thursday overcame a three-run deficit to rout No. 15 North Monterey County 13-3 in a first-round game at gusty Gavilan College.
It was a rematch from last year’s postseason, when North Monterey County won 4-3 at Sobrato High School. The Bulldogs got revenge — and needed less than six innings.
“I didn’t care if we beat them by one, we just had to beat them,” said Sobrato senior Billy Birrell, who scored twice and went 3 for 4 with a double and a walk. “We all came through in the clutch.”
The visiting Condors (12-18) scored three runs during a mistake-riddled first inning that included a botched pickle and a slew of bad hops.
“It was getting scary,” said the Bulldogs’ Tim Giles, who scored twice, drove in two runs and singled three times. “We were a little nervous — it’s the playoffs. We just had to relax and calm each other down.”
Sobrato pulled even in the second on consecutive RBI singles by Bryan Bradley, Chris Bradley and Birrell.
That was all the support Williams (1-0) needed. The 6-foot-3 junior righty struck out six and retired 12 of his final 14 batters to cap a complete-game five-hitter.
“After that first inning, it’s like Ryno said he’d take care of them himself. He looked very impressive out there,” Gutierrez said. “That’s exactly what we ask of our starters.”
Williams got help from Birrell and Tim Andrade, who turned a 4-6-3 double play to retire the side in the third. Williams drove in Kaleo Correa on a sacrifice fly, and David Rotter scored on a past ball as the Bulldogs pushed ahead 5-3 in the bottom half.
Sobrato batted through the order and exploded for five more runs in the fourth. Giles and Bryan Bradley singled in two apiece. Williams laced a bases-loaded triple to deep left field in the sixth, ending the game by 10-run rule.
The Bulldogs totaled 14 hits.
“They went after us like they had something to accomplish,” North Monterey County coach Tim Gower said. “After last year, we expected them to come out with a little bit of fire today. They look pretty determined right now.”
