Playoff hopes grow dimmer for young SHS team that has lost eight of nine after starting 4-2; Acorns suffer similar fate against Cardinals, losing 13-1
Tim Giles took the mound Tuesday at Sobrato High School wishing he was in a different game in a different season.
It was the seventh inning, and Giles had become the third Sobrato pitcher in a nonleague contest pitting the 5-9 Bulldogs against 4-10 Santa Cruz. The 5-foot-10 righty, one of five SHS seniors, was set to face the Cardinals’ second, third and fourth hitters – Dylan Mori, Collin Ferguson and Erik Colombini – who had combined for five runs and two RBIs that day. Giles bit his bottom lip and turned toward the wind blowing in from left field. He faced a blank scoreboard that shorted out three innings earlier, but Giles knew the count. It was 9-3 Santa Cruz, and it would stay that way six outs later as the Bulldogs suffered their eighth loss in nine games.
“I didn’t think we were coming back,” Giles said, being brutally honest. “It was too late in the game. We were down by too much. We let it get away from us.”
That could be the epitaph of Sobrato’s 2011 season. A year ago, the Bulldogs were coming off a run to the Central Coast Section Division II final and poised for similar success. A month ago today, they Bulldogs were 4-2 and riding a three-game win streak with back-to-back triumphs over Live Oak. Both of their losses came against Pioneer, now a half game out of first place in the Mount Hamilton Division, and included a 7-5 decision in which Sobrato nearly overcame a seven-run deficit. The Bulldogs were growing up fast under first year manager Ken Bradley and looking like a dark horse playoff contender. They have won one game since then during a free fall to seventh.
“We showed at the beginning of the year that we have a good, cohesive team. We were kind of built on that,” said assistant coach Bob Straight, who filled in at manager Tuesday because Bradley was unavailable. “We’ve had some tough breaks over the last few weeks, lost a couple close games. We could have been right in the thick of things.”
Tuesday Sobrato was beaten – first mentally, then physically – by a Division III team that had lost four straight and was second to last in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League.
The Bulldogs committed three errors, two during a five-run fourth inning for the Cardinals, and were held to five hits by senior Dominic Elkin, who struck out six, walked two and threw 79 pitches in a complete game. Sobrato’s inexperience showed toward the end of the game, same with a lack of desie.
“It’s definitely turning into a frustrating year. We need to stay focused and get serious,” junior SHS catcher Westyn Herscovitch said. “Our team isn’t being serious right now. It’s good to have fun out there but in a different way.”
Seemingly everybody on the Bulldogs is still serious about making sectionals. To do so, they have to win seven of their final 10 games, all in divisional play.
“That’s going to be tough to do, but it’s possible,” Giles said. “We know we can beat everyone in this league.”
Perhaps so if the Bulldogs played like they did early on, with Eric Guill-Perez singling in the first and third innings and Giles doubling him home during a two-run opening frame. Tanner DiSibio (2-3) retired the first nine batters he faced and collected his three strikeouts before the disastrous fourth inning.
It began with Derick Delucchi and Mori reaching base on errors and scoring in the next two at-bats; Delucchi on Ferguson’s soft single that carried to right, Mori on a passed ball. Colombini plated Ferguson with a sacrifice fly and later scored during a double-steal attempt in which the throw home from second was offline. Ryan Roubal followed with a wind-aided RBI double that was held just inside the third-base line.
“One error kind of kicked things off,” Straight said. “From there, a couple bloop hits, a couple good hits, and before you know it, we’re down 5-2.”
Santa Cruz made it 7-2 in the sixth against Jerry Jacob. Colombini led off with a single and was doubled in by Zach Seftel, who then scored during a bases-loaded five-three putout.
Giles singled home Guill-Perez in the bottom half, but the Cardinals answered an inning later with Ferguson scoring on an error and Seftel on a Roubal single.
“We need to start hitting more and playing better defense,” Zepeda said, not blaming the wind for any of his team’s misfortune.
Giles threw another log onto the fire – pitching.
“I thought Tanner did awesome today, but behind him, we’re not that deep,” he said. “We need to make plays, and we’re not doing that right now. It’s kind of heart-breaking going through this as a senior.”
Santa Cruz 13, LOHS 1
The Acorns suffered a similar fate Wednesday in Santa Cruz.
In a rematch of the 2008 CCS Division III final that Live Oak won 3-2, the Acorns churned out 10 hits but scored only once in the sixth inning after the Cardinals totaled all their runs.
John Forestieri doubled in a two-for-four effort, and Jakob Conlan went two for three with a walk and a pair of singles for Live Oak (6-10), which has lost six of its last eight. Joey Cosentino and Jalen Salazar added doubles.
The Cardinals scored five unearned runs off as many Live Oak errors.
