ST beats ‘Dogs to clinch title
MORGAN HILL — Sobrato coach Ulises “Shorty” Gutierrez sees something special — and familiar — in Santa Teresa’s baseball team.
On Thursday, Gutierrez likened the Saints to the Leigh squad he helped coach to a CIF-Central Coast Section championship nine years ago.
“The formula for a team to win it is to have good pitching, good defense and timely hitting, plus a little bit of trickery and nice plays,” said Gutierrez, now in his fifth season with Sobrato. “We had all of those things at Leigh in 2000. I think Santa Teresa has them, too. I see them doing something special in the playoffs this year.”
Which is why Gutierrez had few hard feelings after Santa Teresa clinched the Mount Hamilton Division title Wednesday with a 4-0 shutout against his Bulldogs.
Behind their ace pitcher, Zach Jones, the visiting Saints completed a sparkling pennant run, moving to 20-4 overall and 14-4 in league play. Jones (12-0) struck out eight and surrendered six hits in as many innings.
“They played to win it,” Gutierrez said. “They made some great plays, and we made a couple mistakes. Our guys know you can’t do that at this level and expect to win; not against a team like that.”
Santa Teresa scattered three unearned runs in the first few innings against Shea Adams (3-2) and another run across in the fourth.
Christian Taylor doubled for the Saints, who totaled six hits.
Despite the loss, Sobrato broke even during a crucial day in the Mount Hamilton. The Bulldogs (14-13, 9-9) moved a game behind Leigh, but remained in a tie for third place with Westmont — winner of a 5-1 contest against Live Oak — and on pace to secure one of the division’s three remaining automatic playoff berths.
Sobrato has three regular-season games left.
“Going into yesterday, we knew we probably had to win two of our final four games to make CCS,” Gutierrez said. “We had a good shot of being in second, but we’re still in control of our destiny, which feels great right now. We’re not safe, though. You never know what’s going to happen with this league.”
Chris Bradley, Billy Birrell and Ryan Williams had two hits for Sobrato, which also received good at-bats from sophomore Aaron Wallace, Gutierrez said.
Adams struck out two in three innings as did reliever Bryan Bradley. A Santa Teresa batter lined a come-backer off Bryan Bradley’s leg in the fourth, but the junior shook it off.
“He even completed the play,” Gutierrez said. “He picked up the ball and threw the kid out at first.
“Bryan really came through for us. We needed him, too, because we moved Shea to catcher.”
Gutierrez plans to keep Adams behind the plate because of his athleticism, but the Bulldogs’ pitching likely won’t suffer; their ace is coming back.
Birrell, who went 8-0 as a junior in 2008, is nearly recovered from a shoulder injury that has kept him off the hill this year. Chris Bradley and Birrell will split duty today at Branham.
“His shoulder is feeling a lot better,” Gutierrez said. “We’re excited to see him get back to pitching.”
