Baseball and softball teams making strong showing in CCS
playoffs
No matter what happens in the Central Coast Section baseball and
softball playoffs this week, the Tri County Athletic League has
already been a huge winner in the tournament.
Baseball and softball teams making strong showing in CCS playoffs
No matter what happens in the Central Coast Section baseball and softball playoffs this week, the Tri County Athletic League has already been a huge winner in the tournament.
That’s because both San Benito High School’s baseball and softball team advanced to the tournament semifinals as did both Gilroy High squads.
The result is that the TCAL was the only league in the entire section this season – the perennial powerhouse West Valley Catholic League included – that had two of its teams advance as far in the tournament in both sports.
After press time on Thursday the No. 2 Balers softball team squared off with No. 6 seeded Gilroy High at PAL Stadium in San Jose.
On Wednesday night after this edition had already made its way to the printer the No. 3 seeded Baler baseball team squared off against the tournament’s No 10 seed in the Division I bracket, Santa Teresa, in San Jose.
A win there and an upset by No. 5 seeded Gilroy over No. 1 seed Valley Christian on Wednesday night could pave the way for an all TCAL final in Division I baseball.
“Two TCAL teams in the semifinals in baseball is impressive,” San Benito High coach Michael Luna said. “A lot of people were saying that it was going to be a rebuilding year for both of us. And many people had us fighting for third or fourth place in league and we ended up tying for the league championship.”
Luna cited the strength of the league for the solid showing in the 2007 playoffs.
“Gilroy, Palma and Salinas are extremely competitive,” Luna said. “Our league has strong competition. I really think that has something to do with why we are still playing.”
San Benito’s 6-5 win last Saturday over No. 6 seed Bellarmine in the quarterfinals allowed the Balers to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2002 – the year they lost to Serra.
Gilroy advanced by picking up a 2-1 over No. 4 seed Wilcox on the same day.
While the Balers had a good chance to advance to tomorrow’s championship 7 p.m. game at San Jose’s Municipal Stadium, the odds of Gilroy High ousting the top seeded Warriors – a team with a number of future starters on NCAA Division I teams – was not as good.
“Gilroy has a couple of pitchers that could give Valley Christian some problems,” Luna said. “That lefthander (Jacob) Dexter is good, but he’ll almost need a flawless game to beat them. But it’s only a one-game series so anything is possible. If this were a seven-game series, I feel confident that we would beat Santa Teresa, but anything can happen in a game.”
Softball
Although Gilroy High has strong hitting, a sound defense and good pitching, it was expected that San Benito High would be able to squeak past its archrivals in the section semifinals to set up a showdown with either No. 4 seeded Watsonville or No. 1 seeded Carlmont in tomorrow’s championship game at PAL stadium in San Jose.
But that doesn’t mean that Baler softball coach Scott Smith wasn’t concerned heading into Thursday night’s showdown with the Mustangs.
“It will be the third time this year that they faced us,” Smith said. “When you play a team that many times, you can surprise them the first few. After that, they practice, planning for it.”
San Benito High won both regular season games this year against Gilroy.
In looking ahead to the finals – if San Benito High advanced – Smith had confidence in seeing his team go up against either Watsonville or Carlmont.
During the regular season, the Balers shutout Watsonville twice by scores of 5-0 and 2-0. And although San Benito High lost to Carlmont 7-3 the only time they faced each other this season – it was almost by design – as Smith was planning for a possible showdown with the Scots in the playoffs.
“Marissa [Ibarra, team’s top pitcher] didn’t play,” he said. “We also batted J.C. [Clayton] from the right side instead of the left, to mix things up a little.”
That’s should be a scary consideration for the Carlmont coaching staff considering the numbers that both of those players put up this year.
Ibarra was arguably the best pitcher in the entire section. Heading into the game against Gilroy, she had 19 shutouts, 30 wins and 25 complete games for the Balers. At less than 1.00, her ERA is one of the lowest in the state. She also has more than 200 strikeouts to her credit this season and four no-hitters.
Clayton batted .610 in league to go along with her 36 stolen bases. Her average was the highest in league history.
