Sports BABE RUTH BASEBALL
Tougher tests ahead for Palo Alto all-stars a shot that easily cleared the bases. However, as Bowes tried to stretch his hit to a triple, Palo Alto conducted a perfect relay from centerfielder Andrew Robinson to shortstop Riley Haught to third baseman Roy Shadmon to gun down Bowes and clinch the championship. “Thank goodness Riley had a great relay throw there to third and we got the last out,� Shenk said. “All I did was turn and go, ‘I hope Roy is covering third,’ and sure enough he was sprinting back to the back so that made my day.� When Shadmon came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Haught in the top of the seventh after doubling to left-center, he had little idea that he would be the game-winning run. Shadmon, reached base in all four of his plate appearances including two hits, scored four times on Saturday. He was a part of a four-run first inning that until Mountain View’s late rally appeared to be all the offense Palo Alto would need. “You score first, you win usually better than 80 percent of the time,� Shenk said. “Getting four in the first inning was huge.� McCabe singled to right to score Kenta Yanagisawa and Shadmon and Obrien helped his own cause by executing a suicide squeeze bunt to score Haught. Obrien’s squeeze bunt was all the more impressive considering that the pitch might have pegged him in the face had he not gotten the bunt down. Spotted those four runs before ever throwing a pitch, Obrien tossed a gem, throwing 5 2/3 innings and allowing just one run. Obrien scattered seven hits, three walks and three hit batsmen by constantly escaping jams, stranding 11 runners, five of them in scoring position. “I had command of my splitter, which was a new pitch for me,� Obrien said. “I’ve been kind of playing around with it but today was the first game I actually threw it, so it was a pretty new deal for me but it happened to work well.� Palo Alto added another run in the third and two more in the fifth as Obrien roped a two-out single into right field to score Shadmon and McCabe. Obrien finished the game with four RBI. The Palo Alto 15s, meanwhile, also had a close call before clinching its district crown on July 8 with a 6-5 win over Bel-Mateo in nine innings at Mountain View’s McKelvey Park. Leftfielder Chris Lee drove in the game-winning run for Palo Alto, driving in Alec Furrier with no outs in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off win. Furrier began the inning with a triple to right-center, Palo Alto’s only extra-base hit of the day. Bel-Mateo then intention(continued on next page)
Roy Shadmon of the Palo Alto Babe Ruth 14-year-old all-stars beats the throw home to score one of his four runs in last weekend’s 8-7 victory over Mountain View in the District 6 championship game at Baylands.
Courtesy Palo Alto Babe Ruth
T
he preliminaries are over for the Palo Alto Babe Ruth 15and 14-year-old all-star teams. Now, the real work begins as both teams head into NorCal State Tournament play this weekend. Both Palo Alto teams tuned up for the next round of postseason play by winning their respective District 6 titles last weekend — both of which were just three-team affairs. On Saturday, both squads begin play in eight-team, double-elimination tourneys. The 15s will open against District 4 champ Washington Manor of San Leandro at Bartholomew Sports Park in Elk Grove at 4 p.m. The winner advances to a Sunday winners’-bracket game at 7 p.m., while the loser will play Sunday at 1 p.m. The Palo Alto 14s, meanwhile, also head into the Sacramento area and will play host Woodland on Saturday at Clark Field at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to a Sunday game at 7 p.m., while the loser will play Sunday at 1 p.m. After the Palo Alto 14s District 6 finale last Saturday, manager Andrew Shenk compared his team to the San Francisco Giants for their tendency to create torturous outcomes that put both the players and spectators through intense fits of nervousness. Saturday’s ending would have made even the King of Torture, Giants’ closer Brian Wilson, proud. Palo Alto nearly blew an 8-1 seventh-inning lead to Mountain View, surrendering six runs before tagging out the tying run at third as Mike Bowes tried to stretch his gapper into a triple. The 8-7 nailbiter win at Baylands earned Palo Alto the district championship. “To go to the state tournament, I’m real excited,� starting pitcher Ellis Obrien said. “It’s one of the best feelings of my life.� It was Palo Alto’s second dramatic win over Mountain View in the district tournament as the team blew a 10-3 seventh-inning lead before winning 11-10 on July 7. “We have some guys that are stuck in Little League because we’re apparently a very good six-inning team,� Shenk said. “Hey, we like to provide a thrilling game.� The route to the championship looked to be far less bumpy entering the final half-inning of play on Saturday as Palo Alto needed to simply continue stranding Mountain View base runners as it had done all day. Instead, relief pitcher Corbin Koch struggled with his control and was the unfortunate victim of a two-base error as six of the eight batters he faced reached base. With two outs, the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, Shenk turned the ball over to Leo McCabe to face Bowes. Bowes launched a 2-0 pitch into the right-center gap,
The Palo Alto Babe Ruth 14-year-old all-stars, managed by Andrew Shenk (top right), will open play in the NorCal State Tournament on Saturday in Woodland against the host team at 7 p.m.
Courtesy Palo Alto Babe Ruth
by Colin Becht
Keith Peters
Palo Alto 15s and 14s head to their respective NorCal State tournaments this weekend after winning district titles
The Palo Alto Babe Ruth 15-year-old all-star team, managed by Ron Friday (right), will open play in the NorCal State Tournament in Elk Grove on Saturday at 4 p.m., after winning the District 6 title. *>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠ Ă•Â?ÞÊ£x]ÊÓ䣣ÊU Page 37