TheLounge
03-20-2007, 03:27 PM
When über reporter Emanuel Lee filled me in on the details of the Half Moon Bay-Burlingame baseball game Friday night, I lamented it was a shame that the teams didn’t get to play each other one more time.
After a look at the Bay Division schedule, they will meet one more time — April 27. Each team in the Bay Division faces each other three times. Hopefully the rivalry hasn’t faded by then but the way the first two games went this season, that Wednesday matchup at Half Moon Bay could be a barnburner. The Cougars beat Burlingame, the odds-on favorite to win the Bay Division title, 1-0. Friday, the Panthers returned the favor with a 10-1 win, a game in which the Half Moon Bay manager was ejected for arguing a call at the plate and then continuing his harangue into the parking lot.
In fact, there could be fireworks all season long. Although it’s way early in the season —*they just completed the first week — there are only 14 league games and teams can’t afford to get off to slow starts.
So far, both Menlo School and Mills are 2-0, Burlingame and Half Moon Bay are 1-1 while Capuchino and Menlo-Atherton were swept in league play last week and are 0-2. Menlo is riding a six-game winning streak and has allowed only six runs during that span. In fact, of their two losses this season, both are to Santa Cruz, a perennial Central Coast Section title contender.
Mills, meanwhile, is proving that the move from the Ocean to the Bay Division can be done. The Vikings have won five straight, including a two-game sweep of Menlo-Atherton and haven’t lost since a 7-1 setback to Riordan in the Vikings’ second game of the season. They are knocking the slobber out of the ball, averaging 9.2 runs per game during their streak.
The next two weeks could determine who will be the team to beat. Menlo and Mills go at it twice this week while Burlingame gets Menlo School next week. The Vikings and Panthers don’t hook up until after Spring Break. All three will face each other one last time in the final couple weeks of the season and I’m saying right now the Bay Division championship won’t be decided until the final week of the season.
***
The PAL softball season starts today and barring an upset of enormous proportions, Carlmont will again reign.
The Scots head into league play with a 7-0 mark and just won the gold division of the Circle of Champions tournament in Salinas —*including wins over Leigh (3-2), Notre Dame-Belmont (3-0) and San Benito (8-1), the team that eliminated the Scots in the CCS semifinals last season. All three are contenders for CCS titles.
In seven games this season, the Scots have allowed only three runs while scoring 25 of their own. They return the reigning Bay Division Pitcher and Player of the Year in Ashley Chinn, as well as the Offensive Player of the Year, Kelly Cunningham. On top of that, they lost only one starter from last year’s squad.
***
So, how are you’re brackets? Here’s an update on mine:
• I won 26 of 32 first-round games and got 11 of 16 into the Sweet 16, which puts me in a tie for first place among eight involved in the pool.
• I still have all four of my Final Four picks alive and well —*Florida, UCLA, Ohio State and Georgetown.
• My best upset pick was Winthrop over Notre Dame in the first round, one of only two people to make that pick.
• The biggest surprise so far is that three people picked USC to upset Texas.
• The worst move was by one guy who picked Stanford to reach the Elite 8 and another had the Cardinal going to the Sweet 16. Ouch.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117. What do you think of this column? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.
After a look at the Bay Division schedule, they will meet one more time — April 27. Each team in the Bay Division faces each other three times. Hopefully the rivalry hasn’t faded by then but the way the first two games went this season, that Wednesday matchup at Half Moon Bay could be a barnburner. The Cougars beat Burlingame, the odds-on favorite to win the Bay Division title, 1-0. Friday, the Panthers returned the favor with a 10-1 win, a game in which the Half Moon Bay manager was ejected for arguing a call at the plate and then continuing his harangue into the parking lot.
In fact, there could be fireworks all season long. Although it’s way early in the season —*they just completed the first week — there are only 14 league games and teams can’t afford to get off to slow starts.
So far, both Menlo School and Mills are 2-0, Burlingame and Half Moon Bay are 1-1 while Capuchino and Menlo-Atherton were swept in league play last week and are 0-2. Menlo is riding a six-game winning streak and has allowed only six runs during that span. In fact, of their two losses this season, both are to Santa Cruz, a perennial Central Coast Section title contender.
Mills, meanwhile, is proving that the move from the Ocean to the Bay Division can be done. The Vikings have won five straight, including a two-game sweep of Menlo-Atherton and haven’t lost since a 7-1 setback to Riordan in the Vikings’ second game of the season. They are knocking the slobber out of the ball, averaging 9.2 runs per game during their streak.
The next two weeks could determine who will be the team to beat. Menlo and Mills go at it twice this week while Burlingame gets Menlo School next week. The Vikings and Panthers don’t hook up until after Spring Break. All three will face each other one last time in the final couple weeks of the season and I’m saying right now the Bay Division championship won’t be decided until the final week of the season.
***
The PAL softball season starts today and barring an upset of enormous proportions, Carlmont will again reign.
The Scots head into league play with a 7-0 mark and just won the gold division of the Circle of Champions tournament in Salinas —*including wins over Leigh (3-2), Notre Dame-Belmont (3-0) and San Benito (8-1), the team that eliminated the Scots in the CCS semifinals last season. All three are contenders for CCS titles.
In seven games this season, the Scots have allowed only three runs while scoring 25 of their own. They return the reigning Bay Division Pitcher and Player of the Year in Ashley Chinn, as well as the Offensive Player of the Year, Kelly Cunningham. On top of that, they lost only one starter from last year’s squad.
***
So, how are you’re brackets? Here’s an update on mine:
• I won 26 of 32 first-round games and got 11 of 16 into the Sweet 16, which puts me in a tie for first place among eight involved in the pool.
• I still have all four of my Final Four picks alive and well —*Florida, UCLA, Ohio State and Georgetown.
• My best upset pick was Winthrop over Notre Dame in the first round, one of only two people to make that pick.
• The biggest surprise so far is that three people picked USC to upset Texas.
• The worst move was by one guy who picked Stanford to reach the Elite 8 and another had the Cardinal going to the Sweet 16. Ouch.
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117. What do you think of this column? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.