TheLounge
04-30-2007, 10:51 PM
As is usually the case at this time of year, the Serra baseball team is in position to claim yet another West Catholic Athletic League championship and is one of the best — if not the top — team in the Bay Area. The Padres’ schedule bears that out. They’ve beaten Valley Christian twice this season — a team that was ranked No. 5 in the nation by StudentSports.com and No. 1 in the state by CalHiSports.com. They’ve also beaten De La Salle (ranked No. 9 in Northern California by CalHiSports.com) and Bellarmine (No. 15).
The Padres (20-4) positioned themselves for their seventh WCAL championship in 10 years, thanks to a two-game sweep of Valley Christian and Bellarmine over the weekend. The Padres pounded the Warriors 14-1 Friday and came back with a come-from-behind, 10-7 victory over Bellarmine on Saturday. The two wins keeps Serra in a first-place tie with Valley Christian with two games left to play in the regular season.
Coming into the season, the Padres weren’t expected to do much. They had a bunch of no-name players and they couldn’t possibly contend for any kind of titles, right? Wrong. Once again, Serra is proving the only change is the names on the roster. The results — winning — pretty much stay the same.
“I love it,” Jensen said. “I love the fact we’re the underdogs. We’re not considered to be in the hunt at the start (of the season). But we are at the end. People underestimate us year in and year out.”
The two victories give the Padres a 12-game winning streak. With a league title in their sights, as well as the WCAL and Central Coast Section tournaments looming, a slip-up now could be disastrous.
“If it was two weeks earlier, shoot, we could afford to lose,” said Serra manager Pete Jensen. “Now, we can’t afford to lose. There are no guarantees. That’s what I told the kids [Monday] — [today] is the biggest game of the year.”
The Padres finish up the regular season this week — today at home against Sacred Heart Cathedral and Saturday night against Mitty at the Oakland Coliseum.
The emergence of the lower part of the Padres’ batting order cannot be overstated. The first five batters carried the team through the first half of the season. Now the likes of Brad Stirling, Anthony Armanino and Kevin McEntee, a junior varsity call-up, are driving the team. Against Bellarmine, for example, the top five batters in the order were 2 for 12. The bottom four were a combined 8 for 13.
“They’ve improved. They’ve worked at it. They haven’t accepted the fact that they can’t get better,” Jensen said.
The Padres need to be firing on all cylinders if they want to reach their goals. As far as Jensen is concerned, the biggest goal is winning the WCAL title. Anything after that is gravy.
“I just want to be the WCAL champion,” Jensen said.
Serra has done that quite often recently. The Padres were co-champions in 2006, 2004, 2003, 2001, 1998 and won an out-right title in 1997. CCS, however, has been a different animal. In that same time frame, the Padres have made the finals twice — losing in 2002 and winning it all in 1998. They’ve reached the semifinals four other times, reached the quarterfinals twice and have been bounced in the first round two other times.
Jensen has the perfect story to put CCS in perspective. Last year, after sharing the WCAL title with Bellarmine, the Padres advanced to the CCS semifinals against a Valley Christian team they had beaten twice in the regular season and once in the WCAL playoffs. On this day, however, the Warriors got the better of Serra by a score of 1-0. Just like that, the Padres’ season was over.
“Does that make them the better team?” Jensen asked. “No. It means another good team beat us on that day.
“I think it takes a lot more to win our league. In CCS, you’re playing two games a week for two weeks. … You can get by with one-and-half pitchers. In our league, you can’t do that. You need at least three (pitchers).”
Jensen also has a different mentality when it comes to CCS. Like every other team that makes the playoffs, Serra is looking to win the whole thing. He manages the team based on that concept, meaning that he is looking at CCS as a four-game series.
Two years ago, Serra was the No. 2 seed and was knocked off in the first round by No. 15 Santa Clara, which went on to make the finals. Jensen started Taylor Larson, the Padres’ No. 3 starter that season and were beaten 3-1. It wasn’t Larson’s fault — he allowed only two runs on three hits in five innings of work. It was his day to pitch and Jensen had just as much faith in him as he did any of his other starting pitchers.
“We’ve been criticized before because we start our No. 3 [pitcher]. People say we take public school teams lightly. We’re setting up (our rotation) to win four games. We’re not going to take it one game at a time,” Jensen said.
It’s hard to argue that logic. Just about any No. 3 pitcher in the WCAL is going to be as good — if not better — than most teams’ No. 1 or No. 2 hurler.
That doesn’t mean Jensen or Padres take CCS losses lightly. They just know that over the course of a season, they are one of the top programs in the Bay Area. One loss at the wrong time of the season doesn’t change that. Besides, the Padres have experienced a tremendous amount of success in CCS. Since 1977, the Padres won five CCS titles (1984, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1998) and compiled a record of 56-21, a .727 winning percentage.
In fact, if you want to know how highly regarded the Padres are, consider this: When De La Salle High was putting together its Dave Stewart/Oakland A’s High School Baseball Showdown to be held at the Oakland Coliseum Saturday, a showcase to raise money for inner city baseball, Serra was the first team De La Salle called. That is quite a compliment considering such luminaries as Valley Christian, Los Gatos, St. Francis and Mitty were also invited.
The Spartans and Padres have developed quite a non-league rivalry over the last couple years and Jensen considers it an honor that De La Salle called him first.
“I’m proud of the fact that we’re probably the best (high school) baseball organization in the Bay Area,” Jensen said. “I have no problem saying that.”
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.
The Padres (20-4) positioned themselves for their seventh WCAL championship in 10 years, thanks to a two-game sweep of Valley Christian and Bellarmine over the weekend. The Padres pounded the Warriors 14-1 Friday and came back with a come-from-behind, 10-7 victory over Bellarmine on Saturday. The two wins keeps Serra in a first-place tie with Valley Christian with two games left to play in the regular season.
Coming into the season, the Padres weren’t expected to do much. They had a bunch of no-name players and they couldn’t possibly contend for any kind of titles, right? Wrong. Once again, Serra is proving the only change is the names on the roster. The results — winning — pretty much stay the same.
“I love it,” Jensen said. “I love the fact we’re the underdogs. We’re not considered to be in the hunt at the start (of the season). But we are at the end. People underestimate us year in and year out.”
The two victories give the Padres a 12-game winning streak. With a league title in their sights, as well as the WCAL and Central Coast Section tournaments looming, a slip-up now could be disastrous.
“If it was two weeks earlier, shoot, we could afford to lose,” said Serra manager Pete Jensen. “Now, we can’t afford to lose. There are no guarantees. That’s what I told the kids [Monday] — [today] is the biggest game of the year.”
The Padres finish up the regular season this week — today at home against Sacred Heart Cathedral and Saturday night against Mitty at the Oakland Coliseum.
The emergence of the lower part of the Padres’ batting order cannot be overstated. The first five batters carried the team through the first half of the season. Now the likes of Brad Stirling, Anthony Armanino and Kevin McEntee, a junior varsity call-up, are driving the team. Against Bellarmine, for example, the top five batters in the order were 2 for 12. The bottom four were a combined 8 for 13.
“They’ve improved. They’ve worked at it. They haven’t accepted the fact that they can’t get better,” Jensen said.
The Padres need to be firing on all cylinders if they want to reach their goals. As far as Jensen is concerned, the biggest goal is winning the WCAL title. Anything after that is gravy.
“I just want to be the WCAL champion,” Jensen said.
Serra has done that quite often recently. The Padres were co-champions in 2006, 2004, 2003, 2001, 1998 and won an out-right title in 1997. CCS, however, has been a different animal. In that same time frame, the Padres have made the finals twice — losing in 2002 and winning it all in 1998. They’ve reached the semifinals four other times, reached the quarterfinals twice and have been bounced in the first round two other times.
Jensen has the perfect story to put CCS in perspective. Last year, after sharing the WCAL title with Bellarmine, the Padres advanced to the CCS semifinals against a Valley Christian team they had beaten twice in the regular season and once in the WCAL playoffs. On this day, however, the Warriors got the better of Serra by a score of 1-0. Just like that, the Padres’ season was over.
“Does that make them the better team?” Jensen asked. “No. It means another good team beat us on that day.
“I think it takes a lot more to win our league. In CCS, you’re playing two games a week for two weeks. … You can get by with one-and-half pitchers. In our league, you can’t do that. You need at least three (pitchers).”
Jensen also has a different mentality when it comes to CCS. Like every other team that makes the playoffs, Serra is looking to win the whole thing. He manages the team based on that concept, meaning that he is looking at CCS as a four-game series.
Two years ago, Serra was the No. 2 seed and was knocked off in the first round by No. 15 Santa Clara, which went on to make the finals. Jensen started Taylor Larson, the Padres’ No. 3 starter that season and were beaten 3-1. It wasn’t Larson’s fault — he allowed only two runs on three hits in five innings of work. It was his day to pitch and Jensen had just as much faith in him as he did any of his other starting pitchers.
“We’ve been criticized before because we start our No. 3 [pitcher]. People say we take public school teams lightly. We’re setting up (our rotation) to win four games. We’re not going to take it one game at a time,” Jensen said.
It’s hard to argue that logic. Just about any No. 3 pitcher in the WCAL is going to be as good — if not better — than most teams’ No. 1 or No. 2 hurler.
That doesn’t mean Jensen or Padres take CCS losses lightly. They just know that over the course of a season, they are one of the top programs in the Bay Area. One loss at the wrong time of the season doesn’t change that. Besides, the Padres have experienced a tremendous amount of success in CCS. Since 1977, the Padres won five CCS titles (1984, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 1998) and compiled a record of 56-21, a .727 winning percentage.
In fact, if you want to know how highly regarded the Padres are, consider this: When De La Salle High was putting together its Dave Stewart/Oakland A’s High School Baseball Showdown to be held at the Oakland Coliseum Saturday, a showcase to raise money for inner city baseball, Serra was the first team De La Salle called. That is quite a compliment considering such luminaries as Valley Christian, Los Gatos, St. Francis and Mitty were also invited.
The Spartans and Padres have developed quite a non-league rivalry over the last couple years and Jensen considers it an honor that De La Salle called him first.
“I’m proud of the fact that we’re probably the best (high school) baseball organization in the Bay Area,” Jensen said. “I have no problem saying that.”
Nathan Mollat can be reached by e-mail: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 117.