The key to a good, healthy baseball rivalry is proximity. Teams playing in the same city or adjoining city where the players, coaches and fans all know each other make for the best drama.
Such was the case when Belmont traveled to take on San Carlos in a Peninsula Joe DiMaggio matchup Thursday evening. The teams' home parks - the Belmont Sports Complex and San Carlos' Burton Field - are approximately three miles from each other and the teams feature players from Carlmont and Serra high schools facing each other on opposing teams. The "Blue and the Gray" it's not, but it's as close to a civil war as it can get when these two teams meet.
Thursday's game was no exception. Both teams locked up in a classic pitchers' dual between Belmont's Nick San Filippo and San Carlos' Brian Belli. When the dust had settled, Belli and San Carlos were victorious, 4-1.
"We're all friends here but we want to beat each other," said San Carlos' Chris Armanino, a Serra graduate who drove in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth.
With all the Serra and Carlmont players being represented on both teams, it was a pair of Sequoia players who made the difference. San Carlos leadoff hitter Mike Rivera scored two runs - including the game-tying and go-ahead runs - and cleanup hitter Wade Reynoso launched a San Filippo fastball over the fence in left field for a two-run bomb to give San Carlos some breathing room as San Carlos struck for three runs in the sixth.
"I wasn't really looking (for a fastball)," Reynoso said. "I hadn't been doing too well (in the game) so I thought (San Filippo would) throw junk. When I saw the fastball, I jumped on it."
Reynoso said it was easier for him to concentrate than perhaps most of the other players. As a Redwood City resident, he doesn't have any emotional ties to the rivalry.
"I'm not from here. I'm more relaxed," Reynoso said. "I'm not trying to win the game. I'm just trying to do my best."
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With the score tied in the bottom of the sixth and one out, Rivera hit a dribbler behind second base that neither the Belmont second baseman nor the shortstop could get to. Dan Descalso followed and hit a shot to Matt Wulf at first base. But with Rivera running on the pitch, Wulf had to settle for a force out at first for the second out of the inning.
Armanino came up and, on an 0-2 pitch, rifled one into the left-center field gap to plate Rivera with the go-ahead run. Reynoso followed with his home run to left to give San Carlos a 4-1 lead.
"He was throwing me mostly curveballs (early in the game)," Armanino said. "I was kinda looking curveball and I got it."
The three-run lead was more than enough for Belli who pitched a complete game. He struck out the last two Belmont batters to complete a four-hit, one-run, nine-strikeout effort.
It wasn't easy, however. Belli was in and out of trouble all game long. He got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and shook off a leadoff double in the fifth by stranding the runner at third.
"Our guy threw a gem," said San Carlos manager Bud Papadakis. "A 16-year-old kid painting (the corners) like that? He kept them off balance all game long."
San Filippo might have been even better until that fateful sixth. The graduating Carlmont senior gave up just one run on four hits through five innings, striking out four along the way.
Belmont scored its lone run in the fourth when Matt DeAlba rifled a 1-1 pitch over the left-field fence to put Belmont up 1-0. It was a short-lived lead, however, as San Carlos tied the score in the bottom of the frame when an Armanino groundout scored Rivera from third, who had doubled to lead off the inning.
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