Coming up to bat with runners on the corners in the seventh inning doesn't sound as good as coming up in the bottom of the ninth, but it meant essentially the same thing when Burlingame High School's Anthony Arrechea came to the plate with one out in the bottom of the seventh and slapped a bouncing single over the Sacred Heart first baseman's head to score Richard Spadaro from third for the 5-4 win.
"It felt pretty good," said Arrechea of his game-winner, then quickly excused himself to join his teammates in putting away equipment.
Burlingame (2-1) led 4-2 going into the seventh, but Sacred Heart's David Herman led off the inning with a bunt single, advanced to second on pitcher Patrick Brady's wild pitch, and scored on Connor Kelly's single. Kelly advanced to second on a passed ball and scored the tying run on Ian Stan's shot to left for a double.
The Panthers were facing their second extra-inning game in two weeks, following a 14-inning, 6-5 win over Lowell High School. But it was not to be, starting with Jeff Schwartz's leadoff walk to start the Burlingame seventh.
Pitcher Stephon Gartrell came in to steady the ship, and threw out Schwartz at second on Spadaro's sacrifice bunt attempt. Spadaro then stole third, and the next batter, Steve Donati, walked before Arrechea came up and hit the game winner.
The Panthers scored two runs in the first, the first coming when shortstop Kenny Bowden walked and third baseman Scott Feldman, last years PAL-Bay batting champion, smoked a double over the right fielder's head to put men on second and third.
Bowden scored and Feldman went to third on a wild pitch. Garrett Riddle walked, and when he was picked off the bag at first, Feldman was able to go home while Sacred Heart focused on Riddle in the rundown.
Recommended for you
"We had our fastest guy on first and our slowest guy on third, and I thought 'great' -- but it worked," said Burlingame Head Coach Rich Sciutto to Riddle (who set Burlingame school records last season with eight doubles and four triples) after the play.
The Panthers got two more in the fourth when Riddle doubled and was singled in by Michael Lambrechs, who scored from third later in inning on a wild pitch.
Burlingame pitcher Chase Gonzales started the game and gave up two runs in 32/3 innings before being removed after reaching a pre-set pitch count. Brady replaced him and got the win.
Sciutto sees his team finishing near the top of the pack in this year's PAL-Bay, along with Aragon, San Mateo, and Terra Nova, which he sees as the potential frontrunner.
"We're trying to raise our level of play all over, but our hitting is starting to improve, and that's a big thing," said Sciutto, who pointed to Feldman, Riddle, and first baseman Marc Caviglia as the main offensive threats on the team.
Feldman will also be the top pitcher on the squad in his after making all-league as a junior last year. He will start tonight when Burlingame hosts Serra High at 7 p.m.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.