Athlete of the Week: Capuchino’s Ryan Choi

Cap senior Ryan Choi has been selected as the Daily Journal Athlete of the Week by virtue of turning the Mustangs’ everyday football-field workouts into baseball gold with a game-saving defensive gem in last week’s 7-4 victory at Sequoia.

“This has been a really, really challenging year so far, with not having a field to practice on,” Cap manager Matt Wilson said. “More than half the time we practice on the football field. We make do with what we have — we set up nets, hit off tees, long toss on the football field.”

One other drill Cap’s players run is more akin to a football routine than a baseball one. The Mustangs’ coaching staff can’t hit fungos to the outfielders for flyball practice, so instead, the players line up like football receivers and take turns running down high fly balls thrown high and far downfield.

“The football field is so small, we can’t really take flyballs,” Choi said. “The coach makes us run routes like football. So, they throw it and we’ve just got to run it down and catch it.”

The routine loomed large in last Wednesday’s league-opening victory. With Sequoia batting in the bottom of the second inning, with runners at the corners and no outs, Gavin Murphy hit a long line shot toward the right-center field gap. Choi, patrolling center field, had been shading in several steps, and had to break back in a hurry.

Choi covered the ground, running down the deep flyball, nabbing it while sprinting into the gap with his glove arm fully extended.

“I was playing in because there was going to be a play at the plate,” Choi said. “So, I had to break fast. That ball kept going and going. I’m kind of surprised I got it.”

Max Stallings tagged up from third and scored to make it 2-1, with Murphy being credited with a sacrifice fly. But if not for the superb defensive range of Choi, the hot shot would have likely tied the game and opened the door for a big Sequoia rally.

“It changes it a lot,” Sequoia manager Mike Doyle said. “That was a nice play. … Off the bat, I thought the ball had a chance and then he was halfway there, I saw he had a pretty good bead on it.”

Capuchino starting pitcher Aidan Mendel got his team back in the dugout with the one-run lead intact, and his lineup immediately gave the sophomore right-hander some breathing room with a three-run rally in the top of the third.

Choi jump-started the inning in fine fashion, connecting with a fastball from Sequoia’s ace right-hander Dillon Goetz and depositing it where no outfielder could chase it down — over the left-field fence — for a solo home run.

“I’m stoked right now,” Choi said following the game. “Off the bat, I knew I hit it good, but I didn’t think it would go that far.”

It didn’t hurt Choi was riding high after his defensive gem the previous inning.

“Game of momentum,” Choi said.

Here, too, Capuchino hasn’t had much practice at swinging for the fences. The Mustangs’ current home field at San Bruno Park has nothing but green grass for hundreds of feet in all directions, a layout with which Sequoia is quite acquainted.

In last season’s Central Coast Section Division II playoff quarterfinals, the Ravens found themselves trailing 6-2 in the seventh and final inning. Sequoia — before rallying for seven runs in the seventh to win it 9-6 — had been hitting the ever-loving snot out of the ball all day long, only to record one long flyout after another.

Choi is even better acquainted with the spacious confines. His solo shot against Sequoia was not only the senior’s first homer of the season, it was just the second of his varsity career, the first coming his freshman year at Hillsdale — where, yes, there is a regulation fence.

And, this year, the Mustangs hardly get to take batting practice.

“We can’t take live BP with track running around, and football conditioning,” Wilson said. “So, we know we have to set a tone and get off to a good start (this season), because it will help us with the long run in our season.”

Cap is off to a 10-3 overall start, including a 1-1 record in PAL Bay Division play. Sequoia bounced back in the two-game series, backed by a pitching gem from junior right-hander Jack Lanham, who tossed a two-hit shutout in last Friday’s 2-0 win over Cap at San Bruno Park. Taking the tough-luck losing decision on the mound through six innings of work was none other than Choi.