Burlingame baseball making the most of a bad situation

Additionally, it’s still a natural-grass field with real dirt base paths and has ivy-covered fences in the outfield. It looks and feels much more than just a high school ball park.

Last week, I traveled to Washington Park for the Hillsdale-Burlingame matchup. As I approached the first gate to the grandstands along the first-base line, it was not only closed, but locked. Went to the center entrance — same thing, closed and locked with a chain. I checked the final gate along the third-base line and it too was closed and padlocked.

What is going on?

Then I found out what was going on. A Burlingame player had stepped through a rotted-out board on the south end of the stands. I knew this was beyond the scope of the school because there were signs on each locked gate from the city of Burlingame.

“He was just standing there (when the board broke),” said Burlingame athletic director John Philipopoulos. “I immediately made a phone call to make sure then young man was OK, then we notified the city.”

Philipopoulos said the accident happened March 24 and the city immediately closed the grandstand that was originally built in the 1930s. Philipopoulos said there is no concrete deadline for when work on the stands will be completed, but it most certainly won’t be done before the end of the season.

“It’s completely out of our control,” Philipopoulos said. “We are, essentially, a renter of the facility. We don’t have a say on the repair or the timeliness of them.”

While the stands are closed, games are still being played with fans sitting and standing along the foul lines — Burlingame fans down the left-field line and visiting fans down the right-field line, in what is the visiting team’s bullpen area.

Philipopoulos said he sent emails to Bay Division athletic directors asking them to tell their teams and fans about the situation.

“The kids, coaches, the families have handled it really well,” Philipopoulos said. “Everyone is resigned to the fact that it’s not great, but these things do happen. They’re making the best of the situation that is in front of us.”

While not having much impact on PAL Bay Division games, the closure will impact the Central Coast Section playoffs. As the current Bay Division leader, Burlingame has an excellent chance at hosting at least a first-round playoff game. Philipopoulos said he is already working on contingency plans.

“[The work] won’t be done in time for the playoffs, so I called down to CCS and if we’re fortunate enough to host (a playoff game), we’d have to do it at another district school,” Philipopoulos said. “I’ve reached out to Capuchino. We have a good working relationship.”

Hopefully that Menlo dad was not the parent of a senior player because the Knights and their fans did not get the full Washington Park experience when the Knights played there April 15.

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There is some sad news to report. Pete Harames, who guided the Capuchino boys’ basketball team to the 1995 Division IV state championship game and led the Burlingame boys’ basketball team to its first-ever CCS title in 2013, his first year with the program, died Tuesday.

He was 80 years old.

“Just a great guy,” Philipopoulos said. “He was the right guy at the right time (for Burlingame basketball). He did a great job.”

A 1963 Capuchino graduate, Harames led the Mustangs to a pair of CCS championship games — falling 76-73 to Valley Christian in double overtime in the 1995 Division IV title game. In 1998, Riordan beat the Mustangs for the Division III crown, 53-33.

Harames spent two stints coaching at Capuchino. He stepped down in 1987 after seven years before returning in 1990, leaving again after the 2000 season.

More than a decade later, he returned to the sidelines for Burlingame beginning the 2012-13 season. The Panthers went 12-0 in capturing the PAL South championship and then held off a late charge to beat Santa Cruz 54-51 in the 2013 CCS Division III final. He would spend six seasons with the Panthers, retiring for good at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.

Harames won more than 325 games varsity games as head coach.

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The Peninsula Athletic League Bay and Ocean division swimming championship were held last week and five new PAL records came out of the Bay Division competition.

Burlingame swimmers set three of the records. The swimmers included Justin Chiang, who is now the fastest swimmer in PAL history. He set a new record in the 50 free, becoming the first PAL swimmer to crack the 21-second barrier as he won in a time of 20.98, eclipsing the former time of 21.27 set by El Camino’s Nathaniel Macapagal, set in 2019.

Chiang also beat Macapagal’s record in the 100 free. Macapagal swam a 46.98 in 2019, with Chiang setting a new mark with a time of 46.44.

Chiang’s teammate, Benjamin Gilbert, won the 100 fly in a new record time of 49.90, shaving nearly a second off of the former record of 50.85, set by El Camino’s Jeremy Tan in 2022.

Mills’ Dylan Yang broke the oldest record in the PAL record book when he claimed the 200 free in a time of 1:38.62. That smashed the previous record of 1:42.42 set by Burlingame’s Wyatt Butler in 2010.

On the girls’ side, Burlingame’s Alexa Chang claimed the 100 back in a record time of 55.14, breaking the previous best of 55.32 set by San Mateo’s Emma Lepisova set in 2018.

The Central Coast Section qualifying meet is scheduled for Thursday (girls) and Friday (boys), with the CCS championships scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Saturday. All events are at Independence High School in San Jose.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.