Carlmont baseball routs Sacred Heart Prep in Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division opener

As such, Granato wasn’t really surprised by the final result: a 10-2 Scots’ victory.

“We just got 16 of our 26 guys on Monday (from football),” Granato said. “These kids haven’t been on the field together in over a year. … [Carlmont] is a good team. … I just know what type of players they are.”

The win was special for new Carlmont manager Ryan Hamilton, who picked up his first PAL win as he replaces longtime former manager Rich Vallero.

“It was a good win,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton may have waited longer than he would have liked before becoming comfortable as the Scots had a chance to do damage early, only to have to wait until later in the game to break it open. The Scots scored a run in the first, but left the bases loaded. They scored four in the fourth, but again left the bases loaded.

In all, Carlmont left 13 runners on base.

On the other hand, the Scots had a plethora of base runners. Not only did the Scots bang out 12 hits, they were also aided by 13 walks — five of which were intentional. Add in three SHP errors and Carlmont had 28 runners reach base.

“It took us a while to get the bats going,” Hamilton said. “That’s been the season — starting late.”

With the way Carlmont starter Cam Scholl was pitching, the Scots only needed a few runs to support him as he was nearly unhittable. He worked the first five innings, throwing just 55 pitches, allowing just one hit. SHP’s Andrew Rocha hit a slow roller to shortstop the bottom of the third inning. Carlmont third baseman Brady Greene cut in front of shortstop Aidan Kurt, which was the only shot at getting Rocha at first. Greene bobbled the ball and Rocha was safe. The only other Gators’ base runner to reach during Scholl’s stint came when Peter Desler reached on an error in the second.

“Cam was lights out. We knew he had it in him,” Hamilton said. “He was able to locate his fastball. He’s struggled to locate on both sides of the plate.”

Scholl said he knew early on he was in the zone.

“Today was a good day, mentally and physically,” Scholl said. “I felt I was invincible when I got that first out (of the game, a strikeout).”

Scholl took that mindset to the plate as well, as he provided some of the biggest hits of the day for the Scots. He went 3 for 4 with a team-leading four RBIs, including a three-run homer in the top of the fifth that turned a 7-0 lead into a 10-0 lead.

Tripp Garrish added two RBIs on a pair hits; JP Avila, Collin O’Driscoll and Greene all drove in run, while Jack Vanoncini added two hits.

SHP got RBIs from John Adrian Dioli and Conor York, with both runs coming in the bottom of the seventh inning.

While Hamilton may lament his team’s slow starts, the Scots did get on the board early, scoring once in the top of the first inning. After Tanner Van Why was robbed of a hit on a diving catch by SHP right fielder Teddy Purcell, Vanoncini got the rally started with a double down the left-field line. He came in to score on Garrish’s RBI single to right to put the Scots up 1-0.

The Scots then played station baseball to score four more runs in the fourth as they sent 10 batters to the plate. They scored four runs on just two hits in the inning, but were aided by four walks in the inning and a pair of Gator errors. Scholl drove in the first of the inning with an infield hit, Avila drove in a run when his hot shot to third could not be handled, and then back-to-back, bases-loaded walks to O’Driscoll and Greene capped the rally, with Carlmont leading 5-0.

Carlmont all but iced the game in fifth, scoring five more runs. The first five batter of the inning reached base, with Garrish plating his second run of the game with a single.

But the big blow was Scholl’s blast over the fence in left field.

“That was just icing on the cake,” Scholl said.