Menlo School back to CIF Northern California baseball’s big dance

The Knights (22-10) not only rode the big sophomore to their third straight Central Coast Section championship. Menlo will now play for their second straight Nor Cal championship, advancing to Saturday’s title game at top-seed Roseville.

“Three years in a row going through CCS and into Nor Cal championship, I don’t know if I’ve been a head coach that long, but that’s compliments to that team right there,” Knights manager David Trujillo said.

Plamondon is now 3-0 with a save through four playoff appearances.

“[Relieving] is definitely different from a start, because when I start, I’m trying to go six innings, seven innings,” Plamondon said. “So, I’m not really trying to throw it harder, I’m just trying to throw strikes and let them hit it. Now ... I want to be Mason Miller. I want to be gross. Like, I don’t want them to touch the ball and hit it in play.”

Plamondon’s pickoff move was certainly helpful in this respect.

His first pickoff came in the sixth, with runners at the corners and two outs. With the runner at first dancing toward second base to draw a throw, Plamondon obliged him, but first baseman Matthew Majalya read the play perfectly and, when the runner from third broke home, Majalya fired a strike to catcher Chuck Wynn to nail the runner at the plate.

Then, in the seventh, junior Noah Nonato singled through the middle to put the tying run at first base. But, after the Hornets (18-14) entered a pinch-runner for Nonato, Plamondon used some lightning-fast footwork to catch the runner napping.

“I honestly thought I threw it past Matthew Majalya at first base,” Plamondon said. “I thought [the runner] was going to take three, because I think I went a little too fast on that one.”

Plamondon’s pickoff move was right on the money, though. The confusion came from Majalya racing to the bag to accept the throw, and hopping over the runner after applying the tag. The first-base umpire had to juke out of Majalya’s way, only adding suspense to the moment, before pumping his fist with the out call.

Plamondon went on to strike out the final batter with a called strike three with a heavy fastball at the knees.

“We’re going to go into Sacramento and we’re going to try to win a Nor Cal championship again,” Plamondon said.

Sophomore starting pitcher Liam Widner earned the win, working 5 1/3 innings. Senior shortstop Jack Freehill got Widner’s back on defense with several rangy plays, and long throws across the diamond while smartly relying on the synthetic turf to deliver charity one-hoppers to first.

Freehill also knocked in both Menlo’s runs at the plate. Amid a scoreless tie in the third, Zach Roeder drew a one-0ut walk. Then Freehill laced a double up the left-center gap, allowing Roeder to score all the way from first.

“I was surprised,” Roeder said. “I was expecting them to catch that, or at least have a shot to catch it. So, I wasn’t sprinting right away. But then once I saw there was no shot, I was just dead sprint to home. ... That was an impressive swing of the bat from him. Oppo, line drive, in the gap. That’s really hard to do. ... Great piece.”

The Knights added on in the fifth. The bottom of the order set the table, with junior Battle Scott getting hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. Junior No. 9 hitter Logan Tran followed by attempting to bunt Scott over. But after fouling off two bunts, Tran did it the old-fashioned way by lining a single to right. Roeder followed with a bunt, deadening it nicely up the third-base line, so nicely in fact he beat it out for an infield single to load the bases.

Freehill followed with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 2-0.

“He’s a Division I shortstop, and probably going to play at the next level past that,” Trujillo said. “So, he’s been our leader all year — for all four years. ... An absolute stud, and we wouldn’t be here without him, for sure.”

The Knights thought they had another run on the board when Wynn hit a grounder to the left side of the infield. Alameda got the ball to second baseman Erik Paulsen for the second out, but Wynn beat out Paulsen’s throw to first. After Alameda asked the umpires to confer on the play, however, it was ruled Roeder, on his slide into second base, made contact with Paulsen, and Wynn was ruled out at first for an inning-ending double play, nullifying the run that had crossed the plate on the play.

Menlo stranded two runners at third in the game, and had another runner, Freehill, ruled out on an attempted steal of third. Following his RBI double in the third, Freehill got a big jump and beat the throw to third by plenty, but was tagged out after sliding past the bag.

Plamondon’s first pickoff play loomed largest in the game, though. Bryson Edwards led off the inning for Alameda with a single. Archer Schullstrom then doubled home Edwards. After Widner finished his day by striking out the Hornets’ No. 3 hitter, Plamondon entered, and with his first pitch uncorked a wild pitch to the backstop to move Schullstrom to third with one out. After a groundout and a walk, the Knights cut down the front end of the double-steal attempt.

“We take pride on our defense,” Roeder said. “We work hard during practice. So, we like to see it show on the field.”

Menlo is now 16-1 in playoff games over the last three seasons with Trujillo at the helm. The Knights advanced to the 2024 Nor Cal Division V finals, in Trujillo’s first season, and fell to Woodland Christian. Last year, Trujillo led Menlo to its first-ever Nor Cal baseball title in Division IV, getting back at Woodland Christian in the semifinals with a 15-11 extra-inning victory, before topping Santa Clara 2-1 in the finals.

Saturday’s first pitch at Roseville is scheduled for 4 p.m.