P-Town walks off to claim Section 3 Juniors crown

Instead of going home, Pacifica is heading to Rocklin for the Northern California state tournament, beginning Saturday. Pacifica rallied from a one-run deficit to walk-off Newark in the Section 3 winner-take-all title game Wednesday evening at James Logan High School in Union City.

“I told them (after the loss to San Lorenzo) we already won four in row,” Pacifica manager Neils Petersen said. “No reason we can’t do it again.”

Playing through the losers’ bracket of the four-team tournament, Pacifica stayed alive by routing District 57 champ Bollinger Canyon-San Ramon, 14-0, and advanced to the championship series by beating San Lorenzo, 11-6. Pacifica then held off Newark 7-6 in Game 1 of the championship series Tuesday, setting up Wednesday’s if-necessary game.

Wednesday, Pacifica scored twice in the bottom of the third and starting pitcher Nate Hari did a high-wire act, working in and out of trouble to make those two runs stand up until running into trouble in the sixth inning.

Newark would score three times in the sixth to take a 3-2 lead on a dramatic and, at the time, frustrating bounce for Pacifica. Newark got a leadoff double from Luke Cassingham and back-to-back walks to Rhys Bull and Tavares loaded the bases with no outs, ending the outing for Hari.

Coach Petersen turned to Luke Petersen, his son and game’s starting shortstop, to get Pacifica out of the jam. He retired the first two batters he faced, bringing up Newark catcher Daniel Guzman. He jumped on a 2-0 pitch that looked like a routine single to left.

But the ball hit something in the outfield grass, causing it to take a huge hop over the head of the Pacifica left fielder for a three-run triple.

“It was just a bad break,” Coach Petersen said.

But the drama wasn’t over. Down to its final at-bat, Pacifica rallied for the win. No. 2 hitter Robbie Johnson led off the inning by drilling a triple over the left fielder’s head to put the tying run 90 feet away. Dom Paulsen didn’t make anyone wait long to tie the game as the catcher laced an RBI single to left to drive in Johnson.

But Paulsen wasn’t done. With Elijah Hermosillo at the plate, Paulsen took off for second, easily stealing the bag and getting in scoring position. Hermosillo would eventually draw walk. With Elijah Mora-Feldman at the plate, Paulsen and Hermosillo pulled off a double steal and, just like that, the winning run was now 90 feet away.

“The pitcher was slow to the plate and we wanted to put pressure on the defense,” Coach Petersen said. “[Paulsen] can move.”

And again, Pacifica didn’t wait. Mora-Feldman swung at the second pitch, lifting a high, arcing ball toward third base. The Newark third baseman, shortstop and left fielder all converged on the ball, but no one could make the play, with the ball dropping just fair, and Paulsen scoring from third to end the game.

“Great baseball game,” Coach Petersen said. “When that bad break happened (in the top of the sixth), they didn’t quit.”

And it would have been very easy to do. For five innings, Hari prevented Newark from getting the big hit, getting a lot of help from his defense. In the top of the first, Newark got an infield hit from Guzman, but he was erased when Paulsen threw him out trying to steal second to end the inning.

With one out in the second, Hari walked Jayden Nguyen before Aidan DeHaro reached on an infield hit. But Hari got out the jam when Luke Petersen fielded a grounder, went to second himself before throwing on to first to complete the 6-3 double play and end the inning. Hari retired the side in order in the third, punctuated by a strikeout. In the fourth, Newark got a leadoff single from Chase Tavares, who was sacrificed to second. But Hari got a flyout and line drive right to Mora-Feldman in right to end that threat.

“[Hari] hasn’t pitched a lot (this summer). He’s pretty locked in at shortstop,” Coach Petersen said. “He was focusing on what’s going to help him throw strikes instead of guessing what could happen. Focus on fundamentals; compose his mind.”

With Hari moving out from shortstop, it was Luke Petersen who shifted from second to short and handled the switch flawlessly, vacuuming up any ball hit his way. At one point, a Newark parent encouraged his team to hit the ball: “just not to the shortstop.”

Meanwhile, the Pacifica offense scratched out a couple of runs against Newark starting pitcher Preston Gaoteote in the third inning and it was the bottom of the order that got the rally going. With one out, No. 8 hitter Santy Contreras reached on an error and was balked to second.

Following a pop out to second for the second out of the inning, No. 10 hitter in the continuous batting order, Ethan Tam, came to the plate and hit a slow roller up the third-base line.

The Newark third baseman charged in, fielded it and threw to first, but it was in the dirt and the first baseman couldn’t make the scoop, enabling Contreras to score for a 1-0 Pacifica lead.

That was followed by Pacifica’s first hit of the game as No. 11 hitter Sean Bazanez laced a sharp single right to drive in Tam for a 2-0 lead.

“I kept 14 kids on this team and some maybe thought that was a couple too many,” Coach Petersen said. “But every single one of those kids has contributed in a major way.”

Newark had a chance to get on the scoreboard in the fifth as Gaoteote walked to lead off the inning. Nguyen followed and hit a flare into the gap in shallow left-center field. Pacifica centerfielder Johnson couldn’t make a diving catch and left fielder Hermosillo fielded the loose ball and fired back into the infield.

Nguyen rounded first and headed to second, with Hari alertly firing to Luke Petersen covering second, slapping a tag on Nguyen and the ump calling him “out” on a bang-bang play for the first out of the inning. Hari got a strikeout to get out of yet another Newark threat.