Pacifica Intermediates off to fast start as District 52 Little League season begins

While Majors play opens this coming Saturday, the Intermediate 13s tournament opened Saturday at Red Morton Park. The five-team tourney, featuring a 50-70 diamond has seen Pacifica storm out of the gate with two straight wins, opening play at McGarvey Field with a 16-5 mercy-rule win Saturday over San Mateo National, then winning a 4-3 thriller Sunday over Redwood City.

Pacifica right-hander Angelo Vinje locked up Sunday with Redwood City starter Lachlan Morello in a splendid pitching matchup. Both starters were nails to the strike zone, with Vinje emerging on the modified 50-foot distance between the mound and home plate to walk just one batter through five-plus innings.

“It was the biggest difference between last game and this game,” Pacifica manager Isaiah Hermasillo said. “Our first pitcher (Saturday) walked five batters in two innings, and him throwing strikes really settled us in this type of game. ... Throwing strikes is the name of the game.”

While Vinje and Morello each took no-decisions, it was the Pacifica defense that stole the show. Pacifica jumped out to a 2-0 lead after three innings, scratching out single runs with an RBI single from Kelan Mitchell in the second, and Angelo Gallegerillos scoring on an infield error in the third.

Redwood City rallied back to tie it in the fourth on a bases-loaded, two-run single off the bat of DeAngelo Palafox. But the damage could have been much worse if not for the defense of left fielder Otto Sosnowski, who took a hit away from Matthew Molinelli, and the go-ahead runs away from RWC, on a flare to shallow left.

“I thought it was going to drop,” Vinje said, “but he made a good play.”

Sosnowski was shading toward left-center and said he got a bad first step, but made up for it with some serious motor on a direct route in toward the sinking fly ball. He left his feet to make the catch with an all-out dive.

“On that play, it was a popup, so I thought I was going to get there really easily,” Sosnowski said, “but I was shifted a lot to center field. So, I had to run a lot and then dive.”

“He has, by far, the highest baseball IQ of this group,” Isaiah Hermasillo said. “... And he understood — two down, all out, what was there to lose?”

Sosnowski’s defensive gem was one of several stellar plays by Pacifica’s defense, a scenario that seemed unlikely when Isaiah Hermasillo had to shift his infielders around due to starting catcher Marcus Sanderson departing in the third inning with an injury. Because of this, Gallegeillos moved from third base to catcher, Samuel Demchak moved from second to third, and Matthew Harp took over at second base.

“We had an injury today, and that makes me mix my middle infielders,” Isaiah Hermasillo said. “That second baseman has hardly played any second base. ... In the first practice he told me he didn’t play infield, but in that first practice I said I think you can play infield, and you just might. And it happened ... and he looked great out there.”

Pacifica took the lead back in the fifth with Steven Salinas capitalizing after getting hit by a pitch to start the inning. Salinas went on to steal second and third on consecutive pitches. He then scored on an RBI single by Harp with a sharp shot back through the middle.

The run-scoring single knocked Morello out of the game. The right-hander worked 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on three hits, while walking two.

“I thought Laclan pitched a fantastic game,” Redwood City manager Brian Blackburn said. “He challenged the hitters. The great thing was not only was he striking batters out, he forced a lot of weak contact and got out of innings quickly in the beginning of the game. That was really to his credit.”

RWC reliever Declan McLaughlin escaped the jam to keep the game in check at 3-2. But Pacifica’s defense answered in the bottom of the fifth, turning a two-on, one-out jam into an inning-ending double play, as Demchak at third corralled a one-hopper near the bag for the force play, then cannoned across the infield for the twin killing.

But RWC’s murder’s row of left-handed bats made some magic in the bottom of the sixth. The first three batters in RWC’s order all hit left-handed, as do the bottom two batters, giving the lineup five straight lefty hitters when it turns over.

“I love our lefties,” Brian Blackburn said. “The thing is, they all hit well and they’re all really fast. So, having them back-to-back means that if any one or two of them get on, the running game is open. And they can all hit and advance runners. So, it’s great to have all those options with those hitters.”

RWC chased Vinje in the sixth, thanks to an infield error to start the inning allowing Tommy O’Toole to reach. Pacifica turned to Demchak in relief. McLaughlin greeted him with a soft single to left. But Harp at second base followed with a nice play, ranging toward the middle to knock down a hard grounder off the bat of Charlie Lewis and tag second base to get one out. RWC tied it on an RBI groundout to Harp by Coleman Conner to tie it 3-3.

Demchak, though, would close it out with two innings of work to earn the win, thanks to Vinje scoring in the top of the seventh when a balk call brought him home from third base.

In the bottom of the frame, Demchak got the first two outs of the inning on a pair of harmless grounders. Then Molinelli sparked a two-out rally with his legs, beating out an infield hit then proceeding to steal second and third. Morello followed with a walk and promptly stole second, to put the potential tying runs in scoring position.

“That’s always a tough call in a close game in the last inning or two, whether or not steal,” Brian Blackburn said. “And in this situation, I felt like with our fast runners, we had a chance to get that extra base. And if you can get to second base in a one-run game, then you have the chance to tie the game with a hit.”

With the Father’s Day storyline nearly writing itself, Brian Blackburn’s son Logan Blackburn stepped to the plate and struck a ball well to the left side of the infield. Vinje at the hot corner moved nicely to his left to glove it, though, and throw across the diamond to end the threat, and the game.

Pacifica now advances through the winners’ bracket to face San Carlos, Tuesday, at 4 p.m. San Carlos had a first-round bye, then won its Saturday opener 7-6 over Palo Alto with a walk-off victory in extra innings. San Carlos loaded the bases with one out when Cade Ostrander walked, Carson Ettinger singled, and Duke Watson walked. Then with Peter Madigan at the plate, Ostrander raced home on a wild pitch to end it.

San Mateo National and Palo Alto meet Monday in the elimination bracket at 6 p.m. The winner advances to play Redwood City in an elimination game Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.