PAL baseball’s best of the rest

San Mateo’s push for a playoff berth was derailed shortly thereafter. The Bearcats endured a COVID outbreak and five straight losses, four in Ocean Division play, including a death knell of a sweep at the hands of second-place Sacred Heart Prep. But Selvitella — along with an array of players from around the county — still deserves his propers for being an impact player.

Here are some of the San Mateo County players whose seasons are over as their teams didn’t qualify for the postseason, but deserve recognition nonetheless:

Giancarlo Selvitella, junior, San Mateo

San Mateo’s team MVP and a first-team all-PAL Ocean selection as an infielder, Selvitella was a force in the middle of the Bearcats’ batting order all season.

The left-handed hitting second baseman opened the year with a four-hit game against Balboa, at one point enjoyed a 10-game hitting streak, and went on to capture the PAL Ocean Division batting championship with a .433 average, edging out Half Moon Bay senior Jared Mettam, who hit .431, by 2 points.

“His stroke is so nice from the left side,” Bearcats manager Neal Goldstein said. “He’s just a natural hitter.”

Selvitella was a two-sport standout during the 2021-22 school year, also playing quarterback for the varsity football team. He led a balanced attack on the gridiron as a junior, passing for 524 yards and rushing for 548.

“He plays baseball with that football mentality,” Goldstein said. “He dives for every ball. He plays with that kind of hard-nosed FB attitude he dives for every ball … even in practice he always goes hard.”

Martin Chen, sophomore, South City

While the South City Warriors missed the postseason by a significant margin, they still took second place in the PAL Lake Division — a division that garners just one automatic playoff berth — finishing seven games back of league champion Terra Nova. Still, Chen was the catalyst of the Warriors’ season, proving a force both sides of the ball.

As South City’s leadoff hitter, Chen batted .474 and stole 32 bases. He also paced the pitching staff by a significant margin with 69 innings pitched and was dubbed as the team’s “horse” by Warriors manager Matt Schaukowitch.

“He’s a quiet leader,” Schaukowitch said. “He’s not very vocal. But he definitely leads by example. He practices hard, shows up every day … just really does a nice job of leading by example.”

Chen is breathing rare air in the South City baseball ranks as he is still just a sophomore. In Schaukowitch’s three years back at the helm of the program, this is the first time an underclassman has served at the top of the order. This had a major impact in league games as Chen batted over .600 in PAL Lake matchups.

“It was just an amazing attribute to our lineup to put a sophomore in our leadoff spot,” Schaukowitch said.

Tyler Douglass, senior, Hillsdale

Tyler Douglass wasn’t Hillsdale’s leading hitter — that would be Jackson Sierra with a .371 average — but Douglass paced the team with 28 hits while batting an exceptional .354. He also stole 16 bases for the Knights.

Ben Giovannetti, senior, Woodside

Not only did Giovannetti win the PAL Ocean Division home run crown, the senior led the entire PAL in homers. He was also a gunslinger on the mound, totaling 43 strikeouts through 31 1/3 innings pitched.

Giovannetti enjoyed a big finish to his varsity career. Prior to going 0 for 3 in Woodside’s season finale, a 4-0 win over Mills, the senior enjoyed an eight-game hitting streak, six of which were multi-hit games, including four straight three-hit performances and a four-hit game. During the steak he went 20 for 31 with four home runs and 17 RBIs.

Tyler Louie, junior, Jefferson.

Tyler Louie is one of those rare combinations of being both a pitcher and a catcher. In lieu of making the junior reenact that old Bugs Bunny cartoon by doing both at once, Jefferson worked in sophomore Roderick Fontelar behind the plate to allow Louie to pitch more.

“He’s our No. 1 pitcher and No. 1 catcher, which is rare because you can’t pitch to yourself,” Grizzlies manager Adam Kubey said.

While Jefferson didn’t win a game this season, Louie finished with a 0-7 pitching record. But his other numbers belie that record, as he finished with a 1.24 ERA and a team-leading 45 innings pitched. But it was at the plate where Louie enjoyed his highlight moment of the year, connecting with a solo home run against eventual PAL Lake Division champion Terra Nova.

The Tigers swept the three-game series from the Grizzlies, outscoring them 38-2 in those games. Louie accounted for one of those runs, however, with a booming homer to center field at Terra Nova, his only homer of the year.

Matt Maldonado, senior, Mills

Matt Maldonado led the Vikings with a .351 batting average, putting a charge into the lineup with the team hitting at a mere .214 clip. But what could have been for Mills had it not been for a string of injuries to Maldonado, causing him to miss four of the last five games of the season.

Maldonado first injured himself April 30 against San Mateo while making a diving play in center field. He went into a knee slide to make a catch, but when manager Tony Adornetto noticed he was hobbling around after the play, a quick examination revealed Maldonado had a huge gash in his knee from having spiked himself with his own cleat on the play. The injury required seven stiches and forced him to miss the next three games, including the Vikings getting swept by third-place Menlo School, the last team from the PAL Ocean Division to make the CCS playoff cut.

After returning for one game May 12, Maldonado was shut down for the remainder of the year due to a positive COVID test. Still, he was the most potent bat in the Vikings’ lineup this season.

“You could tell the difference between last year and this year, which was better at-bats, hit the ball harder, squared a lot of balls up,” Adornetto said.

Javi Manila, sophomore, Westmoor

Being a .422 hitter with 31 stolen bases is all well and good, but sophomore shortstop Javi Manila made his mark this season, above all else, in the field.

“Basically, it’s his defense that sets him aside from anyone else,” Angelo Manila said. “He’s the best shortstop in our Lake Division.”

Javi Manila’s defensive excellence was on display March 31 when the Rams defeated Crystal Springs Uplands 5-4. It was the seventh inning and the Gryphons were rallying. But with runners at first and third and two outs, Javi Manila saved the day on sharp ground ball up the middle. The sophomore ranged left, nabbed it with an outstretch hand, then changed directions to get the force play at second and end the game, stranding the would-be tying run at third base.

“He saved a number of games but [that one] stood out in a very tight game,” Angelo Manila said.

Joey Pierotti, senior, El Camino

Joey Pierotti earned Daily Journal Athlete of the Week honors in the first week of April for doing just about the greatest thing an El Camino athlete can do — beating archrival South City.

Pierotti went 4 for 4 with six RBIs in an 18-2 win over the Warriors. The multi-hit, multi-RBI production was a common occurrence for the senior, who finished the season leading El Camino with a .403 batting average and 19 RBIs.

On the mound, Pierotti added another feather to his cap in taking down El Camino’s unofficial rival, Terra Nova. With the Colts prevailing 9-8 in the non-league matchup, Pierotti turned in three no-hit innings to earn the win.