PAL’s top baseball honor goes to King’s Johnson

Meanwhile, the Pitcher of the Year honor went to Capuchino senior Declan Mendel.

Johnson, a senior first baseman who is primarily catcher for his travel team, was one of the top offensive players in the Bay Division this season. He batted .377 and was second with a .688 slugging percentage. He was second in extra-base hits with 14, including five home runs and nine doubles, and was second in the division in RBIs with 30.

He is also the first player from King’s Academy to continue his playing career at a Southeast Conference (SEC) school when he moves on to the University of Missouri.

As for Capuchino’s Mendel, he capped a four-year varsity career with his best season. In nearly 77 innings in 12 appearances, Mendel posted a sub-1.00 ERA, finishing at 0.91, tops in the Bay Division this season as he went a perfect 9-0 on the season. Of the 18 runs scored against him, only 10 were earned. He struck out 78 while walking 14 as opposing teams batted just .159 against him.

Through his four-year career, Mendel went 21-8 with a career ERA of 1.60.

The Bay Division Manager of the Year award went to Menlo-Atherton’s Jordan Paroubeck.

In the Ocean Division, two shared the Player of the Year honors — Menlo School’s Jack Freehill and Woodside’s Cruz Torres, both of whom just finished up their junior years. Torres was second in the Ocean Division in batting at .443, just behind teammate Hunter Taylor’s .448 average. Freehill was 12th at .354. Both hit a pair of home runs and both were top-10 in slugging — Torres at No. 3 with a .625 average and Freehill coming in at No. 7 with .535. Torres led the Ocean in RBIs with 28, while Freehill was seventh with 20.

They were both top-5 in runs scored, as well, with Freehill scoring 31 times and Torres finishing with 26.

At the end of the day, Torres’ numbers were slightly better than Freehill’s, but Freehill was the spark at the top of the Menlo batting order that led to Ocean Division, CCS Division V and Nor Cal Division IV championships this season.

The Ocean Division Pitcher of the Year went to Freehill’s teammate, Jackson Flanagan, who is also a rising senior. Flanagan is not the most imposing pitcher on the mound — until he starts throwing. He threw the most innings in the Ocean Division, by far, finishing with 81 1/3 innings. The next closest was Half Moon Bay’s Kai Kung, who pitched 63 innings.

But Flanagan was not just an innings eater. He was third in ERA at 1.69 as he led the division in wins, compiling an 11-3 record on the year, the most wins in the PAL this season and three wins better than anyone else in the division. He went the distance four times and shut out the opposition three times — including the Nor Cal opener, when he went six shutout innings, scattering five hits with six strikeouts in a 2-0 win over Las Lomas-Walnut Creek.

Two Ocean Division managers shared that honor. No surprise that Menlo’s David Trujillo was one of them after leading the Knights to the Ocean Division title. The other manager was Terra Nova’s Jared Milch, who led the Tigers to a surprising second-place finish despite playing all their games on the road this season as a new baseball facility was being built at the Pacifica school.

The Lake Division Player of the Year honor went to a member of the now two-time Lake Division champion South City, with pitcher/third baseman Gio Bernal garnering the honor.

A rising senior, Bernal finished just shy of the .400 mark batting, settling for .398, with 19 extra-base hits, including a division-leading 15 doubles. His .641 slugging average was fourth in the division, with teammate Emilio Oseguera leading the way at .701.

The Warriors went 1-2-3 in the RBI department, led by Bernal’s 47. Gabriel Martin was second with 40 and Oseguera third with 31. Bernal was also tops in runs scored, as his 50 runs scored were 12 better than teammate Martin, who had 38. Bernal also tied for the division lead in stolen bases, tying with Martin, again, with 23 each.

Crystal’s Brandon Ma earned the Lake Division Pitcher of the Year honor as the Gryphons stayed in the race for the Lake Division title until the final weeks of the season, eventually settling for second place behind South City. Ma led the division in all the major pitching categories and was one of the best pitchers in the entire PAL.

He led the division in wins and was third in the PAL, overall, going a perfect 8-0. His 0.69 ERA not only led the Lake Division, but was also tops in all of the PAL as he allowed just six earned runs on the season. His 91 strikeouts was also the most in the entire three-division league — but there has to be some concession to the quality of opponents at the various levels of the PAL.

The Lake Division Manager of the Year went to Crystal’s Jay Alvarez.

For the complete PAL All-League list, go to smcoe.org, click on the “Peninsula Athletic League” button and scroll down to “Current League Information.”

WCAL champ Serra has 10 named to all-league teams

Despite being the West Catholic Athletic League champs, Serra was shut out of the league’s major awards and settled for five players named to the first team, three to the second and two others earning honorable mention.

Not surprisingly, senior shortstop Ian Josephson, who put up numbers to be in consideration for Player of the Year honors, instead earned a first-team nod after finishing second in the WCAL in batting with a .487 average. He tied for the league lead in homers with seven, tied for fifth in RBIs, with teammate Davis Minton, with 25 and led the league in runs scored with 37. He was second in slugging (.582) and stolen bases (25) as well.

Valley Christian senior Quinten Marsh was named WCAL Player of the Year, who was the only one who bettered Josephson in the major offensive categories.

The WCAL Pitcher of the Year honor also went to a Valley Christian player, with Brock Ketelsen earning the nod.

Davis Minton, along with younger brother Aaron Minton, Tyler Harrison and Evan Bradshaw all joined Josephson on the WCAL first team as Serra and St. Francis finished with the most players on the first-team list with five each.

Riley Lim, Nate Hui and Aiden Waters were Padres named to the second team, while Jack Armstrong and Richie Calderon were honorable mentions.

For the complete WCAL all-league list, go to wcalsports.org and click on the “awards/records” button.