Panthers’ title drought over

The victory gives Burlingame its first Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title since 2012.

“[It feels] really good,” said Burlingame manager Shawn Scott, who was in just his second season as manager the last time he led the Panthers to the Bay Division championship. “We lost it on the last day (of the season) a couple years — to Carlmont, lost it to Cap one year on the last game.

“It’s just the breaks.”

Win or lose, Burlingame (11-3 PAL Bay, 18-5 overall) was assured of a division crown. The Panthers came into the final day of the Bay Division schedule with a one-game lead over second-place King’s Academy. The Knights shut out Sacred Heart Prep 4-0 Friday afternoon, meaning the Panthers needed to beat the Mustangs to avoid sharing the division championship.

And for six innings, it looked as if the Bay Division would celebrate co-champions as Capuchino starter Ryan Burton kept the Burlingame bats quiet for most of the game. After Capuchino (6-8, 17-11) scored twice in the first inning, Burton pitched like that would be enough. The Panthers managed to get a runner to third base only twice in the first six innings, with a pair of doubles being the hardest hit balls as the Panthers managed just five hits through six innings.

But Burlingame finally strung some hits together in the seventh. Neil Girdhar, the No. 7 batter, doubled to the left-center field gap and Drew Lyons followed with a single to put runners on the corners, ending Burton’s day.

Grayson Howard greeted Capuchino reliever William Stevens by bidding for a bunt base hit. He was called out on a close play at first, but Girdhar scored from third to cut the Panthers’ deficit in half, 2-1.

Leadoff hitter Eric Gee came with a single with put runners on the corners again and Jackson Howard walked to load the bases.

Stevens got the second out on a pop fly shortstop to bring up Burlingame clean-up hitter Dylan Kall. He proceeded to flip a two-run double into the left-center field gap to drive in both Lyons and Gee to give Burlingame a 3-2 lead.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been up in a situation like that before,” said Kall, a senior. “I just tried to slow the game down. … I had been pitched outside all game long, so I was looking for it — outside fastball.

“I felt it was a good barrel.”

Suddenly Burlingame starter Luca Scatena, who was facing a hard-luck loss, was now looking at being the winner. His biggest mistake came in the first inning when after Nate Balch led off with a single, Capuchino’s Anakin Manuel put the Mustangs up 2-0 when he yanked a no-doubt-about-it, two-run homer over the fence in left field.

Scatena gave up two hits in the first inning. He gave up only two more the rest of the game, retiring the final seven batters in order to end the game as he threw a complete game.

“Incredible,” was how Kall described Scatena’s outing. “Everything is so dialed in for him. … He has a lot of movement on his stuff. He knows how to get outs.”

Added Scott: “[Scatena] probably made two bad pitches. One is a souvenir. He’s a grinder and he’s not afraid.

Scott had high praise for both starting pitcher.

“Both pitchers were dynamic,” Scott said. “Not good — dynamic.”

Kall said the Panthers’ late rally is something they’ve done on a couple other of occasions this season and when you’ve done it once, you’re confident it can be done again.

“We’ve just always had faith,” Kall said. “We’ve been down before.”

Scott said a team has to embrace the battle and keep fighting. The Mustangs failed to add on after their first two runs, so Burlingame was always just a couple hits away from getting back in the game.

“It’s weird, but you have be able to play from behind,” Scott said. “If you can keep it close, you have an opportunity to string a couple hits together.”

And while the Panthers have finally snapped their title drought, Scott said he felt something about this particular team early in the season.

“It’s not something I talk about, but there was something about this team,” Scott said. “I told them in the spring, ‘Let’s go out and get a division title.’”