Peninsula Athletic League baseball and softball teams have engaged in some exciting finishes featuring late-inning rallies and walk-off wins

As high school districts take their spring breaks over the next couple of weeks, the baseball and softball schedules are a little thinner than usual, so I figured now is as good a time as any to highlight some of exciting finishes to county ball games over the first couple weeks of the league season.

Tuesday, March 31

Jefferson scored 8 runs top of 6th to tie Westmoor at 11-all in a PAL Lake Division game, but the Rams scored three in the bottom of the sixth to pull out a 14-11 win.

Friday, March 27

Menlo School rallied from a 2-0 deficit against crosstown rival Menlo-Atherton, tying the game with a run in the bottom of the fifth and then walking off with a 3-2 win following a run in the bottom of the seventh.

Thursday, March 26

Woodside scores tying run in the sixth, and go-ahead runs in both the eighth and ninth innings before beating host Aragon 4-3 in nine innings to avenge a late-inning collapse two days earlier at Woodside.

Wednesday, March 25

Carlmont scores once in the top of the seventh to tie it and again in top of eighth to beat Hillsdale 3-2 in eight innings.

Tuesday, March 24

San Mateo walks off Terra Nova 3-2 with run in bottom of seventh.

In Woodside, Aragon scored three runs in the top of the sixth and three more top of the seventh to rally for a 9-8 win over the Wildcats.

Thursday, March 19

While not a late-inning rally or walk-off win, Sacred Heart Prep made a run scored in the bottom of the first inning stand up for a 1-o win over Half Moon Bay.

Wednesday, March 18

Sequoia rallies to tie TKA at 3-all with a run in top of the fifth, but the Knights push across go-ahead run in bottom of sixth.

In a non-league matchup, Terra Nova jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first against visiting Carlmont, but the Scots would rally to tie the game at 4-all with a run in the top of the sixth inning. The two would play six more innings before the Tigers finally ended the game with a run in the bottom of the 12th.

Tuesday, March 17

Priory rallies from a 3-0 deficit, tying El Camino with a run in the top of the seventh. The Panthers then took a 4-3 lead in the top of the ninth, only to see the Colts rally for a two-run, walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth.

Even Serra has not been immune. after going 9-1 in non-league games and opening West Catholic Athletic League play, the Padres have endured a three-game slide in league play, including a walk-off, 3-2 loss to Valley Christian March 24. The Padres were riding high, having just tied the game at 2-all in the top of the seventh. But the Warriors were the ones celebrating, following the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh.

Softball

Softball has had only one, true walk-off finish, one other that saw a rally come up just short and a third in which one early run was enough.

The craziest finish of all these games may have been in Mercy’s 9-8 decision over visiting Notre Dame-Belmont at Cuernavaca Park in Burlingame March 18. The Tigers jumped out to a big, quick lead, scoring five times in the top of the first inning and eventually building a 7-1 advantage before the Bears came roaring back to tie 7-all with a run in the bottom of the seventh.

NDB retook the lead with a run in the top of the ninth, but Mercy won it with two runs in the bottom.

The day before, San Mateo scored a run in the bottom of the first inning and that was enough to beat King’s Academy, 1-0. And in a March 11 matchup, South City scored four times in the top of the seventh, but Half Moon Bay held on for a 12-10 win.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.