Sacred Heart Prep, Half Moon Bay baseball tied atop Ocean Division standings

“I could go for a s’more right now.”

That pretty much sums up the Gators right now, who are looking for s’more wins. SHP won its sixth straight Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division win Tuesday with a 4-2 victory over Half Moon Bay.

“I guess we’re feeling confident,” Chetcuti said after the game. “We’re just having fun.”

But much more importantly, it moved SHP (10-3 PAL Ocean, 14-12 overall) into a first-place tie with HMB (10-3, 15-10) atop the Ocean Division standings.

The two teams will run it back Thursday in Atherton, with both having already secured a Central Coast Section spot by finishing first or second in the division, with the winner claiming the Ocean Division title. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.

“I think [SHP] had more pressure (coming into the game), but we put more pressure on ourselves,” said HMB manager Brian Anderson. “We made a couple of mistakes early … and just couldn’t really recover.”

Considering the way the two starting pitchers were throwing, any mistake was costly. But in the end, it was SHP sophomore Alex Feinstein who out-dueled HMB junior Liam Harrington.

Chetcuti said Feinstein started the season as a closer, but later moved into the starting rotation.

“Phenomenal,” Chetcuti said of Feinstein’s performance. “He had a really rocky start (to the season). He’s earned a starting spot. He’s pitching confidently, hitting his spots.”

Feinstein didn’t blow away the Cougar batters with overwhelming heat. But he had all three of his pitches working and did a masterful job keeping the HMB batters off balance. Feinstein limited the Cougars to two runs on five hits as he worked into the seventh inning.

“He did a good job of changing our sight lines,” Anderson said.

Nolan Wilbur came on in relief following a four-pitch walk from Feinstein and after allowing an inherited runner to score, ended up notching the save.

Harrington ended up being the hard-luck loser, allowing four runs, three of which were earned, on just five hits, striking out five in a complete-game effort.

The game, for all intents and purposes, was decided in the first two innings. After Harrington retired the Gators in order to start the game, the Cougars loaded the bases against Feinstein in the bottom of the first when Trevor Coruccini drew a one-out walk, Will Moffitt singled and Gavin Giacotto reached on an infield hit.

Harrington followed with a sacrifice fly to center, but with Kai Zanette at the plate, Chetcuti back picked Moffitt at second base to end the inning.

SHP got the run right back, however, and tacked on another for a two-run second to take the lead for good. It was the second inning in which things kind of fell apart for the HMB defense.

Harrington did was he was supposed to do: he got the Gators to hit the ball to his defense. Unfortunately, his defense didn’t help him. Chetcuti led off the second and hit a slow chopper up the middle. HMB second baseman Coruccini ranged far to right to field it and tried to throw across his body, but Chetcuti beat the throw.

Luke Renert followed and hit what appeared to be a double-play ball to second base. But the throw to the shortstop covering second base was off target and both runners were safe. Tyler Wong came up and hit a routine grounder to short that went between the shortstop’s legs to load the bases.

Harrington got an out on a popup to short, but Kevin Carney tied the game at 1 when he hit into a fielder’s choice, with Wong out at second for the second out and a run scoring on the play.

With Devin Saltzgaber at the plate, the Gators pulled off a perfect, delayed double steal. Carney broke for second, drawing a throw from the HMB catcher. On the throw, Renert broke from third to score and give SHP a 2-1 lead. Carney was eventually thrown at third, but the damage was done.

“That was huge,” said SHP manager Sean McMillan. “That kept the momentum on our side. It also gave us a little breathing room.”

Said Anderson: “Definitely a little bit of frustration.”After that, Feinstein and Harrington traded zeroes. The Cougars had a hit in each of the first four innings, but could not come up with the clutch hit as the SHP defense turned double plays to end both the second and third innings.

The Gators picked up a pair of crucial insurance runs in the top of the sixth with Andrew Rocha singling to left to drive in Zach Friere, who led off the inning with a walk and stole second. Renert had the other RBI, plating Rocha.

HMB put together one last rally in its final at-bat, scoring an unearned run before the game ended on a fielder’s choice.

“Our goal is to make CCS,” McMillan said. “If we can win league, even better.”

The Cougars, who have led the Ocean Division for almost the entire season, still have a chance at a division championship and Anderson doesn’t care how they do it.“If you give us one game for the league title, I’d take it,” Anderson said. “It should be a fun experience going to Atherton (Thursday).”

Softball

Mills clinches Ocean championship

South City gave the Vikings all they could handle, but in the end, Mills pulled out a 9-8 victory to earn the Ocean Division title with one game remaining in the regular season and holding a two-game lead over second-place Terra Nova.

Mills (10-1 PAL Ocean, 11-6 overall) had to rally for the win over South City (5-6, 7-12), scoring three times in the bottom of the seventh to pull out the win.

The Warriors scored four runs in the top of the third to take a 4-0 lead and added three more in fourth before the Vikings responded with four runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Mills cut the deficit to 7-6 with two runs in the fifth, but the Warriors pushed their lead to 8-6 with a run in the top of the sixth.

Freshman Morgan Chu went 3 for 3 with two triples and two RBIs for the Vikings. Aaliyah Stuart and Myrka Castillo Villegas also drove in two runs apiece for Mills.

Aragon wraps up Bay Division crown

The Dons clinched the PAL Bay Division title with a 10-0 win over Woodside, coupled with second-place Hillsdale dropping a 6-5 decision to Carlmont.