San Carlos downs Alpine for Minors Superbowl title

The game had everything fans could want in a title game: back-and-forth drama, strong pitching, clutch hitting, web-gem defense, aggressive baserunning, plenty of oohs, ahhs and applause, along with a dose of “Oh no!” plays defensively.

And when the dust settled, it was San Carlos that emerged as an 8-7 champion at Sea Cloud Park in Foster City.

“Nice battle back and forth,” said San Carlos manager Jim O’Leary. “Everybody has been contributing.”

San Carlos — which went 2-0 in pool play with a 16-2 win over Ravenswood and 15-5 over Half Moon Bay, before beating San Mateo American 9-8 in the semifinal of bracket play — twice rallied from deficits to Alpine Wednesday. It was down 2-0 after the first inning and trailed 5-3 after three.

But each time, San Carlos rallied back. It scored three in the top of the third to take a 3-2 lead before a four-run fifth gave it a 7-5 advantage. And yet San Carlos still found itself tied at 7-all going into the sixth, and final inning.

And for the second game in a row, San Carlos came up with the clutch hit in its final at-bat. Tuesday, it was a first baseman Crosby Irvine who had the walkoff RBI in the semifinal win over San Mateo American.

Wednesday’s final was less dramatic, San Carlos still needed three outs in the bottom of the inning, but it came up with the clutch rally for the second game in a row. Starting pitcher Peter Roberts — who worked the first three-plus innings, giving up just four hits and a couple of earned runs — led off the top of the sixth with a bloop single just over the out-stretched glove of Alpine second baseman Byron Arditi and into shallow right field.

That brought up cleanup hitter Anthony Trejo. On a 2-1 pitch, he swatted an opposite-field drive into the right-center field gap for astand-up, RBI triple and an 8-7 San Carlos lead.

“[The pitch] was a little bit high,” said Trejo, who said he’s never had a game-winning hit before. “I was just trying to get a single.”

“We know what he’s capable of,” O’Leary said of Trejo. “That’s why he bats where be bats.”

In the bottom of the sixth, San Carlos reliever Parker Lucia shut down a potential Alpine rally, with some help from catcher Bryce Baskin and shortstop Joshua Palladino. Lucia took over on the mound in the fourth inning and extinguished an Alpine rally that had already seen it score three runs for a 5-3 lead. Lucia gave up two runs in the fifth as Alpine tied the game at 7-all and was looking to get the win and save in the sixth.

Alpine leadoff hitter Charlie Woodall led off with the craziest sequence ever. A 1-0 Lucia pitch was high and tight, with Woodall squatting straight down to avoid getting hit.

But his bat stayed completely upright and the pitch hit the bat and the ball dropped in fair territory, just in front of the plate.

It took everyone a beat to realize what happened before Baskin pounced on the ball and tagged out Woodall for the first out of the inning.

Paddo McDonough followed for Alpine and was hit by a pitch, but with Arditi at the plate, San Carlos’ Baskin fired a strike to Palladino covering second to throw out McDonough, who was trying to steal second.

A groundout secured the win for San Carlos.

“I knew it would be a close game,” said Alpine manager Dan McDonough. “They got a couple more hits than us.”

Double-digit wins on way to title game

McDonough led a 12-man Alpine squad that mashed on its way to the Minors Superbowl final. Alpine opened with wins of 12-2 over Redwood City and 10-0 over Ravenswood. In the semifinals, Alpine beat Santa Clara Westside 19-6 to advance to the championship game.

And Alpine quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first against San Carlos, but not before Alpine third baseman Woodall made the first eye-popping defensive play of the game as he robbed San Carlos’ Roberts with Woodall making a sliding, ankle-high catch of a short bloop off the bat.

Alpine seemed to take that momentum into the bottom of the frame. Ryan Cole drew a one-out walk and Dempsey Burke was hit by a pitch. A Bobby Kraft bloop single loaded the bases and Ethan Cole drove in Ryan Cole with an infield hit. Woodall drove in a second run on a fielder’s choice to give starting pitcher Burke a two-run cushion.

And the way Burke pitched, it looked like it might be enough. Although he took the loss, Burke tossed all six innings, needing just 67 pitches and scattering nine hits, but only three through the first four innings.

“He was fantastic,” Dan McDonough said. “He kept us in the game the whole way. … He was super efficient.”

Burke certainly got help from his defense. Left fielder Oliver Bruckman made the defensive play of the game as he came charging in on a Connor Prewett bloop to make a diving catch for the first our of the third inning.

San Carlos wouldn’t be denied

But Burke couldn’t completely shut down San Carlos’ potent lineup. It came right back to take the lead in the top of the second, with Lucas Stenquist driving in a run and Palladino plating a pair with a single to right.

Palladino was a factor on the other side of the ball, as well, as he quashed a potential Alpine rally with a sliding, shoe-top catch of his own at shortstop in the bottom of the third.

Alpine retook the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth, using aggressive base running to put pressure on the San Carlos defense. Burke led off the inning with a walk and went around to third on a back-pick attempt that sailed into foul territory.

Kraft followed with a walk of his own and didn’t stop at first. He immediately took the turn and headed to second before stopping halfway. The ball was eventually thrown away, enabling Burke to score to tie the game at 3-all.

Ethan Cole followed with his second RBI of the game and then motored around the bases, scoring from first on a Woodall RBI single, his second of the game, that gave Alpine the 5-3 lead.

But San Carlos answered back again, scoring four times in the top of the fifth, the big hit being a two-run triple to the right-center field alley off the bat of Ezra Newby. Connor Prewett and Tony Davis added RBIs as well.

Alpine then rallied back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to set up the sixth-inning dramatics, with a Drew Masters groundout closing the Alpine deficit to 7-6, followed by Ryan Cole scoring the game-tying run on a wild pitch.

Rounding out the rosters

San Carlos’ roster included: Anders Iverson and Eddie O’Leary.

Alpine’s roster included: Joseph Stepp Singh and Russell Graham.

Editor's note: Oliver Bruckman and Parker Lucia names have been corrected.