San Carlos Juniors All-Star Rocco Loskutoff ropes a two-run double in the second inning of the District 52 Junior League Tournament Wednesday evening at Burton Park. San Carlos defeated Belmont-Redwood Shores 17-0 to claim the District 52 banner.
They threw a no-hitter. They won a District 52 banner. Yet you wouldn’t know it from the everyday reaction to the final out of the San Carlos All-Stars championship run in the District 52 Juniors Tournament.
It was business as usual for San Carlos as relief pitcher Rocco Loskutoff recorded the final out of a 17-0 mercy-rule victory over Belmont-Redwood Shores Wednesday evening at Burton Park.
San Carlos played hosts on its home turf, outscoring three opponents by a combined score of 49-3 in the tournament. In fact, because San Carlos played as the away team in all three games, and batted around in the first inning of each, at no time did an opposing team bring a tying or go-ahead run to the plate.
“Being the visiting team for all three games in the tournament, we were able to come out in the top half of the first inning and put up a bunch of runs and never look back,” San Carlos manager Steve Magner said. “And these kids can all hit the ball really, really well. They all run the bases well. And they just know how to put runs on the board. So, once we put runs up, we just got in the field and locked it down — good pitching — and were able to secure the wins.”
Starting pitcher Reid Cole and the reliever Loskutoff combined on the shortened, four-inning no-hitter. Cole opened his night by walking Belmont-RWS leadoff man Riku Miwa. From there, San Carlos retired the last 12 batters in a row.
“They were just throwing strikes,” said Logan Mathias, San Carlos’ catcher who had never caught a no-hitter prior to Wednesday. “Throwing hard and throwing strikes, and the batters couldn’t hit them.”
San Carlos starting pitcher Reid Cole combined on a four-inning no-hitter in the District 52 All-Stars Juniors Tournament championship game.
The San Carlos offense took care of the rest. Batting around in each of the first three innings, San Carlos scored six runs in the first inning, eight in the second and three in the third. And while a three-hit game from Henry Massey, along with two-hit performances by Luke Robinson and Tate Cohen certainly helped, it was the San Carlos running game that set the tone.
San Carlos stole nine bases through the first two innings before dialing it back to play station to station in the third inning.
“These kids know how to play baseball, and they know when they got the opportunity to take a base, we’re going to take it every time,” Magner said. “It’s, if you see the opportunity, just go. We’re going to get those runs in. Let’s get out front of the other team and start establishing dominance.”
Loskutoff led San Carlos at the plate through the tournament, batting .636 (7 for 11), and added a line-drive double to drive in a pair of runs with a picturesque swing in the second inning Wednesday.
Robinson hit .545 (6 of 11), while Cole (6 for 12) and Clayton Magner (5 for 10) each hit .500.
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“We don’t really have too many weaknesses when we’re hitting,” Loskutoff said. “A lot of these guys are playing on other travel teams. It’s just every day they’re getting work in.”
No no-hitter would be complete without a superb defensive gem, and Robinson at shortstop certainly provided one with a rangy play in the fourth inning. Anthony Luna hit a slow chopper to the left side of the infield, forcing Robinson to charge hard and make a running throw off his back foot to cut down the runner by a step.
“These kids can make good plays,” Magner said. “They make some plays that are hard look easy. And they do it all the time. So, it’s hats off to them.”
Otherwise, it was smooth sailing for Cole and Loskutoff on the mound. Cole struck out four through two innings of work. Loskutoff totaled two punch-outs in setting down all six batters he faced.
Belmont-RWS got just one ball out of the infield, a short fly ball to Gavin Reynick in right field to end the game
“Our pitchers throw pretty hard, and we were just able to get out in front of the hitters and keep them from getting on base,” Magner said. “And our defense played well behind them when the ball was in play. So, it was just a good effort all the way through.”
As for the no-hitter rule that says no one is supposed to talk about one while it’s in progress, well, evidently San Carlos ain’t all that superstitious.
“It was really fun because they were talking about the no-hitter a lot in the dugout,” Loskutoff said. “So, we all knew it was happening.”
Belmont-RWS posted a 2-2 record in the tournament. In two wins, both over Menlo-Atherton, Belmont-RWS totaled a cumulative score of 23-1.
It was a tough go for Belmont-RWS in the Juniors regular season. The league fielded two teams to play a hybrid regular-season schedule against teams from San Carlos, Redwood City and Menlo-Atherton. The two Belmont-RWS teams combined for five wins, according to All-Stars manager Mark Kraemer.
“We had a really hard normal season for these kids,” Kraemer said. “Both the teams in our league struggled. … And we just have kids that like each other and care for each other and wanted to come through for each other. And that’s actually what got us to this thing.”
San Carlos now advances to the Section 3 Junior League Tournament in Newark. Play in the four-team, double-elimination bracket opens Saturday, July 17 with San Carlos facing the champion from District 57. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m.
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