San Carlos rallies back to claim District 52 Seniors championship banner

All’s well that ends well, though, as Massey reentered to pitch in relief, and worked 5 2/3 innings as San Carlos rallied for a 9-8 win in extra-innings to claim the District 52 16-and-under banner.

“He started it, closed it out, and he got the game-winning hit,” San Carlos manager Mark Reynolds said. “So, I would say Cal was the MVP of the game.”

Oh yeah, Massey also had the game-winning knock with an RBI single in the eighth inning to drive home Logan Deitrich from third.

“Everyone just ran onto the field,” Massey said. “It was a pretty awesome feeling.”

It was like deja vu all over again for Massey, who both started and closed the same game two years ago for his San Carlos Juniors regular-season team.

“I’ve done it before,” Massey said. “It was a couple years ago and it was basically the same result. ... So, not the first time I’ve done that.”

But, it was the first time the 14-year-old left-hander attached a championship win to the feat, even though it didn’t come easy.

San Carlos fell behind 4-1 in the third when Palo Alto send nine batters to the plate. Carter Quintero had a two-run single to give Paly the lead, and Rex Martin followed with a double to get the carousel turning for a bases-loaded walk to Edward Chen.

What followed was a back-and-forth that would foreshadow the wild finish. San Carlos scored one run in the bottom of the third, Paly answered with two in the top of the fourth, San Carlos scored one in the bottom of the fourth, and Paly responded with one run in the top of the fifth to maintain a 7-3 lead.

“It’s a good solid group of hitters and solid defenders, and I felt like once we got through that first pitcher, we could reset and get back into this,” Reynolds said.

Chen, the Palo Alto starter, departed after 3 1/3 innings in the fourth. San Carlos pounced in the fifth, but not without a big hiccup. Mason Stevick led off with a double to left-center, but got thrown out at third trying to stretch it into a triple. But Massey reignited the offense with a single to left.

Massey later scored on a wild pitch, and Julian Levenson singled home Spencer Johnson to make it 7-5. An RBI single by Oliver Connelly made it a one-run game. Connor Murray followed with an RBI double to deadlock the game at 7-all.

“I just feel like the dugout just came alive with the energy,” Reynolds said. “So, I think that really helped. And then we had just a couple hard hits and we survived. So, it was a great comeback.”

San Carlos had to come back once more after Palo Alto produced a run via the ghost runner in the top of the eighth. Quintero came up with the RBI single to make it 8-7, but Massey kept the game within reach by getting the next batter to fly out to retire the side.

“We were ready to score runs,” Massey said. “We knew what we had to do. We were all very electric, we were all pumped up ... just, again, as a team, supporting each other and just bringing energy.”

With one out and the ghost runner at second, Deitrich singled to right, with the throw going home late as Ryan Evert slid across to tie it 8-8. On the throw, Deitrich moved up to second, a crucial 90 feet after Stevick grounded out to advance him to third.

Then Massey send a hard grounder over the middle that proved nearly impossible for the shortstop to corral with a backhand. He did get a glove on it to knock it down, but because Deitrich was at third he scored easily.

“It was kind of a low ball and it had just a funky hop and was going just right up the middle, but those hops at that field can just be really tough,” Reynolds said.

The District 52 Seniors tournament was in essence a three-game series. San Carlos and Palo Alto were the only two teams in the tourney. San Carlos won Saturday’s series opener 2-1. Palo Alto bounced back Sunday with a 10-0 victory.