Serra opens playoffs as No. 1 baseball team in CCS

So, a super-charged dog-pile is by no means a guarantee. The Padres did dog-pile after their regular-season finale, a 12-0 victory over Riordan. But, it was simply for effect, as Serra had already clinched the WCAL outright three days prior.

“We told them before the Tuesday game: ‘Hey, if we win this game, we’re not going to go dog-pile,’ because we wanted to guarantee a solo share of the WCAL,” Padres coach Mickey McDonald said. “We didn’t want to tie ... so, we’ll dog-pile on Senior Day when we have control of our own destiny.”

In the hours after that Tuesday, May 6 win, 13-0 victory at Riordan — clinching no less than a co-WCAL title — Serra found out it had won the title outright when second-place St. Francis lost its night game against St. Ignatius.

“So, it was kind of weird,” McDonald said. “Before Senior Day even started, we had already clinched the solo share of it. But we didn’t know that after the Tuesday game because the St. Francis game didn’t start till 6.”

It’s the first time Serra has clinched back-to-back WCAL championships since 2012 and ’13. Maybe it was the McDonald magic that did the trick, as those ’12 and ’13 seasons were his junior and senior years. He returned to Serra as a coach last season, and has now gone a perfect 4 for 4 as a WCAL champ in his four varsity seasons, two as a player and two as a coach.

This year’s Padres team was an unlikely powerhouse, however, in that the team’s identity was up in the air to start the season. Serra graduated 19 seniors in 2024, including a majority of its starters. The only surefire starter heading into 2025 was senior shortstop Ian Josephson, and even he had some question marks, as he played third base last season and dealt with some injuries at the end of the year.

“We knew this year was going to be a group of a lot of players that really hadn’t had any experience at the varsity level,” McDonald said.

Two-way player Davis Minton was in a similar situation. Penciled in as a starter this season, he hit just .200 as a junior last year while pitching in 14 games, all in relief. The rest of the lineup was built on senior third baseman Evan Bradshaw, a role player in 2024; senior catcher Jack Armstrong, who backed up his brother Ian last year; and senior center fielder Tyler Harrison, who totaled just 11 at-bats his junior season.

“This year, having Tyler Harrison, Evan Bradshaw and Jack, all of whom were juniors and didn’t play too much, they all really stepped up and answered the bell as far as they carried the team, and went about it the right way,” McDonald said.

From the start, though, the bedrock of the 2025 Padres has been its pitching. Junior right-handers Riley Lim and Kelley Crawford opened the year as rotation staples, and Minton joined the starting staff at the outset of the WCAL schedule, and has gotten stronger and better with each start. Junior right-handers Hate Hui and Aiden Waters have been the stalwarts out of a bullpen that has proven as effective as it is deep.

Serra owns a 2.33 staff ERA heading into CCS.

“I feel good about our depth,” Padres manager Mat Keplinger said. “I feel like our roles have started to solidify themselves and, in general, we’re going to continue to do what we do with going with the best matchup, and kind of ride the hot hand.”

Keplinger was openly critical of Serra’s offense in the opening week of the season, but the team has come on strong, currently hitting .311 as a team.

Josephson has been the spark at the top of the batting order since the season opener. He is currently the second best hitter in the WCAL with a .495 batting average, and leads the Padres in each of the triple crown categories with seven home runs and 22 RBIs.

“He was, day one, penciled in at shortstop, 1-hitter,” McDonald said. “Never even talked about changing it. That’s the easiest spot to write in our lineup every game, is Josephson batting first, playing short.”

Josephson’s defensive play at shortstop — with a .962 fielding percentage — has been remarkable. He had some big shoes to fill in this respect, as 2024 graduate Michael Perazzo was one of the flashiest sure-handed shortstops in Serra history. Perazzo’s bolt-from-the-blue senior season carried over to the NCAA Division I level, as he hit .307 as a freshman starting shortstop at Sacramento State this season, while on defense etching a .953 fielding percentage.

In the case of Josephson — a Division I commit to St. Mary’s College — the bat is the standout tool.

“Josephson’s bat is the real deal,” McDonald said. “I think he’s going to play for a very long time. He can really, really hit. ... He just understands, like, how pitchers are trying to get him out, and he knows he’s the guy every team is circling him in the lineup ... and the way he’s navigated that, and still put up the numbers he’s put up, it’s very impressive.”

Insofar as dog-piles go, Serra did follow through Friday, May 9, on its Senior Day.

“Friday, they still went bananas, and it was really good,” McDonald said. “I’m just proud of them. They worked hard, they did it the right way, and they never really wavered.”

Now, comes the quest for another. The Padres open CCS Division I tournament play Saturday, hosting No. 8 Palma at Frisella Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. The semifinal and championship rounds of the Division I tourney will be played at Excite Ballpark in San Jose.