Tough way to end a season for M-A

It’s a hectic time for the two-man Daily Journal sports department and logistics can dictate what games we cover. For instance, we were not going to cover the Menlo-Atherton baseball team’s semifinal game against Hollister in the CCS Division II bracket in Salinas last Wednesday and it turned out to be a bad day for the Bears.

So bad that manager Jordan Paroubeck didn’t return a text the next day asking to talk about the game — and given the circumstances, I didn’t blame him.

“I didn’t want to answer any calls or texts about baseball,” Paroubeck said Friday, two days after the game when he was in a better mood.

In an 8-2 semifinal loss to the Haybalers, the Bears committed seven errors — including one from every member of the starting infield.

“I’ve never seen that before,” Paroubeck said, who starred at Serra before being drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2013 and spent three seasons in the Padres, Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations.

Long story short, he’s played and seen a lot of ball.

“There were some real mental errors in there, as well,” Paroubeck said.

Despite the team’s struggles early on, the Bears were still in the game, down just 2-0 after two innings.

“It was a really strange game,” Paroubeck said. “The first batter (of the game) was a 10-pitch walk. Then a routine grounder, first baseman pulls his foot. Next batter goes around to bunt, hits his hands, called a hit by pitch.”

It was more of the same in the second, but again, M-A allowed only one run.

“After the first inning, it was horrendous, but we only gave up one run,” Paroubeck said. “Second inning, we were bad again, but got through it again with only one run. (My feeling was) we’re all good. We’re going to win this game.”

But things did not get better. The Bears gave up five runs in the third, with the first four batters of the inning reaching base.

“Hit by pitch, hit by pitch, error, error, pitching change,” Paroubeck said. “[Hollister] finally capitalized.”

The Bears were shut out until scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh as their season came to an end.

So what was that post-game meeting like?

“I didn’t want to go super deep into the game itself. I just wanted to let them know to not let this game define their season,” Paroubeck said. “I tied it into a life lesson. That’s the whole point of coaching, to me. There are going to points in life where life is going to kick your ass over and over. Can you find a way to compete?”

In addition to a profoundly disappointing loss, there was a long bus ride home from Salinas to dwell on it. But Paroubeck was having none of it.

“On the bus ride home, I said, ‘Screw it. Let’s play music. It is what it is,’” Paroubeck said. “I think everybody took it really well. It was a great bus ride home.”

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Just a couple more notes from the CIF State Track & Field Championships.

Crystal’s Benjamin Bouie, who finished second in the 1,600 championship with a time of 4:04.84, which is the fastest Central Coast Section time in history.

His runner-up finish was also the highest a Crystal athlete has finished at the State Meet, eclipsing the fourth-place finish Bouie had last season.

The Crystal 4x800 relay also ran a season best, finishing 12th with a time of 7;53.85.

And as hard as we try, sometimes we miss some results with the sheer number of athletes the Daily Journal sports department scrolls through trying to make sure we find all the local kids.

So we missed one. Menlo’s Veronica Taira finished 19th in the 3,200 final, running a time of 10:46.50.

Taira was the CCS champion at that distance and had the fastest time in the CCS this season, running a personal record 10:35.38 at the Arcadia Invitational in April.

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Peninsula Athletic League boys’ badminton players had a strong showing at the CCS championships May 17, as three San Mateo County athletes finished in the top 10.

Aragon’s William Ye advanced to championship match, falling to Milpitas’ Anderson Lin in three sets.

South City’s Benson Ngai made the consolation final, which was for fifth and sixth place, and finished sixth. Burlingame’s Alvin Ho grabbed seventh place with a 15-21, 21-15, 23-21 win over Krish Ashok of Evergreen Valley.

In boys’ doubles, the Westmoor pair of Kido Phan and Angus Leung finished eighth.

On the girls’ side, Carlmont’s Karena Ling finished third in girls’ singles with a 21-17, 21-8 win over Milpitas’ Mischael Shaik. Aragon’s Allison Hsu finished in sixth.

In girls’ doubles, San Mateo’s Alex Young and Surbhi Sakshi finished sixth, while the Carlmont pair of Anaya Goradia and Euna Min were eighth.

In mixed doubles, Stephen Rong and Becky Liu of Mills finished fifth with a 21-17, 12-21, 21-19 win over Max Nguyen and Helen Yu of Silver Creek.

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There is still one CIF state champion to crown and it happens today with the CIF State Boys’ Golf Championship at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Monterey, with Serra’s Kyler Heath in the mix after a tie for seventh at the Nor Cal championships May 27.

Nathan Mollat is in his 24th year covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.