Pacifica 9-10s fall in Section 3 opener

Granada starting pitcher Cole Cainey was dominant through four innings, using his curveball to keep the Pacifica bats quiet and the Granada offense scored all its runs with two outs as it posted a 7-5 win over Pacifica in the Section 3 opener for both teams.

“We didn’t hit as well as thought I we would,” said Pacifica manager Scott Nemes. “There were a couple of balls we misplayed. [Granada] took advantage of what they needed.”

Pacifica falls into the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tournament with the loss to Granada. Pacifica will be back in action at 11 a.m. Saturday at Fremont’s Vallejo Mills Elementary School in an elimination game.

Cainey was a big reason Pacifica was held to just five hits as he struck out 10 batters and allowed only two hits. His curveball was devastatingly effective and Pacifica could not adjust to it. He struck out the side in both the second and fourth innings.

“If you get a crafty pitcher who is dialed it, it makes it tough,” Nemes said. “[Cainey] was pretty dialed in.”

And yet, Pacifica still managed to score runs off of him during a four-run second inning. Brody Hatch got the rally started with a opposite-field double to right. Kagan Plumb walked and Gio Bordessa reached on an error to load the bases. Braxton Nemes drove in the first run with a walk on a full count. Plumb and Bordessa ended up scoring on a pair of wild pitches and DJ Delaney capped the inning with a RBI infield hit.

That offensive outburst seemed to be enough for Pacifica starting pitcher Jason Balmy, who had cruised through the first two innings — although the two-out triple he gave up in the top of the first was an omen of things to come.

Balmy got the first two outs with a foul out to left and a strikeout.

But then the wheels fell off. Granada’s two-out rally started with an excuse-me infield hit from Cole Camilleri. Joey Marasco followed and hit a sharp grounder into the hole at shortstop. Pacifica shortstop Austin Snead tried to make the snatch on the short hop, but kicked it over to second baseman Reggie Fong, as he was standing near the bag. He stepped on second for what would have been the third out, but the umpire ruled he was bobbling the ball and the runner was called “safe.” Tyler Palma then followed with a RBI double to center to get Granada on the scoreboard.

A walk to Cainey loaded the bases and Seth Sanchez plated a run with a walk. Colin Johnson followed and cleared the bases with a three-run double to center to give Granada a 5-4 lead and end Balmy’s outing.

“That’s 10-year-old baseball,” Scott Nemes said. “That should have been a nine-pitch inning. … We couldn’t get the third out.”

The inability to get that third out hurt Pacifica again in the top of the fourth as Granada tacked on two more runs. After Fong, who relieved Balmy, got the first two outs, Camilleri hit a bloop single to shallow right and Morasco was hit by a pitch to bring up Palma, who stroked a two-run double to the left-center field gap to push Granada’s lead to 7-4.

Luckily for Pacifica, Cainey reached his pitch count after four innings and Granada went to Palma to close out the game.

Pacifica’s offense immediately picked up with Cainey’s day done. Delaney greeted Palma with a leadoff single to start the bottom of the fifth and he raced around the bases and scored on an Alex Wineinger double to left. Balmy followed and scorched a pitch right at the Granada first baseman for the first out of the inning before Palma got back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the jam.

Pacifica had one last gasp in the bottom of the sixth as Bordessa legged out a double to lead off the inning. He went to third on a Braxton Nemes grounder, but Palma struck out the next two batters to end the game.

“It was a good battle. I thought all the pitchers pitched well,” Scott Nemes said. “But it’s tough to muster up offense with strikeouts.”