Redwood City knocked out

Redwood City's lack of offense, the Blues' main problem, continued in the Area 2 tournament. Against Martinez, Redwood City had several chances to drive in runs, but it just couldn't get it done. Martinez, on the other hand, came up with the clutch two-out hit time and again.

"We just leave too many men on base," said Redwood City manager Tim Goode. "We've just been struggling (offensively) the last couple weeks."

Martinez, which scored all eight of its runs from the fourth inning on, scored seven times with two outs. Trailing 1-0 after three, Martinez scored three runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth against Redwood City starter Alex Perkins for a 3-1 Martinez lead.

The Blues got a run back in the top of the fifth when Duncan Burr reached on an error, stole second and went to third when the catcher's throw went into center field. He scored on a Ryan Cavan single. Nate Adelman singled and both runners moved into scoring position on a grounder. A strikeout ended the inning, however.

Martinez had its own chances with runners in scoring position in the bottom of the frame, but the Cubs came through. With two outs, a double and a single drove home two more runs to give Martinez a 5-2 lead.

Redwood City ran itself out of a run in the sixth when Kurt DeLaRosa was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch for the second out of the inning.

Martinez put the game away in the seventh with three more on two hits, all the runs scoring with two outs for an 8-2 advantage.

The Blues scored one more in the eighth on a Colin Umphreys sacrifice fly and one more in the ninth when Cavan scored an unearned run.

Redwood City believed it shouldn't have even been playing for its playoff lives after a bad call the night before resulted in a 3-2 loss to Danville.

Danville, which trailed 2-1 in the ninth, had a runner on first when the batter hit a long fly ball to right field which was called a home run. When Redwood City protested, the umpire admitted he lost the ball in the sun and instead awarded a ground rule double. Goode admitted he lost the ball as well, but witnesses sitting out in right field said the ball came up a couple feet short of the fence and was well foul.

With runners on second and third, Redwood City intentionally walked the next batter but a single ended the game.

The loss spoiled an excellent outing by Redwood City pitcher Andy Suiter, who took a no hitter through seven innings, striking out 10 in the process, before being lifted to start the eighth.

Goode said the tournament was a microcosm of the Blues' season.

"Our pitching was great, our defense got better, but the hitting never came," Goode said.