Runs were plentiful on Thursday at Excite Ballpark as Stevenson of Pebble Beach and South San Francisco battled for a CCS title in San Jose. A run-rule walk-off was a fitting conclusion to the explosive offensive showcase.
Runs were plentiful on Thursday at Excite Ballpark as Stevenson of Pebble Beach and South San Francisco battled for a CCS title in San Jose. A run-rule walk-off was a fitting conclusion to the explosive offensive showcase.
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SAN JOSE — Stevenson and South San Francisco brought their bats to Excite Ballpark on Thursday afternoon.
Facing off in the Central Coast Section Division VI championship in San Jose, the No. 1 Pirates and No. 2 South City combined for 26 runs. Neither starting pitcher survived the third inning.
But it was the top seed from Pebble Beach that produced quite a few more, especially in the late innings. Stevenson scored in every inning but one, finishing with a 18-8 run-rule win thanks to 11 tallies in the final two frames.
“They were a good hitting team,” South San Francisco coach Matt Schaukowitch said. “And sometimes at the end of the day, you just have to tip your cap. They hammered some balls.”
Both teams had scored a lot of runs in their respective runs to the championship game. Stevenson (19-8) beat Design Tech 7-3 in the opening round and Sobrato 12-8 in the semifinals.
South City (23-6) beat North Salinas 9-3 and Fremont-Sunnyvale 6-3.
But Thursday’s championship was something else. Eight combined runs were scored in the first inning, and that was just the appetizer.
The Pirates raked 17 hits and scored at least five runs in three different innings. Three of their hitters had three hits, and all nine batters had at least one.
“Our whole team, one through nine, we got guys on the bench that can hit,” Stevenson coach Nick Wilcox said. “It’s been infectious in this whole run. It seems like one guy gets a hit and it’s just a spark, and everyone starts swinging. It’s almost to the point there’s no weaknesses, and it’s hard to pitch around guys, because all of a sudden, you have bases loaded and some of your better hitters are up.”
South City was game for a battle, but Stevenson’s sheer volume of hits and runs wore down the Warriors. South City took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but Stevenson responded with a quick six-spot in the bottom of the opening frame.
After a brief scoreless intermission in the second inning, the Warriors retook the lead with a five-run rally in the third. Josh Ornelas hit an RBI single, then Vince Bernal doubled to right, scoring two and giving South City a 7-6 advantage.
“I thought we were pretty calm, cool and collected,” Schaukowitch said. “There wasn’t a lot of emotion.”
From then on, though, it was almost all Stevenson. The Pirates tied the game with a run in the third.
South City briefly reclaimed the lead in the top of the fourth with an RBI single by Yordonis Medina-Pineda. But things turned in Stevenson’s direction after that.
The Pirates scored five times in the fourth to take a 12-8 lead, then walked the Warriors off with a six-run rally in the fifth.
Stevenson scored its final four runs with two outs to secure the win.
“I knew we were gonna put up some runs,” Wilcox said. “With the way South San Francisco kept fighting and battling through, they kept putting pressure back on us. Our kids have been resilient all year. We’ve had five walk-off wins, a lot of last-inning victories, and they just don’t give up.”
Though it ended in defeat, South City still had a banner year. The Warriors reached their first section championship in school history, and they will return the vast majority of contributors from this year’s team.
“The seniors have bought into what we’re doing, and it’s very emotional for them to put in all the effort and all the work and everything and then come up on the short end of the stick,” Schaukowitch said. “For everyone else, we’re only losing two players out of the starting lineup.”
South San Francisco won one game in 2018. The Warriors have steadily built since Schaukowitch returned to the helm after a 10-year hiatus, and there may be even brighter days ahead.
“I came back in 2020, and before that, they had won seven games in two years,” Schaukowitch said. “To completely revamp everything and end up at this end of the road, to me, is just the pinnacle of dedication. The families have bought in, the players have bought in, basically have given me full commitment.
“I wasn’t anticipating any of this. So to say the least, it was a good run, and it was a fun run.”
