By Pete Borello

Palo Alto Post 375 opened the American Legion Area 2 Tournament with a game its players won’t soon forget. The rest of the tournament, however, wasn’t nearly as memorable for the summer league baseball team.

After rallying from an eight-run deficit to beat the Lafayette Generals, Post 375 dropped its next two games to find itself on the outside of the double-elimination event, held July 24-29 in Union City.

“The first game went really well,” said Gordon Pendergrass, among the Los Altos-area players on the 18-and-under team. “The next two, we didn’t look like we were into it or wanted to be there.”

Post 375 lost both games in convincing fashion, falling 14-4 to Danville, then 10-5 to San Bruno.

Post 375 trailed tournament favorite Danville only 2-1 entering the eighth inning. Then the umpires got in the way, according to Pendergrass.

“We got a few bad calls from the umpires,” The Mountain View High graduate said. “That took the morale away from the team.”

Against San Bruno, Post 375 fell behind 6-1 in the third.

“They got ahead early and we weren’t in the game anymore,” Pendergrass said.

Post 375 faced a bigger deficit in its opening game - Lafayette led 8-0 after the third - but the Palo Alto squad battled back to win 12-9.

Gunn High’s Ray Hunter ignited the comeback with a grand slam in the fifth and finished the game with five RBIs. Anthony Rea, another Gunn product, went 4-for-4 at the plate, as did Palo Alto High’s Eric Zawojski. Post 375 had 17 hits in all.

Gunn’s Jon Dishotsky earned the win in relief. Pendergrass worked the final three innings - striking out three batters and allowing two runs - to earn the save.

Post 375 (18-15 overall) qualified for the Area 2 Tournament by capturing the District 13 league championship in mid-July.