By Vincent Liu

Town Crier Correspondent

High School Baseball Playoffs

The postseason clock struck midnight last Saturday on the Los Altos High baseball team, whose Cinderella playoff carriage was turned back into a pumpkin by the Monterey Toreadores.

Less than 48 hours earlier, the underdog Eagles hit a euphoric high as they rode a complete-game pitching performance from Dave Martinez to upset sixth-seeded Gunn 3-2 in the opening round of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs. It was their first playoff victory in 18 years.

Then reality set in, as Los Altos ran out of magic and into a stronger opponent Saturday. The Eagles were humbled 11-2 by Monterey in a quarterfinal game at Washington Park.

Both teams had scoring opportunities in the early going, but the ability to hit with runners on base separated the Toreadores from the Eagles. They wasted a game-opening double by Thomas Roux and left two runners in scoring positions in each of the first two innings.

Meanwhile, Monterey took advantage of a wild start by Derek Fletcher, who issued four walks in one-plus inning, and rang up five runs after two innings.

Curve-baller Brian Johnson relieved Fletcher in the second inning and showed off a slider, just added to his repertoire of breaking pitches. He pitched effectively until the bottom of the fifth when Monterey put the game out of reach with a four-run outburst.

After stranding four runners in the first two innings, the Eagles broke through in the third when Johnson’s bloop single drove in John Lerch, who led off the inning with a ground single.

The chance for a bigger inning evaporated when Donnie Ecker, next up behind Lerch, jogged to first on a slow roller down the third-base line and was thrown out in front of his flabbergasted first-base coach.

Los Altos’ base running frustration continued in the fourth inning when Jon Martinez, trying to score from first with two out on a booming double by Roux, appeared to have slid too early at the plate and was erased by a good relay throw.

Monterey starter Dan Mercurio went the distance, scattering eight hits and walking only one batter. The only Eagle able to solve him was Roux, who belted a pair of doubles and saw his bid for a three-run homer in the second inning fall short at the fence in left field.

“I had a good swing but didn’t get all of it,” said Roux, headed to UCLA in the fall.

He led the team with a .520 batting average this season and is a cinch for all-league honors.

Perhaps still savoring the win over Gunn, the Eagles appeared loose and pumped up prior to Saturday’s game.

“I told my players that they have nothing to prove to me or the league,” coach Sandy Wihtol said. “I’m as proud as can be, and I told them just to have fun and play it loose.”

Under the guidance of Wihtol, a former major league pitcher, the Eagles (16-16) have made steady progress the past two years. Last season, Wihtol set a goal for his team to make the playoffs. Mission accomplished. This season, his goal was to win a CCS game. Mission accomplished.

His goal for next year: “To win the league,” he said without hesitation.

For a coach whose team had just been eliminated from the playoffs, Wihtol had a difficult time hiding his enthusiasm after Saturday’s game.

“This was a great experience for my kids,” he said. “We’ve finally turned the corner and I expect big things next year.”

His bright outlook appears justified, as his team will lose only four seniors and be stocked with a solid core of returnees and plethora of players coming up from the junior-varsity squad.

Serra eliminates Lancers

Third-seeded St. Francis fell 7-3 to No. 6 Serra Saturday in the CCS Division I quarterfinals.

All the Lancers runs came courtesy of homers: a solo shot by Josh Lansford and a two-run dinger by Jonathan Barsi.

St. Francis (26-9) beat Gilroy 5-1 in its May 15 CCS opener.