By Pete Borello
 Roy Johnson/Special to the Town Crier The Los Altos baseball team celebrates winning the SCVAL El Camino Division title last week. |
With every hurried step toward home plate, Erik Johnson moved the Los Altos High baseball team closer to the league title.
Taking off from first base on a hard grounder by Kurt Kaszubinski that was bobbled and errantly thrown into right field, Johnson tore around third after getting waved home and charged the plate. Sliding head first, he got in under the throw home to give the Eagles a 13-12 win over Homestead.
“Since we got it tied up, I thought we might as well go for it,” head coach Sandy Wihtol said about sending Johnson home with two outs in the seventh inning on a play that began with Kellen McColl scoring from third. “When he made it, the place went nuts.”
It was celebration time for Los Altos and its fans - not only for rallying from a 12-7 deficit to sweep a doubleheader from Homestead but also for clinching the SCVAL El Camino Division championship. It’s the second division title in four years for the Eagles, who will open the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs Thursday at home. Fourth-seeded Los Altos faces No. 13 Santa Cruz at 4 p.m.
Johnson didn’t just score the winning run May 9 against visiting Homestead; the sophomore picked up the win in relief as well.
Mike Peterson led the Los Altos offense with four hits and four runs scored. The Eagles totaled 16 hits.
In the first game, the Eagles put up five runs in the first on their way to a 10-5 victory. Starter Isaac Wilhelm earned the win, boosting his record to 6-1. DJ Archie had two of Los Altos’ 11 hits.
The Eagles concluded the regular season Thursday, edging host Monta Vista 6-5. This put Los Altos’ record at 16-2 in league and 18-6-2 overall.
Johnson was the hero again, knocking in McColl from third base for the winning run in the seventh. McColl also scored in the second, slugging a two-run homer to left that sailed 400 feet, according to Wihtol. Archie added two hits.
The victory went to Johnson in relief.
Spartans sneak in to CCS
The Spartans come in 9-15 overall; Serra is 23-3.
St. Francis gets 9th seed
The Lancers, who lost 3-1 to visiting Serra in Saturday’s West Catholic Athletic League playoff final, are 17-11 overall. Leigh has a 16-8 record.
The winner advances to Saturday’s quarterfinals at PAL Stadium in San Jose.
