Los Altos Town Crier » LA runs out of rallies

Eagles lose 4-1 in CCS quarters

By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer

Image from article LA runs out<br />
of rallies

photos by Joe Hu/Town Crier
Kyle Tachibana, above, scores the tying run in Thursday’s CCS opener against Santa Cruz. Isaac Wilhelm, right, earned the win.

There was no comeback this time. After winning its previous six games in come-from-behind fashion, including the playoff opener, the Los Altos High baseball team fell 4-1 to Monterey Saturday in the Central Coast Section Division II quarterfinals at Washington Park.

When Rob Falconer hit a line drive to right with one away in the seventh inning, fourth-seeded Los Altos couldn’t help but expect another dramatic rally was in the offing. The shot never hit the ground, though, as Monterey’s right fielder “made a fabulous diving play for the second out,” Eagles coach Sandy Wihtol said. Trent Bowers followed with a single, then Isaac Wilhelm hit a sharp grounder to shortstop to end the game.

“It was disappointing, but only one of the 16 teams in CCS won’t be disappointed,” said Wihtol, whose team finishes 19-7-2. “We had a great season. We just ran into a team that played well. They were the better team that day.”

Los Altos got out to a 1-0 lead in the first. Kyle Tachibana walked, went to second on a ball in the dirt and scored on Kellen McColl’s line-drive double.

The Eagles didn’t have much luck against Monterey pitcher Cris Trout after that. The hard-throwing junior didn’t surrender another hit until the seventh.

“I take my hat off to their pitcher,” Wihtol said. “He was one of the toughest pitchers we’ve faced all year.”

Fifth-seeded Monterey (22-8) scored all its runs in the third, a disastrous inning for Los Altos.

“It was a series of funky, ugly plays,” Wihtol said.

After Trout led off with a single, Joey Avilla reached base when a ball died in the wind in front of Tachibana in right, according to Wihtol. Leonard Grammanizo followed with a towering pop up in front of home plate that Falconer raced over from first base to get, but he could only get part of his glove on it. Catcher McColl picked up the ball and rifled it to second to try for the force out, but the ball tailed into the wind, Wihtol said, pulling second baseman Jason Craine off the bag. Outfielder Mike Peterson’s throw home was too hard, allowing Trout to score and moving the other runners to second and third. Travis Elder’s RBI grounder and Chris Lopiccolo’s two-run double made it 4-1

Wihtol said Devin Matthews “shut them down the next few innings” before giving way to Erik Johnson after tweaking his knee.

In Thursday’s CCS opener, Los Altos edged No. 13 Santa Cruz 2-1.

The Eagles trailed 1-0 until the sixth, in which they tied the game on a single by Peterson that drove in Tachibana from second. Los Altos won it in the bottom of the seventh. After hitting a one-out single, Tachibana moved to third on Kurt Kaszubinski’s double and scored on Matthews’ single to left.

Wilhelm went the distance, pitching a two-hitter with four strikeouts.