Crawford blanks Riordan

SAN MATEO – Kelley Crawford might be late to the party, but he’s just in time for the good stuff – and maybe the real celebration, too.

The junior tossed a two-hit shutout over Riordan on Tuesday in the opening round of the WCAL tournament. He’s fastball had movement, and his sinker did just that. More than anything, he had command of the strike zone.

It’s what Mat Keplinger planned for in February. It just took Crawford a while to find his control. Credit Keplinger for bringing him along slowly and getting him back out there when he was ready.

“Stuff-wise, he looks like a number one and I probably put him in a role he wasn’t ready for, so we did a little bit of a reset,” Keplinger said.

While the Padres were cruising toward a WCAL regular-season crown, Crawford did a lot of bullpen sessions in March and April, and his innings came sparingly. He was frustrated but he kept moving forward, rather than dwelling on the past.

"I don't look back," he said. "I'm trying to focus on the present. I'm just trying to grind."

Catcher Jack Armstrong, who caught most of his bullpens, sees a difference in late-season Crawford.

"He walks out with his head high now," Armstrong said. "He goes out with confidence knowing he can throw his pitches with command and nobody can beat him. That's what we needed to see earlier in the season, and I'm glad we're seeing it now. It's playoff time."

On Tuesday, he threw four straight balls to Chase Oliver to open the game. But after getting a strike out, he picked Oliver off first base.

He was as tough as nails after that.

The Crusaders (9-18-1) didn’t get a runner to second base, and they didn’t get their first hit into Oliver grounded a single up the middle with two outs in the sixth inning.

“My fastball command was good today,” he said. “That was big for me.”

Give the kid credit for bouncing back from a rough start to the season to get back on track. The rotation of Crawford, Davis Minton and Riley Lim, who has taken the reigns as the Padres’ No. 1, suddenly looks deep enough for a serious CCS run.

The Padres (23-5) will face Bellarmine, which upset No. 4 seed Saint Francis on Tuesday. That game will be played at Dan Frisella Field at 4 p.m. A win on Wednesday will put them in the WCAL title game against the winner of Wednesday's game between St. Ignatius Prep and Valley Christian in San Jose.

Tuesday was Serra’s third straight game against Riordan and here’s how dominant the pitching was in those three games: 21 innings, no runs, just five hits allowed and 29 strikeouts. Minton no-hit Riordan a week ago and Crawford admits he knew he hadn’t allowed a hit when he went out for the sixth inning.

“It’s OK,” he said in settling for the two-hitter. “I’ll have other chances."

The Padres scored all the runs Crawford needed in the first inning. Evan Bradshaw reached first when his grounded to third was booted.

Davis Minton walked, and Armstrong singled to load the bases. Tyler Harrison then grounded one into the hole and the Crusaders were unable to get an out. The infield single brought home Bradshaw to give the Padres (23-5) a 1-0 lead,

Aaron Minton then drilled one off the left-field fence for a long single that scored his brother with the game’s second run.

Three Things We Like 

• Crawford had six strikeouts through three innings but leaned on his defense the rest of the way. He finished with eight strikeouts but had four grounders and seven fly balls to show for his outing. The best defensive play came on when Aaron Meier snagged a Nathan Zuromski line drive near the wall in left-center field and hit the wall Like a Linebacker to lead off the fifth inning.
• Serra catcher Jack Armstrong. The senior, who will play in the fall at the College of San Mateo, knows how to handle a pitching staff. And he knows Crawford. “We’re right where we want to be right now. This is the time of year for everything to come together,” Armstrong said.
• Ian Josephson dropped a popup in the second inning – just his fourth error of the year – but made up for it one batter later by turning an inning-ending double play. He also had two hits, an RBI and a stolen base.

He Said It

"It's hard to beat a team three times and especially play three times in a row. I wasn't thrilled with our energy level today, but we found a way to win it and move on to tomorrow." – Mat Keplinger, Serra coach.

W: Crawford. L: Cohn. 2 hits- Josephson (S), Harrison (S). 2B- Harrison (S).

Valley Christian 2, Sacred Heart Cathedral 1

Jordan Ortiz homered in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie and lift the Warriors (22-5-1) into Wednesday's semifinals against St. Ignatius Prep.

The Irish (12-16) scored their only run on a fourth-inning home run by Tedford Lewis, who had two hits in the game, against hard-throwing lefty Quinten Marsh.

Marsh went five innings, allowing three hits, while striking out eight. He was efficient with just 53 pitches. Rohan Kasanagottu struck out six in two innings of work, allowing just one hit, and picked up the win.

Jacob Vines struck out seven and allowed just two hits, three walks and a run in 5 1/3 innings of work.

W: Kasanagottu. L: Vigo. 2 hits- Lewis (SHC). HR- Ortiz (VC), Lewis (SHC). 2B- Deninger (SHC).

St. Ignatius Prep 9, Mitty 1

The Wildcats earned a semifinals trip to Valley Christian by scoring five runs in the first inning and easing to the most lopsided tournament game of the day.

Archer Horn led off the bottom of the first with a single. Emmett Johnson then delivered one of his three doubles on the day to put runners on second and third. A DJ Delaney walk loaded the bases for Beau Schaffer, who singled in Horn and Johnson with the game's first two runs.

AJ Wineinger, whose walk-off grand-slam homer beat Saint Francis on Friday, then singled in Delaney to make it 3-0. Ryan Rosenthal plated the final two runs of the inning with a two-run single.

Horn led off the second inning with his seventh home run, which ties him with Serra's Ian Josephson for the Peninsula's lead. Johnson finished the game with four hits, while Horn had three. Schaffer drove in three runs.

Chase Gordon went the first three innings, allowing just a hit, to pick up the win.

W: Gordon. L: Lopez. 4 hits- Johnson (SI). 3 hits- Horn. 3 RBI- Schaffer (SI). 2 RBI- Rosenthal (SI), Delaney (SI). HR- Horn (SI). 2B- Johnson (SI) 3, Delaney (SI), Newman (M).

Bellarmine 4, Saint Francis 1

The Bells pulled off the upset by scoring single runs in the first, second, fourth and fifth innings to advance into Wednesday's semifinal against top-seeded Serra.

Apolo Lapiz sent the distance, allowing just three hits, three walks and a run. He struck out two in his 81-pitch effort.

Bellarmine (13-12) scored four runs off Landon Kim, who lost his third straight start, but pitched well, scattering six hits, while striking out six, in five innings of work.

The Bells scored in the first after Kim retired the first two batters. Ollie McNamara walked and consecutive singles by Vincent Kim and Dash Knight plated the game's first run.

McNamara, Kim, Knight and DJ Dunne had two hits each for Bellarmine.

Saint Francis (19-9) lost for the fourth time in five games and will await Saturday's CCS seeding announcement.

W: Lopiz. L: Kim. 2 hits- McNamara (B), Kim (B), Knight (B), Dunne (B). 3B- King (SF). 2B- Dunne (B), McClelland (B), Kim (B).

Mills 6, Design Tech 5

The Vikings got back to the .500 mark, but it wasn't nearly as easy as some predicted. They had to come from behind with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to win in walk-off fashion.

Down 5-4, Mills (10-10) got back-to-back one-out walks from Matt Juul and Joshua Huei. Jeremiah Reyes tied the game at 5 with a single and another base hit by Aiden Brown gave the Vikings the victory.

Hagan Chan coughed up the lead in the top of the seventh but picked up his second victory for the Vikings.

W: H.Chan. L: Garrett. 2 hits- Brown (M). 2 RBI- Gradek (DT), Janke (M). 2B- Brown (M), Gradek (DT).

El Camino 2, Half Moon Bay 1

Mikealo Osorio broke a 1-1 deadlock with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Osorio's two-bagger followed a double by Adrian Iniguez.

Osorio also struck out seven in four innings of relief work to pick up the victory.

Kai Kung was the hard-luck loser for the Cougars. The junior southpaw went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out five.

W: Osorio. L: Kung. 2 hits- Heath (HMB). 2B- Iniguez (EC), Osorio (EC), Jang (EC).

Menlo School 2, Aragon 1

The Knights (17-8) clinched at least a tie for the PAL Ocean Division championship. They can wrap up the outright crown with a victory over the Dons on Thursday.

Jackson Flanagan went six innings, scattering seven hits while allowing just a run. He struck out two en route to his eighth victory.

Menlo School, which has won 14 of 15 games since getting off to a 3-7 start to the season, broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh on an RBI single from Liam Widner.

Adi Shanker went 6 1/3 innings for the Dons (8-17), scattering six hits.

W: Flanagan L: Shanker. S: Freehill. 2 hits- Shanker (A). 2B- Barrett (MS).

San Mateo 4, Woodside 1

Christian Louie went the distance, allowing a run on eight hits for his eighth win of the season. He struck out eight for the Bearcars (12-14)

Woodside (11-15) got two hits from Jeremiah Arias-Torres.

W: Louie. L: Amoroso. 2 hits- Arias-Torres (W). 2B- Bleess (SM).