POSTSEASON PRIME: 4-2

4. Morgan Winfield

Sequoia - senior - infield

The Skinny: After a knee injury required surgery and kept him in rehab for all of fall and winter, Mogan Winfield set a goal of getting through his senior year healthy. It almost happened. On March 19, he left a game early after injuring his right elbow while throwing a pitch. And while his pitching was limited for the rest of the year, he never missed a game and helped the Ravens claim a CCS tournament berth by being one of the top hitters in the PAL-Bay Division. Other coaches have said the ball has a different sound coming off Winfield's bat. "I just think I'm able to get the barrel to the ball well," he said while trying to explain that sound. "I really don't hear it when I hit, but I can feel it. It's like butter. No vibration." The Saint Mary's College signee is spending the summer playing in a collegiate league in Utah. "My goal is to develop as a ballplayer and a person," he said. "Hitting against 95 (mph) is hard so I've been focused on the pitching I'm facing a little more right now." The elbow is fine, he says, and Winfield still has a goal of being a two-way player at the college level.

Season Highlight: On May 12, the Ravens came from behind to beat Santa Teresa, 11-7. Mario Fausto had a grand-slam home run in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings and Winfield won it in the bottom of the eighth inning with a grand slam of his own. "That is probably the most intense and hyped game I've ever been a part of," Winfield said.

"Hitting a baseball well comes from hard work in the cages and in the weightroom. You have to love that hard work."

The Numbers Tell the Story: Winfield compiled an on-base percentage of .520 after collecting 25 hits and 14 walks.

Eye-Popping Stat: His .800 slugging percentage led the Bay Division, and he had an OPS of 1.320.

3. Gino Cappellazzo

Saint Francis - senior - catcher

The Skinny: In 2018, 10-year-old Gino Cappellazzo was a batboy in the Saint Francis dugout and had a front-row seat for the Lancers' run to a WCAL championship. Eight years later, now a high school senior, Cappellazzo was behind the plate as Saint Francis captured its first league championship since his boyhood. "We worked for that one," said Cappellazzo, the Santa Clara University signee who hit a seventh-inning home run against Bellarmine on May 8 to seal that WCAL crown. "... That was for the team. That (home run) kind of set the tone late in the game, like, 'Hey, this is our game. Nobody's going to take it from us. That one was big because we did something we haven't done in a few years. That was everybody on the team's first time." Spoken like a team captain and a lifelong fan of the school he had chosen. On a team that was loaded with big-time college talent, Cappellazzo was the glue, the kid behind the plate who kept the Lancers' moving forward. He batted cleanup in the order and was the receiving end of a battery that accounted for a school-record 17 shutouts this season. "Having Gino behind the plate made a difference for all of us," said senior pitcher Brody Larocque, who finished the season with a 12-2 record with a sub-one earned-run average. Cappellazzo shrugged off his contributions, giving more credit to the team than to himself. "We just kept doing our thing," he said. Ultimately, the Lancers fell short of their mark of winning a CCS championship by losing a 1-0 heartbreaker to Soquel in the semifinals, but it couldn't dampen the spirit of a 25-5 season.

Season Highlight: Three days after hitting a no-doubt home run – a majestic shot off the scoreboard at Higgins Field – in a 7-0 victory over Bellarmine, Cappellazzo duplicated the feat with a seventh-inning home run over the fence in right field at Bellarmine, which clinched for the Lancers the WCAL crown.

"You have to bounce back as a catcher. If you let (a bad at-bat or tough out) sit with you, you might put yourself and your team in a bad situation."

The Numbers Tell the Story: Cappellazzo had a .442 on-base percentage to go along with a .534 slugging percentage. His OPS was .976.

Eye-Popping Stat: Cappellazzo committed just one error in 178 total chances this season. That's a fielding percentage of .994. In his four-year varsity career, he made just 11 errors on 639 total chances, or a .983 career fielding percentage.

2. Jack Leeper

Saint Francis - junior - centerfield

The Skinny: In Saint Francis' 1-0 loss to Soquel last month in the CCS-Division I semifinals, there was little doubt that Jack Leeper was the best player on the field. He came to bat three times. He singled three times, including a two-hopper to shortstop where he simply beat the throw to first base. He also stole four bases and, sadly, was stranded on third base each time. "I felt pretty comfortable in the moment," he said. "It was pretty tough getting stranded at third, but that's baseball." After stepping into the starting lineup as a sophomore and setting a new single-season record with 27 stolen bases, Leeper was even better this year. He broke his own record and had the green light to go when he saw fit. Coach Erik Wagle "doesn't call steals," said the Stanford commit. "He leaves that up to us. I didn't have a red light all year." The base paths aside, Leeper was just as dangerous at the plate where he honed a stroke that suddenly featured power. "I got my swing where I wanted it to be and was able to hit for more power later in the season," he said. I stayed healthy, too. That was a big focus. Also, just being able to trust my preparation instead of chasing results."

Season Highlight: Clinching the WCAL championship at Bellarmine was memorable, but if Leeper was looking for a moment, it came a week later at Serra when, after a lot of chirping from both teams, he hit a home run and then looked into the first-base dugout as he made his way around the bases. "It was a big moment of the game and there was a lot of emotion for sure," he said.

"I think I matured more with more experience and found a really good routine to stick to. That helped a lot."

The Numbers Tell the Story: Leeper scored 26 runs and had an on-base percentage of .470.

Eye-Popping Stat: He stole a Peninsula-leading 35 bases this year and now has 62 in his career.