Win or lose, an emotional end is near

Landon Kim admits there was some sadness on Friday as he cleaned out his locker following his final practice session at Saint Francis.

Win or lose in Saturday's Northern California-Division II final at Yuba City (30-5), the season is over for the Lancers. It's the same for Serra, which travels to De La Salle in the Division I final as well as Menlo School and its quest to win the Division IV championship with a game at Santa Clara,

One more day. One more game. And then it's over.

"Saint Francis means the world to me," said Kim, who will pitch at Williams College in Massachusetts in the fall. "I've made so many connections, and I've formed friendships that I know will last a lifetime. I'm super grateful for this incredible community that has embraced me with such open arms.

"I wouldn't trade it for the world."

Kim closed out his career at Saint Francis on Thursday with a two-hit complete-game shutout in the 2-0 victory over Acalanes. It came two days after Nick Chow shut out Central Catholic in a NorCal quarterfinal victory.

"It was a fitting end for our aces," said Saint Francis coach Eric Wagle, who wasn't thrilled with dropping down to the Division II bracket, but now his team finds itself one victory from a Northern California championship. "We have one more large, unique challenge in front of us."

And that's where things get interesting. Everyone is tired. But this fatigue has been earned, Wagle says.

"Only 10 teams in Northern California got to practice today," he said. "We are getting on a bus and going to a new place on the last day this team exists. So, we are going to approach it with energy and aggression."

The finality of the moment is lost on no one at this time of year. Following its 3-0 loss to Serra on Thursday, Los Gatos stayed on Dan Frisella Field for nearly an hour talking, crying and saying their goodbyes.

Across the diamond, Serra lingered. Senior second baseman Evan Bradshaw talked about his final game at Serra, pleased with himself that he and shortstop Ian Josephson closed out their home careers by turning a seventh-inning double play.

"That was a great way to end it," he said. "I love playing in the middle infield with that guy. I don't think it's hit me yet. We've kind of flipped the switch to De La Salle. We want to go and finish this thing out."

Ordinarily, the season would have ended after the CCS championship victory over Valley Christian last Saturday in San Jose. Playing one more week – especially against the best teams in Northern California – has been big for Serra, but they've played 19 innings – 19 errorless innings, it should be said – and there is some mental fatigue, coach Mat Keplinger admitted.

On Monday, he put the CCS trophy on the artificial infield grass and the sat on the grass and relived the events of Saturday night.

"We got a chance just to sit there and talk about it," Keplinger said. "It was great. We knew it was going to be hard to get way back up (emotionally). It's such a competitive regular season. You have the WCAL tournament, the CCS tournament. There is mental fatigue."

Some light practices this week helped, he said.

"We did everything we could to get a little bit more gas in the tank," Keplinger said. "We'll see what we've got left on Saturday."