Sports
BASEBALL: Los Altos Falls in CCS Title Game
Eagles come out on losing end of pitchers dual; Monterey wins game and Division II title in eight innings.
The Los Altos High baseball team hadn’t recorded an error yet in it’s run to the 2011 Central Coast Section Division II baseball championship game.
The clean run continued into extra innings before a pair of errors helped Monterey High defeat Los Altos 2-1 in eight innings Saturday afternoon at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
Los Altos senior Mitch Kehlet went the distance for the Eagles, striking out seven while scattering six hits.
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Monterey junior starter Daniel Edwards also pitched a complete game, allowing three hits—two of which came in the first inning of play—during the CCS title winning ball game for the green and white clad Toreadores.
“My arm felt great,” Kehlet said after his final start of his Eagles career. “I was hitting my spots and pounding the strike zone. My cutter was really working for me today.”
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Los Altos leadoff man Steven McLean lined a single to left to open the ball game, but was thrown out moments later during a steal try at second base.
No. 2 hitter Mat Snider Jr. followed with a ringing triple to deep center field. The back-to-back hits were two of the Eagles three hits on the day.
“Sometimes it ends up being something silly that makes the difference,” Los Altos head coach Sandy Wihtol said. “We had some chances today. Missed opportunities hurt us.”
Edwards moved the ball all over the zone and consistently snuck in off speed pitches for first pitch strikes. Pop outs were also contagious, with both teams combining for nine of them in the first five innings of play.
“We didn’t make the adjustments early,” Kehlet said. “When we did, we scored a run. You’d love to get those hits late, but sometimes it doesn’t work out.”
Los Altos took a one-run lead in the sixth off a pair of Monterey errors, the second allowed Dominic Gachina to touch home and give Los Altos a 1-0 lead. After a Luke Wiechec walk loaded the bases with nobody out, a double play ball to third and a ground out got the Toreadores out of a major jam.
Monterey tied the game in the sixth of back-to-back extra bases hits and eventually won the game in extra’s with a walk-off score off the second Eagles throwing error.
“I expect us to be back here next May,” Wihtol said. “I always felt like they could peak at this time of the year and they did to get here.”
Kehlet will play at UC-San Diego this fall. Los Altos lost in the CCS Division II title game in 2008 and won the CCS D-II crown in 2007.
.............................................................................................................................
Monterey 2, Los Altos 1.
L- 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0- 1 3 2
M-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 2 6 2
WP: Edwards LP: Kehlet