Champs! Bellarmine upsets Valley Christian in WCAL tournament final
SAN JOSE Talk about getting hot at the right time That s certainly what the Bellarmine baseball crew has done Fifth-place finishers in the West Catholic Athletic League regular season Bellarmine went on the road this week in the league tournament and defeated three higher-seeded teams The coup de grace came Thursday with a - win over second-place Valley Christian to capture the WCAL tournament championship In three games the Bells allowed a total of two runs They won at St Francis on Tuesday - and at regular-season champion Serra on Wednesday - The championship was Bellarmine s first since Valley Christian coach John Diatte knew his club would be facing a dangerous crew with a high level of momentum and belief in themselves I informed the group This is a hot group playing very good baseball ' Diatte mentioned You can t make mistakes They re going to force the issue We put a lot of balls in play and they made all the plays Bellarmine s Christian Duarte pitches against Valley Christian in the seventh inning during the West Catholic Athletic League championship encounter at Valley Christian High School in San Jose Calif on Thursday May Shae Hammond Bay Area News Group Senior left-hander Christian Duarte got the ball Thursday for Bellarmine and never gave it up He threw a complete-game four-hitter with two walks and two strikeouts He threw the best battle of his life in the biggest moment Bellarmine coach Nate Sutton declared He s a great kid a coach s dream Duarte who is headed just a couple miles up the road for college at Santa Clara University felt he had to live up to the outstanding performances turned in by fellow pitching staff members Apolo Lapiz and Preston Pera the previous two days Big motivation after what Apolo and Preston did he disclosed So what pitch was working My sinker he reported with no hesitation I try to get movement on everything Bellarmine - jumped out to the lead with a run in the top of the first Luke McNeil and Ollie McNamara hit one-out singles Then with two out lefty-batting designated hitter Dash Knight hit a chopper to the left side The Valley Christian shortstop tried to backhand it but it got through to the outfield with McNeil scoring from second The Bells added a run in the third when McNamara singled and scored on Vincent Kim s double a drive which just eluded a diving Brock Ketelsen in center field Valley got a run back in the bottom of the third Jacob Pauka drew a leadoff walk and scored on Quentin Marsh s ground out Rohan Kasanagottu relieved starter Cole Laubach in the fourth for Valley Christian and did not allow a hit in his innings Bellarmine s Vincent Kim runs home against Valley Christian in the fifth inning during the West Catholic Athletic League championship competition at Valley Christian High School in San Jose Calif on Thursday May Shae Hammond Bay Area News Group But the Bells managed an insurance run in the fifth when Kim reached after being hit by a pitch He took second on a wild pitch and then took off for third with the pitcher still holding the ball Related Articles Suspended Pinole Valley High baseball coaches reinstated by district High school baseball rankings May Bay Area News Group Top Mitty softball beats St Ignatius Cats walk off St Francis with grand slam Prep roundup Las Lomas continues upset run in NCS volleyball playoffs Livermore stuns Granada in baseball East Bay high school baseball activity faces heat after apparent racist taunts Kasanagottu pivoted and threw in an attempt to nab Kim but the ball got past the third baseman and Kim scored And that was pretty much it Nathan Choi hit a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh for Valley but a - - double play erased the runner and Duarte induced the final out on a grounder to shortstop He got ground-ball outs in all And the celebration for the unlikely tournament champions began They could ve quit when we started out - in WCAL play Sutton disclosed Our pitching has been great all year and now we re playing very good defense behind them Our first achievement at St Francis I could feel the momentum turning We started getting particular breaks Bellarmine s Vincent Kim signals for two outs against Valley Christian in the seventh inning during the West Catholic Athletic League championship contest at Valley Christian High School in San Jose Calif on Thursday May Shae Hammond Bay Area News Group Valley Christian s Kole Laubach pitches against Bellarmine in the second inning during the West Catholic Athletic League championship battle at Valley Christian High School in San Jose Calif on Thursday May Shae Hammond Bay Area News Group Bellarmine s Luke McNeil catches a fly ball against Valley Christian in the sixth inning during the West Catholic Athletic League championship battle at Valley Christian High School in San Jose Calif on Thursday May Shae Hammond Bay Area News Group Bellarmine s Christian Duarte pitches against Valley Christian in the sixth inning during the West Catholic Athletic League championship encounter at Valley Christian High School in San Jose Calif on Thursday May Shae Hammond Bay Area News Group
