SAN JOSE — For the most part, Friday’s showdown between No. 1-ranked Archbishop Mitty and No. 3 Valley Christian was just what you’d expect from two of the best teams in the Bay Area: a clean game, two pitchers putting up zeroes, flawless defense and solid execution of fundamentals.
Both sides were waiting for one big hit and Valley Christian got it from senior shortstop PJ Mountzouridis, who sent a high fastball from Mitty standout left-hander Luka Pintar over the fence in left-center in the fourth inning to break up a scoreless battle.
And then after Mitty coach Brian Yocke went to his bullpen in the seventh inning, Mountzouridis drilled a two-run single to provide some breathing room. He came around to score on a single by Quinten Marsh, his second hit of the game, for the final run in Valley Christian’s 4-0 victory at Mitty.
“A very big win, the biggest win of the year,” Mountzouridis said.
With the win, Valley Christian (11-1, 6-0) takes over first place by itself in the West Catholic Athletic League standings. Mitty (11-2, 5-1), which handed VC its only loss of the season early on in the Wilcox Tournament, fell a game behind.
“Like I told the kids, there’s a possibility we could play them another four times,” Valley Christian coach John Diatte said. “So it’s a good win, but we’re going to have to battle against them a few more times.”
Michael Castaneda went the first five innings for Valley, giving up five hits and one walk while striking out four to improve to 6-0 on the season. Ten of the 15 outs he recorded were on the ground with five of those groundouts of the 6-3 variety to Mountzouridis at shortstop. His diving stop and throw to first for the third out in the second inning prevented a run from scoring.
“He’s a good player who has progressively been getting better as the season’s gone along,” Diatte said of Mountzouridis. “He was brilliant on defense, hit the home run to get us a little comfortable and knocked in the two runs to put us up by three. He had a great game.”
Both teams will take a break now from WCAL play. Mitty will take part in the Boras Classic in Sacramento while Valley Christian heads to Southern California for a tournament. The Warriors will take on Bishop Amat at Fullerton College on Monday.
Pintar, Mitty’s ace, went six innings, allowing five hits and striking out four.
“Obviously this game takes precedence, but we will need to pitch Luka this week and wanted to keep him around the 80-pitch mark,” Yocke said. “.We have to be aware of his arm health. And the guys we brought in are not guys we don’t trust. We weren’t expecting the wheels to fall off when they came in, but it just happened that way.”
Alec Belardes pitched the sixth and Marsh the seventh for Valley Christian. The sixth ended on a controversial out call at the plate when David Estrada attempted to score from second on Luca Brocilo’s single to right. The seventh concluded with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate.
“When they got the lead they used that to put pressure on us and we didn’t handle the pressure well,” Yocke said. “I liked the fight our guys had at the end. They didn’t quit. They kept grinding out at-bats and that’s something we appreciate, the character that showed.”
Estrada and Matteo Blandino had two hits apiece for Mitty, which left nine runners on base. Ronan Gilmore made an outstanding diving catch in center fields for the Monarchs.
Source: www.mercurynews.com