The late game at Sollecito Ballpark in Monterey on Wednesday went late into the night as league rivals from the southern end of San Jose played inning after inning without either side scoring.
When the breakthrough came, a flood of runs followed.
Eighth-seeded Santa Teresa scored eight runs in the top of the 14th inning to beat fourth-seeded Leland 8-0 in the semifinals of the Central Coast Section Division IV playoffs.
In the third meeting between the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division teams this season, Santa Teresa prevailed in the rubber match to advance to play second-seeded Palma for the title on Friday at Excite Ballpark in San Jose.
Palma advanced in the first game at Sollecito Ballpark on Wednesday with a 3-2 victory over sixth-seeded Salinas.
Santa Teresa used two pitchers to cover the 14 innings. Johnny Alvarez went the first seven, allowing three hits and striking out eight. Riley Breton went the final seven, striking out 11 and giving up three hits.
They are Santa Teresa’s top two pitchers, each pitching over 60 innings this season. No one else on the roster has pitched 30 innings, according to stats reported to MaxPreps.
But as the saying goes, you have to get to the next round before worrying about the next round.
Three Leland pitchers — Aditya Srivastava, Will Fischer and Vincenzo Chiavettone-Flanagan — got the Chargers through 13 innings.
But after Santa Teresa opened the 14th with a flyout, Leland ran out of gas. A walk, followed by a single and then a hit-by-pitch ignited a rally that ended with Breton driving in three with a triple.
Roy Miner’s single to left knocked in the first two runs. Jacob Gilbreath, Brad Tran and Robert Palomino each had one RBI in the epic inning for the Saints.
Chiavettone-Flanagan had two of Leland’s six hits and also drew a walk.
Santa Teresa, which needed eight innings to beat top-seeded Wilcox 5-2 in the first round Saturday, improved to 16-13.
In the Wilcox game, Alvarez pitched six innings and Breton pitched two.
Leland finished 14-15.
Source: www.mercurynews.com