BASEBALL: Santa Cruz Rallies Past Gilroy

The Score: Santa Cruz 7, Gilroy 6

The Star:  Under some gloomy skies and light rainfall, the Santa Cruz High baseball team started the non-league matchup against visiting a little slow, but boy did they finish.

The Cardinals scored runs in the final four innings of play, culminating with a walk-off shot from junior Ti DeMeo in the bottom of the seventh to give Santa Cruz a 7-6 victory on Monday afternoon at Santa Cruz High.

DeMeo gave Santa Cruz a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly to deep left in the sixth inning, but a furious five-hit rally by the visitors put Santa Cruz (7-11, 2-4 SCCAL) down by two heading into the final frame of the afternoon. The middle of the Cardinals order was a load to handle, especially in the late innings. Senior first baseman Collin Ferguson pounded an RBI double to tie the score at six in the seventh before DeMeo won the game two batters later. Ferguson had three doubles in the Santa Cruz win.

The Turning Point: A see-saw game throughout, Gilroy (12-9, 8-7 TCAL) looked to have landed the final blow with a five-hit, three-run rally in the top of the seventh to take a 6-4 lead into the bottom half of the inning. With the back of the order due up, Etai Levy-Richards came through with a gritty hot shot single to left field to get things going for the host team in their final at-bats. Senior Dylan Mori drew a walk before a dropped ball on a sacrifice bunt play left everyone safe with nobody out.

Ryan Bettar grounded out to plate one run, then the heavy hitters finished the comeback for Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz scored seven runs on seven hits, but also took advantage of four Gilroy errors in the win.

The Quotes: “Feeding off that first hit was key,” Santa Cruz junior Ti DeMeo said about teammate Etai Levy-Richards important lead-off single in the bottom of the seventh. “I had no doubt we were going to find a way to win this game. After Etai’s hit and the dropped ball on the bunt, I knew we were in great shape. Hopefully we can carry the momentum of the last four innings into our next couple of games and practices.”

 Santa Cruz head coach Matt Elliott was equally as pleased to come away with a hard fought win.

 “Once our approach got better, the hitting came,” Elliott said. “We knew their starter was starting to get a little tired. The guys stepped up at the right time. We’ve got guys that know how to drive in runs in the middle of the order. All of those guys can really turn on a ball and they showed that today.”

 What's Next?  Santa Cruz faces another stiff non-league challenge today against WCAL power Serra High. First pitch is slated for 3:30 in San Mateo.

Bottom Line: After pushing two runs across via a groundout and a Gilroy throwing error in the fourth inning, the Santa Cruz offense continued to press forward. Answering their opponent during back-to-back innings in which they took the lead, the Cardinals steely resolve showed through in a gritty comeback victory. Santa Cruz pitcher Ryan Bettar worked three innings of solid relief work in the middle innings allowing only one earned run.

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Santa Cruz  7, Gilroy 6

SC 0 0 0 2 1 1 3- 7 7 3

G 1 0 0 0 2 0 3 – 6 14 4

WP: Adams. LP: Brolin

Records: Santa Cruz 7-11, 2-4 SCCAL.  Gilroy 12-9, 8-7 TCAL.