BASEBALL: Santa Cruz Steamrolls into CCS Finals

Ti DeMeo crushed a first-inning grand slam, Dominic Elkin hurled a complete-game three-hitter, and the Santa Cruz High baseball team steamrolled Half Moon Bay 12-1 in a Central Coast Section Division III semifinal at San Jose Municipal Stadium on Tuesday night.

With one more win, No. 8 seed Santa Cruz would secure the program’s second CCS championship.

The Cardinals (15-14) meet defending champion Menlo School (25-5) in the Division III title game on Saturday at 4 p.m. at San Jose Municipal Stadium. Third-seeded Menlo defeated No. 2 seed Carmel 9-8 in a nine-inning thriller earlier Tuesday.

Santa Cruz wasted no time taking control against Half Moon Bay (23-7). The Cardinals loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first against right-hander Julian Garcia, and then DeMeo hammered a 2-2 changeup over the leftfield wall for a quick 4-0 lead.

That advantage proved more than enough for Elkin.

The senior right-hander faced the minimum nine batters through the first three innings – his two walks were erased with a pickoff and a double play – and he didn’t surrender a hit until Half Moon Bay freshman Brett Berghammer led off the fourth by tripling to right-center.

Berghammer scored on Alex Jenkins’ ensuing groundout to make it 4-1, but Elkin (four strikeouts, three walks) limited the Cougars to two singles the rest of the way.

After pushing its lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the fourth behind an RBI single from Ryan Bettar and a sacrifice fly from Collin Ferguson, Santa Cruz put the icing on the cake by sending 12 batters to the plate in a six-run seventh that included a two-run double from Erik Colombini.

DeMeo went 2-for-3 and drew two walks to lead the Cardinals’ 14-hit attack.

Santa Cruz has been a frequent participant of late in the Division III final – Saturday’s appearance will be the Cardinals’ fourth since 2003 – but the program’s lone previous CCS title came eight years ago. Santa Cruz is 1-6 all-time in CCS championship games.