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Photograph by George Sakkestad
High Five: Del Mar's David Sanfilippo turns a fifth-inning double play in the Dons'7-6 win over Pioneer.
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Comeback wins for Dons
Prospect nails upset win over Leigh
By Dick Sparrer
There's certainly no quit in the Del Mar baseball team this season. And that was especially true last week when the Dons battled from behind twice last week before pulling out victories in the last half of the final inning.
Del Mar broke a 2-2 tie with Leland with a run in the bottom of the seventh to open the week with a 3-2 win over the Chargers, then came back to beat Pioneer 7-6 in eight innings, scoring in the last of the eighth to pull out the victory.
The two wins kept Del Mar very much alive in the race for the fourth and final playoff berth offered in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. In fact, the Dons still have a shot at third... and given the recent upsets in the circuit, it's more than a mathematical shot.
Heading into play last week, it appeared pretty certain that Valley Christian, Oak Grove and Leland would clinch the top three spots in the standings, and Del Mar was fighting to stay ahead of Santa Teresa and Westmont in the race for the fourth spot.
But that's when things took an interesting turn. Santa Teresa upset division-leading Valley 7-5 and last-place Pioneer knocked off Oak Grove 7-6 the same day Del Mar was beating Leland.
A day later, Leland beat Valley 2-1 to knock the Warriors back into a virtual first-place tie with idle Oak Grove. Valley Christian (12-5) has just one league game remaining, that one with Oak Grove (11-5). The Eagles must also battle Leland (11-6).
Del Mar wraps up the regular season with 3:30 p.m. games at Westmont on May 12 and at home against Santa Teresa on May 14. A win would clinch fourth place for the Dons, a sweep would give them a shot at third (depending upon the Oak Grove-Leland results).
Westmont, meanwhile, needs at least one victory this week to avoid finishing in the division cellar. The Warriors are just a game up on Pioneer and, after hosting Del Mar on Wednesday, will visit the Mustangs on Friday.
Dons win two
Del Mar won two games last week, and won them in impressive fashion.
The Dons trailed Leland 2-0 after three innings, but tied the game with two in the fourth, then won it with a run in the seventh.
Greg Leon went the distance to toss a 7-hitter for the Del Mar victory. He pushed his mound record to 4-5 with the victory.
Nick Mitchell doubled to lead a four-hit attack for the Dons.
Later in the week, the Dons were 5-2 and 6-5 to last-place Pioneer, but pushed the game to extra innings, then won it in the home half of the eighth.
The Dons were down to their last out in the bottom of the seventh, trailing 6-5. But Scott Martin ran the count full, then worked a walk to keep Del Mar alive. Vu Nguyen followed with a booming double to right-center to drive home the tying run.
Kyle Viau, who came on in relief of Mitchell in the fourth, put down the Mustangs in the top of the eighth, and the Dons went to work in the bottom of the inning.
Jaren Campbell beat out an infield hit and took second on a wild pitch. James Rollins, bunting for a sacrifice, was safe when the pitcher's errant throw was wide of the bag at first, and the Dons had runners at the corners with no outs and feared slugger David Sanfilippo at the plate.
Sanfilippo took two pitches wide and in the dirt, the second rolling to the backstop for a wild pitch allowing Campbell to score the game-winning run.
Sanfilippo had played a key role in most of the Del Mar scoring that day.
He opened the game with a four-pitch walk, stole second and scored when Mitchell reached on an error.
An inning later, Danny Bosakowski beat out an infield hit, moved to second on a sacrifice by Rollins and raced home when Sanfilippo bounced a double of the right-field fence.
A two-run single by Greg Haskell, a run-scoring single by Brian Davis and an rbi-double by Bryce Hall sparked a five-run Pioneer rally in the third, but the Dons came battling back.
Sanfilippo walked and stole second. Two outs later, Viau singled him home. Martin followed with an infield hit, and Viau came around to score when Nguyen reached on an error.
The Dons tied it in the sixth when Sanfilippo drew a two-out walk and came all the way around to score when Danny Oswald's fly ball to left field was dropped.
Mike Wiens blooped a double behind shortstop and scored on a single by Haskell to give the Mustangs a 6-5 lead in the top of the seventh, but the Dons tied it in the bottom of the inning, then won it in the eighth.
Viau had two hits for the Dons in the win, and Sanfilippo and Nguyen each doubled. Sanfilippo also stole three bases. Campbell, Martin and Bosakowski each added hits for the winners.
Haskell had two hits for the Mustangs in the loss, and Hall, Wiens and Kevin Sparrer each doubled.
Warriors fall
Westmont (4-12) lost its only game last week, falling 5-1 to Santa Teresa (7-9). The Warriors dropped to three games behind the Saints and out of the race for fifth place in the standings.
Mike Cifelli belted a double and two singles to lead the Westmont bat attack against the Saints. Seth Zajac added two hits and Colin McAvoy doubled.
Panthers split
Prospect split a pair of games in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL last week, but the win was a big one for the Panthers.
Prospect upset first-place Leigh 14-3, sticking the Longhorns with their first loss of the league season.
The Panthers lost 6-5 to Gunderson early in the week to fall out of second place in the division. Dave Hildreth and Darrell Jacks each homered to help Prospect jump out to a 5-2 lead, but the Grizzlies rallied for four in the seventh to win it.
Jacks singled, doubled and homered in the game for the Panthers ,and Curtis Wills and Dave Marrs had two hits apiece.
But Prospect battled back to upset Leigh two days later. The Panthers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first, and unloaded for eight runs in the seventh to clinch the win.
Jacks homered, doubled and singled twice for the Panthers and Marrs had four hits to knock in three runs. Casey Macartney had two hits, Hildreth doubled home two runs, and Wills knocked in three runs.
Steven Vidal was the winning pitcher for the Panthers, pushing his mound record to 4-0. He also helped his cause at the plate with three hits to drive in two runs.
The Panthers are now 11-6 in division play and 15-9 for the year.
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Campbell, California
