Kevin Corey pitches Cats to CCS title. Photo by Mike LaBouff
Sometimes the hits pour off the bats. Other times, they are hard to come by. But good teams find ways to win under either circumstance.
Coach Brad Sanfilippo’s Los Gatos Wildcats are one of those good teams, and on Saturday when hits were hard to come by, the Cats scratched and clawed their way for four runs en route to a 4-1 win over Sobrato in the Central Coast Section Division II championship game at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
Los Gatos ace Kevin Corey took the ball in the championship and went the distance, scattering eight hits and striking out 4. The Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo-bound senior threw strikes, and his defense played errorless ball behind him.
But Sobrato pitcher Chris Bradley was equally sharp, spotting the ball well. Los Gatos got its share of hits, but had trouble bunching them together. Sanfilippo likes to employ the “small ball” approach when needed, and it was called for Saturday.
Los Gatos took a 1-0 lead In the bottom of the third when Matt Horton lined a one-out triple to left and scored on a bunt by Ryan McGee.
After Sobrato tied the game with a run in the top of the fourth, the Wildcats added two in the fourth when Corey led off with a double and Travis Bonner followed with an RBI single. And then it was back to the small ball, with Corey Lanagan bringing Bonner home with a bunt single.
Los Gatos added an insurance run in the sixth when Curtis Breidenthal had an RBI single.
Corey improved his season record to 12-2, throwing just 97 pitches. But Bradley was even more efficient, tossing just 79 pitches.
When Sobrato scored its lone run in the fourth, Breidenthal made a strong throw to the plate following a base hit that held the Sobrato runner at third. The hitter tried to take second on the throw but was gunned down by catcher Travis Bonner, preventing further damage in the inning.
Later in the game, Breidenthal robbed Sobrato’s Rauley Cambra with a diving catch to end the fifth inning.
The CCS championship was Los Gatos’ second in school history. And it just so happens that both have come in the past four years under the direction of Sanfilippo.
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