Mike McKean / Assistant Sports Editor | Posted: Friday, April 30, 2004 12:00 am
Righetti High baseball coach Eric Albright had confidence in his starting pitcher, Andre Lamontagne, going into Thursday/s PAC-5 League game against Arroyo Grande.
"I kept thinking, /If he could only get through the first inning or two, he/d be OK,/" Albright said.
Lamontagne definitely tested his coach/s faith in him, allowing nine runs in the first inning on 41 pitches. But that faith was rewarded when the junior right-hander limited the Eagles to two hits over the final 6 1/3 innings in a 10-9 Warrior victory.
The win upped Righetti/s records to 7-4 in PAC-5 play and 15-8 overall, pushing them a game past the Eagles (6-5, 15-8) into a tie for first place in league with Atascadero (7-4, 16-7), a 7-0 winner over San Luis Obispo on Thursday.
"After that first inning Š I don/t want to say I didn/t believe, but I/d never seen a nine-run first inning before," said Warrior catcher Josh Thomas, who was 3-for-4 at the plate and factored into the wild final run for Righetti. "The rest of it, it was all Andre. He didn/t give up anything after that."
Righetti/s victory was all the more amazing because of the circumstances bred due to the nine-run first: Arroyo Grande scored four runs before Lamontagne could record an out, and took advantage of two key Warrior errors to tack on five more runs, capped by a three-run homer by Eagle shortstop Erik Morrison. In all, the Eagles scored the nine runs on only five hits, the two errors and two walks.
"He wasn/t hitting any of his spots that first inning," Thomas said. "He was missing (inside) on a lot of guys, and there/s only a few guys (in Arroyo Grande/s lineup) where you can miss inside."
After that, though, Lamontagne was as sharp as he could be, allowing only two hits and a total of six baserunners over the final 6 1/3 innings. None of those runners advanced further than second base.
"I don/t think I/ve ever seen a pitcher give up nine runs in the first inning, and then go the distance for the win," Albright said. "It was just an amazing performance by Andre, and it was all I could do to leave him in there."
The low-key Lamontagne had a quick answer for his equally-quick reversal of fortune.
"I finally started hitting my spots," he said. "I hadn/t been getting my curveball over, so I made sure to throw a lot in warm-ups. Other than that, I just started throwing strikes and letting the defense do their job."
Still, Righetti clawed its way back into the game, getting two runs in the first, third and fourth innings, followed by three more in the fifth. Highlights of those scores included a two-run homer by Thomas in the third, a successful sacrifice first-and-third steal to score Chris Mathews in the fourth, and a pinch-hit single by Ryan Grossman in the fifth that tied the score.
"We knew that we had some offense, so I told the kids that we didn/t need to get it all at once," Albright said. "We just needed to get a few here and there, and we/d pull our way back into the game."
They then took the lead in the sixth on a wild and unusual play: With leadoff hitter Jimmy Dodos on second with two outs, Thomas struck out on a pitch from Eagles reliever Brandon Butcher in the dirt and broke for first base; Eagle catcher Gil Buenrostro, instead of going for the force play on Thomas at first to end the inning, threw to third base to try to erase a stealing Dodos. His throw sailed into left, allowing Dodos to scamper home with the winning run.
"You hate to see a game turn on an unfortunate play like that, but that/s high school baseball," Albright said. "One thing you/ve got to remember about this is that these are teenage kids. Every once in a while, they make a poor decision, and you go from there."
David Lohman was the only other Warrior to record more than one hit, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run in the win. Thomas drove on three runs and scored three more.
Jason Harris joined Morrison as the only Eagles with more than one hit, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Morrison ended up 2-for-4 with the three RBIs off the homer.
Tennis
Cabrillo 77, St. Joseph 68
VANDENBERG VILLAGE 7 The Conquistadores (6-4, 8-7) took this LPL match by winning nine more games than St. Joseph (3-6) did.
Singles players Brent Wilson and Rishabh Chaudhari, and Cabrillo/s No. 2 doubles tandem of Clai Fields and Edgar Chavez all won two sets for the Conquistadores. Brandon Kiser and Bobby Merrill swept their sets at No. 1 doubles for the Knights. Graham Ortiz, St. Joseph/s top singles player, won two of three sets.
Lompoc 15, Nipomo 3
LOMPOC 7 The Braves (10-0, 15-0) are drawing a following that possibly no Lompoc boys tennis team has before.
"People are actually coming out to watch," Lompoc coach Loretta Jensen said. "It/s nice to see." So far, Jensen said, no one can remember when a Braves boys tennis team had an undefeated season 7 or if there ever has been one in school history, for that matter.
This time, Lompoc/s Manuel Solorio dropped all of one game at No. 1 singles. Lompoc/s doubles teams of Will Fabing and Adam Milholland, and David Gaspar and Shuelong Vang also swept three sets.
Templeton 17, SM 1
TEMPLETON 7 The Saints were missing one singles player and two doubles players in this non-league match.
"They decided they had better things to do," Santa Maria coach David Swain said wryly.
Steve Molinelli and Paul Roman won a set at doubles for the Saints/ point. Santa Maria is 3-11.
Golf
PAC-5 League Tournament
SAN LUIS OBISPO 7 Medalist Mike Blodgett shot a 71 and led San Luis Obispo to victory at the SLO Country Club. The Tigers shot a 375.
Teams following were Paso Robles at 392; Atascadero at 406; Righetti at 413; and Arroyo Grande at 414.
Daniel Miller led Righetti with a 73. He has already qualified for the CIF Individual Tournament, along with Justin McCutcheon and Brad Cartwright of San Luis Obispo. The other two spots will be decided next Wednesday and Thursday at the Santa Maria Country Club, at the league/s final tournament of the year. Starting time both days is 1:30 p.m.
Atascadero, Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo are the three PAC-5 team CIF qualifiers. However, the league order of finish is still to be determined.
Following Miller Thursday for the Warriors were Eric Barnard at 83; Jordan Jacobs at 85; Kyle Waterbury and John Blair Biegel at 86; and Jimmy Powell at 97.
Bryan Pierce led Arroyo Grande with a 77.
Volleyball
Santa Ynez 3, SJ 0
SANTA YNEZ 7 The Pirates swept the Knights (2-5, 4-9) 25-14, 25-9, 25-17 in a Los Padres League match.
Matt Segura smacked eight kills for the Knights, and Charlie Sheaff had seven.
q Sports writer Kenny Cress contributed to this report.
April 30, 2004