LJ baseball: Exhortations

Catcher Garrett Brown's throw to pitcher Weston Clark

(6) covering home isn't in time, and San Ysidro

scores in the top of the second. (Photo by Ed Piper)

In the bottom of the fourth inning during La Jolla High's game against San Ysidro for the CIF Division II baseball championship Sat., June 6, Steve Booth, an assistant coach, held a pow wow in the dugout with a threesome: Sean Hofmann, Noah Strohl, and Ben Wintringer. The Vikings trailed 4-1.

"Get on base by any means necessary," Booth exhorted his listeners intently. "Get on base any way." He repeated his words emphatically, with a focused look on his face.

This was for the title. This was the last game of the season. For Hofmann and Strohl, both seniors, this was the last game of their high school careers.

Then, breaking up the trio, Booth addressed Wintringer solo: "Ben, slow it down. Slow the ballgame down." He put emphasis on each of his words. The veteran coach and former player had a one-man audience, and he intended to form the junior's mental state at that moment.

La Jolla was down, having given up two runs to the Cougars in each of the second and third innings. Viking batters were not forcing the issue with starter Gilbert Suarez.

More importantly, the red and black was a little tentative, having made some mistakes: a throw to Hofmann's left on a play at second base after a grounder to Timmy Holdgrafer, the ball rolling out into short right-center field. A run plated on a Weston Clark pitch that got away from catcher Garrett Brown. Nerves. Adrenaline.

The Vikes pushed a run across in the fourth, immediately following the assistant coach's mental pep talk, though none of his three listeners was directly responsible. Thomas Zlatic, DH'ing, got on by an error, then stole second base. Clark drove him in with a base hit.

But it wasn't enough. The Vikings had scored first, in the bottom of the opening frame at Fowler Park on the USD campus. Now they were back within 4-2.

But San Ysidro, having won their last 20-plus games in a row to gain a spot in the final opposite La Jolla--themselves winners of 10 in a row coming in--bruised Holdgrafer, coming on in relief of Clark, the starter, with three runs in the top of the fifth.

That was the final margin, 7-2, as Coach Gary Frank's squad set a school record with 24 wins and finished an elegant 24-9, with the Player of the Year (Holdgrafer) in the Western League and two teammates (Clark and center fielder James Whelan) also on the First Team All-League.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper