ALBANY, Calif. – When Eligh James strolled to the plate to lead off for No. 3 Saint Mary’s-Berkeley in the bottom of the first inning in the Panthers’ NCS D4 quarterfinal match up against No. 11 Fortuna, his team already trailed by three runs. But it wouldn’t be long before that seemed like a distant memory, as they responded with three consecutive doubles and a homer as part of a six-run first, tacked on three more in the third, and then broke it wide open in the sixth in a 17-6 thrashing to advance to the semifinals on Wednesday.
Noah Zirkle fought through an uneven performance to earn the win, and the offense pounded out 15 hits with three RBIs each from Derrick Bedford and Cole Filson for Saint Mary’s (16-9-1). Huskies’ sophomore Drew Franklin was lifted in the third inning after getting peppered for eight hits and nine runs, and Rogan Gans provided some relief, but committed two of four Fortuna errors in the wayward sixth.
Things certainly looked bright for Fortuna (14-12) at the outset, as Troy Bugbee led off with a walk, and even after he was picked off, the Huskies got on base via a hit by pitch and had three more hits and a walk. Kallen Barrote’s two-run single gave the Huskies the 3-0 lead, but Zirkle got Colt Chamberlain looking to end the threat with two on.
“I was thinking too much and over-complicating the game,” Zirkle said. “After we got out of the first and the offense put up some runs, it allowed me to settle back in and get in my groove and realize it’s just baseball.”
James led off with a double in the bottom of the first, and Bedford and Caven Croom completed the back-to-back-to-back two-baggers. Senior EJ McGrew then smashed a homer and later in the inning Filson brought home Evan Kleinhans and Eli Barnett-Abrams, each of whom had singled and then advanced a base on a wild pitch.
“We came in confident, really powered up,” Bedford stated. “I feel like we had this in control in the first inning.”
In the third, the Panthers pulled off a successful suicide squeeze bunt laid down by Filson, scoring Barnett-Abrams, and Bedford had a two-run single two batters later.
Fortuna had runners on base every inning, but were equally fazed by Zirkle, who struck out nine, and a reliever who added two more K’s and benefited from a caught stealing.
“He’s a veteran, and this moment meant a lot to him,” Saint Mary’s coach Brian Mouton said about Zirkle. “Knowing this is the last day on this field, I think it was emotional. I felt like he battled and he’s always going to give us a chance to win.”
The Huskies did make a small push in the top of the sixth, when Cody Sauers drove in a pair with a single to right. But momentum was lost when pinch runner Chad Mussey was caught leading too far off third base after a throwing error to first was wide.
In the bottom of the sixth, McGrew led off with a double, Max Barnett-Abrams reached on an error, Kleinhans and Eli Barnett-Abrams provided back-to-back singles once again, three more fielding errors by Fortuna caused havoc, and the rout was on.
“I was happy with the team performance, and the team performance was more or less like everyone’s doing their job,” Mouton added. “We just wanted everyone to do their job, and everything would take care of itself.”
Saint Mary’s moves on to face No. 2 Justin-Siena, which defeated No. 7 Healdsburg 7-0. Fortuna will look forward to next season, as only three starters from the day’s game were seniors.
“We had ups and downs during the season that led us to a lower seed and forced to play road games,” fourth-year Fortuna coach Andrew Olsen commented. “Loggin’ a thousand miles but it didn’t faze the kids. Sad that it’s over but definitely heads held high, and they represented the school well. Give (Saint Mary’s) credit, they’re the number three seed for a reason.”
“There’s been a lot of bumps in the road, between COVID, during the playoffs a few injuries, but we really have shown a sense of pride and fight,” Zirkle said. “We always have that sense of ‘We got this, we’re a good team.’ And when we do that...it’s a little snowball. We battle back, we fight adversity, we win.”
