SANTA ROSA – Ninth-seeded Northgate-Walnut Creek had runners on second and third base but No. 3 hitter Kevin Clancy and the Broncos were trailing 4-3, there were two outs, and they were down to their last strike.
With the count 2-and-2 the sophomore outfielder got the pitch he wanted and lined it up the middle to plate both runners and drive in the winning runs. The result is after three previous appearances in the championship game, Northgate (19-7) will once again play for its first CIF North Coast section title after a 5-4 Division II semifinal victory on Tuesday over host and No. 4 seed Maria Carrillo.
The top of the seventh started when freshman pinch hitter Brock Rudy singled. Another pinch hitter Anders Capener hit a chopper to Maria Carrillo Cal-bound pitcher Andrew Vaughn who made a bad throw to second that left runners on first and second. Leadoff batter and senior shortstop Nicholas Simmons then executed a perfect sacrifice bunt that put Rudy and Capener at second and third, respectively. After Brian Wright bounced out to second and was unable to advance the runners it set the stage for the Clancy heroics.
“With two strikes I’m thinking I just want to try and get to the next guy,” Clancy said. “I was looking for something middle or away so I could drive it up the middle and that’s what I got.”
Northgate took advantage of a shaky start by Vaughn to score a run in the first inning without the benefit of a hit but the 1-0 lead was short-lived when Carrillo scored two runs in the bottom of the inning courtesy of a two RBI single by Vincent Riggio that drove in Patrick Gavin and Vaughn and gave the hosts a 2-1 lead.
The visitors re-took the lead in the third inning when Brian Wright got a one-out single and scored from first on a double by Ian Villers who then scored on a single by Ryne Mannie that put the Broncos on top 3-2.
Both Vaughn and Northgate starter Devin Murtha knuckled down until the sixth when prior to Northgate posting the winning runs in the seventh it was Carrillo taking the lead a second time with two runs courtesy of a 375-foot leadoff home run by Aidan Nagle and an RBI single by Grant Hermone that drove in Riggio who singled after the Nagle blast.
Prior to the Hermone single Northgate Coach Tim Jochner brought in Chris Rogan, and although he surrendered the hit that scored the final Carrillo run, the sophomore right-hander got out of the inning and then got out of another jam with runners on first and second in the bottom of the seventh to get the save. Murtha, a senior right-hander that throws an assortment of off-speed pitches that by and large kept Carrillo off its stroke, went five and two-thirds innings and gave up four runs on seven hits with three walks, a hit batter and two strikeouts.
“My goal when I took the mound today was to just pitch my game, keep it simple, keep us in the game and take it one pitch at a time,” Murtha said.
For Carrillo’s Vaughn the disappointment of getting to within a strike of pitching his team into the NCS title game was apparent as he sat by himself in the corner of the dugout for quite a while after the game. In his four years as a Puma the team made it to the NCS playoffs each year but this would be the first time this group would play for a title. Carrillo was a back-to-back winner in 2002-2003 in the old 3A Redwood Empire Division.
“It was another great season and Andrew had a great high school career, but being one strike away, I know that will eat at him for a while. Two good teams went at it but like you say that’s baseball,” said Carrillo Coach Derek DeBenedetti, whose team finishes 19-10 this season.
Some, including Prep2Prep NCS analyst and senior contributor Nate Smith felt Northgate likely should have been a higher seed than ninth.
“Northgate should have been seeded higher,” Smith said. “Early loss to Ukiah was the only reason for a nine seed despite being DVAL champs.”
Northgate won the Diablo Valley Athletic League that includes perennially tough College Park-Pleasant Hill with a 10-2 record.
“The key to our success in the playoffs has been our defense and our pitchers are throwing strikes, and that’s what you saw today,” Northgate Coach Tim Jochner said.
The Broncos now face a Livermore team in a battle of two programs looking for their first NCS championship. Livermore was 14-13 overall but only 4-10 in the ultra-tough East Bay Athletic League. The No. 7 seeded Cowboys were in the NCS D2 title game last year but fell 5-4 to Redwood-Larkspur in 11 innings. This year they exacted revenge over Redwood with a 15-2 second round road victory.
The NCS Division II title game is Saturday at 12 noon at Diablo Valley College
