Amador Valley High's Mike Mallory isn't used to pitching in relief, so when coach Lou Cesario called on the junior to make a late-game appearance today, it took a brief period of adjustment.
After throwing his first two pitches behind De La Salle's Jake Hamilton, Mallory found his groove — and the strike zone — to help preserve the lead for the Dons in a 4-2 win at De La Salle.
"It was different coming in with the stretch," Mallory said. "After the first batter, I settled down with my pitches, and we got the win. That's all that matters."
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He replaced starter Nick Piscotty with one in the sixth and walked Hamilton to load the bases, before quickly settling down. Mac Hess brought in a run with a ground out, but Mallory got Devin Williams to to ground out back to him to end the threat.
"Those are our two best pitchers, and there's no use keeping them on the bench in those situations," Amador coach Lou Cesario said. "The guys have a lot of faith in each other and they don't have to rely on themselves. It's something we're focused on: playing as a team."
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Piscotty gave up five hits, struck out streek and walked one, while Mallory allowed two hits, a walk and struck out one.
Devin Finn singled to left and later scored on a Brian Hamm sacrifice fly to put the Dons (11-3, 2-2 EBAL) up 1-0 in the second inning.
After De La Salle tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth, Amador answered with a three runs in the following half-inning. Joey Moroney and Chris Keck drew walks to lead off the inning and designated hitter David Johnson drove them in with a single to left.
"DH and playing first are two different things," Johnson said. "When I DH, I can focus on hitting. The first two pitches were balls I shouldn't have swung at, but then I settled down and got the hit."
Amador left the bases loaded twice as the teams combined to strand over 19 runners. De La Salle
"I'm not going to take anything away from Amador Valley, they did a good job," De La Salle coach Rick Steen said, noting the Dons had some of the best pitching he'd seen all year.
Amador Valley plays at Granada of Livermore today at 4 p.m.
Granada 2, Foothill 1: Foothill managed an unearned run in the first inning on an RBI single from Brandon Viceral, but the offense could only muster two hits the rest of the way in its first loss of the EBAL season.
The loss spoiled a solid performance from Cal-bound pitcher Michael Theofanopolous, who allowed just one earned run and three hits in six innings. Sean Mannion threw one scoreless inning in relief for the Falcons (11-4, 4-1).
Foothill will travel to San Ramon Valley (10-5, 3-2), which was an 8-4 winner against California today.
John Love went the distance for the Matadors with three strikeouts and a walk just the first
—Staff report
Softball
San Ramon Valley 1, Foothill 0: Kylie Day scattered five hits and struck out eight to lead the Wolves past Foothill.
It offset another great performance from Foothill pitcher Keri Ball, who had given up just one run in the past three games. Ball struck out 10, gave up two hits and walked three while allowing just one run.
Four teams started the day with just one loss in EBAL play, but the Wolves win, coupled with Cal's 1-0 win against Livermore means Friday's game between the Grizzlies (10-2, 4-1) and Wolves (9-4, 4-1) at San Ramon is for sole purpose of first place.
—Staff report
Baseball box scores
Amador Valley 4, De La Salle 2
Amador Valley (11-3, 2-2) 010 030 0— 4 7 1
De La Salle (8-6, 2-3) 000 101 0— 2 7 2
Amador Valley (ab-r-h)—Hamm 3-0-1, Moroney 2-1-0, Keck 1-1-0, Pluschkell 3-0-1, Johnson 3-1-2, Barstow 3-0-1, Finn 4-1-2, Olguin 2-0-0, Petros 3-0-0, Howard 1-0-0. Totals 25-4-7.
De La Salle (ab-r-h)— Miller 4-0-1, Devincenzi 4-0-0, Rowen 4-0-1, Walter 3-1-1, Byers 2-1-1, Hamilton 2-0-2, Hess 2-0-1, Williams 3-0-0, Howard 3-0-0. Totals 27-2-7.
Pitching
Amador Valley — Piscotty 5 1/3 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 K, 1 BB; Mallory 1 2/3 IP, o R, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 1 BB. De La Salle —West 3 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 K, 3 BB; Stockton 3 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 4 BB; Byers 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 K, 1 BB.
Batting
2B— Walter (DLS). RBI— Johnson 2 (AV), Hamm (AV), Hess 2 (DLS).
Granada 2, Foothill 1
Granada (10-5, 2-5) 000 002 0— 2 4 2
Foothill (11-4, 4-1) 100 000 0— 1 3 1
Love and Mastruboni. Theofanopolous, Mannion (7) and Brazil. Highlights: F — Theofanopolous 6 IP, 1 ER, Viceral 1 for 3, RBI.
Softball box score
San Ramon Valley 1, Foothill 0
Foothill (7-8, 3-2) 000 000 0— 0 5 1
SRV (11-4, 4-1) 001 000 x— 1 2 1
Ball and Vincent. Day and Foley. Highlights: F — Ball CG, 10 K, 2 H, 1 R. SRV — Day CG, 5 H, 8 K.
