Bears feeding off Molise's energy

Jack Molise is dealing. It's as simple as that. He's found his emotional animal on the mound, and he says it's been the key to his turnaround.

"I was told by my coach to be more emotional," said the Menlo-Atherton right-hander. "I'm starting to get more fired up on the mound and my teammates respond to that."

Molise was at his best on Wednesday. He tossed a complete-game shutout in a 3-0 victory at Carlmont – Menlo-Atherton's fifth straight win.

"He looks confident and passionate on the bump," said Menlo-Atherton coach Jordan Paroubeck. "We feed off of his energy."

His pitching transformation has been as simple as pitching to his defense. He's getting a lot more early-count outs than he was at the start of the season and that has allowed him to go deeper into games.

"I trust those guys behind me," Molise said.

With Molise and Wes Peterson, the Bears have the best one-two pitching punch in the Peninsula Athletic League's Bay Division. His presence might make Menlo-Atherton the Bay's team to beat.

The Bears found themselves at a crossroad following a 6-2 loss to St. Ignatius Prep last month that dropped them to 5-4. Paroubeck said then that the team had the power to decide how it wanted the season to go.

"We had a lot of shaky innings – we were making a lot of errors," Molise said. "We started playing for each other. We play every inning for each other and we're having so much fun right now."

For the first five innings on Wednesday, Molise was locked in a pitching duel with Scots' senior Grant Goetz. They matched goose eggs, but Menlo-Atherton broke the scoreless deadlock with three runs in the top of the sixth innings.

Masataka Shudo led off the inning with a double. He moved to third on Merrick Lee's base hit. After Ryder Kelly fielder's choice grounder, Jimmy Zaharias doubled in the game's first run.

Kelly beat the throw to the plate on David Lopez' infield grounder to make it 2-0 and the final run scored on a Will Roberts sacrifice fly.

That was like money in the bank, Molise said.

"I felt so good after Jimmy's double," he said. "I knew we had it."

Goetz went the distance, allowing only five hits, while striking out three. Pano Koutoulas had two hits for Carlmont.

W: Molsie. L: Goetz. 2 hits- Koutoulas (C). 2B- Zaharias (MA), Shudo (MA).

Terra Nova 5, Woodside 2

The Tigers came from behind to win their ninth straight game and take over sole possession of the PAL Ocean Division.

Trailing, 2-1, Terra Nova (9-2-1) scored three runs in the fourth inning off Trent Amoroso to make a winner of Aiden James, who allowed two runs and three hits over five innings of work.

The loss snapped Woodside's five-game winning streak. Jeremiah Arias Torres had two hits for the Wildcats (7-5).

Evan Wilson led off the fourth with a single. Jesse Martinez reached first base on an infield error and Isaac Roman singled to load the bases. A walk to Wes McDougal forced in a run and tied the game at 2.

Luke Ornelas singled in a run to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead and Joey Donati plated the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly.

Terra Nova added an insurance run in the sixth on a McDougal single and a double by Donati. Cooper Santamato threw two perfect innings of relief for the Tigers.

The same two teams will play again at Woodside on Thursday.

W: James. L: Amoroso. S: Santamato. 2 hits- Arias Torres (W). 2 RBI- Donati. 2B- Donati.

Menlo School 2, Sacred Heart Prep 1

Reid Plamondon held Sacred Heart Prep to one hit over seven innings. He struck out eight as the Knights completed a non-league sweep of their rivals and neighbors from down the block.

He allowed a run in the bottom of the first but Menlo came back with two runs in the top of the second on a base hit from Jack Freehill.

That was the only mark on Devin Saltzgaber's day. The senior lefty struck out eight but came up on the short end of the ledger.

W: Plamondon. L: Saltzgaber. 2 hits- Winn. 2 RBI- Freehill.

Sequoia 14, Half Moon Bay 1

Cameron Abrams had three hits, including two doubles, and drove in three runs for the Ravens, who pounded out 12 hits in the lopsided victory over the host Cougars.

Drew Ostrander had two runs, while Garrett Johnson and Dylan Karmin drove in two runs each.

Morgan Winfield threw four shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out eight.

Riley Jackson and Brady Miller had two hits each for the Cougars.

W: Winfield. L: Hipkins. 3 hits- Abrams (S). 2 hits- Ostrander (S), Jackson (HMB), Miller (HMB). 3 RBI- Abrams (C). 2 RBI- Johnson (S), Karmin (S), Murray (S). 2B- Abrams (S) 2, Hymer (S), Winfield (S).

Leigh 7, Leland 3

The Longhorns won their 10th straight game, the Peninsula's longest active streak, thanks to a 12-hit attack. Michael Mogannam, Noah Miller and Lance Takamura had two hits each for Leigh.

Sophomore Cole Canter hit a two-run homer for Leland.

W: Glanville. L: Chang. S: Madonna. 2 hits- Son (Lel), Mogannam (Lei), Miller (Lei), Takamura (Lei), Low (Lei). 2 RBI- Miller (Lei), Takamura (Lei), Canter (Lel). HR- Canter (Lel).

Los Gatos 5, Mountain View 5

The game was suspended after 11 innings because of darkness and will be resumed on Friday before the series finale at Mountain View.