Perfect 10: Serra walks off Bells

SAN MATEO – It's been said that Serra doesn't rebuild. It merely reloads. Never has that statement been truer than this year when it brought to the table a group of relative unknowns.

It stands to reason when you're replacing a team that had 18 seniors a year ago.

Still, a month ago, no one had ever heard of Riley Lim, Nate Hui or even William Murray but on Friday each took centerstage in perhaps the Padres' most impressive win of the year – a 2-1 nine-inning walkoff victory over Bellarmine that cemented for them a perfect 10-0 start.

Hui ended the show with his heroics. His liner into the left-center field gap scored Murray, who was pinch-running after Will Walbridge's leadoff walk. He raced all the way around the bases to keep the Padres perfect.

Meanwhile, Lim – a right-handed junior no one outside the program had heard of a month ago, made his third impressive start. Unlike the first two, this time he allowed a hit – just one – which might indicate how effective he's been for the Padres.

"It was essentially a brand-new club coming into the year, and we really spent a lot of our time this fall focusing on building our team chemistry," said Serra coach Mat Keplinger. "It's something that's really blossomed through this early part of the season."

For four innings it was an epic pitcher's duel between Lim and Bellarmine's Apolo Lapiz, neither of whom allowed a hit in the first time through the opposing lineups.

Davis Minton changed that with a home run in the bottom of the fourth that gave Serra a 1-0 lead.

But the Bells (5-4) came back in the fifth when freshman Emmett Arnott was hit by a pitch. He moved to second on a passed ball and went to third on Dash Knight's long double off the wall in left-center field.

DJ Dunne brought him home with an infield grounder, but the Bells were kept from doing further damage when Minton cut down pinch runner Luke McNeil at the plate on an infield grounder with the Serra infield in tight.

The Padres loaded the fifth but came away empty when Minton ended the threat with an infield grounder.

Hui made sure to make the most of his opportunity in the ninth.

"I came into that at bat oh-for-three, so I was just trying to flush everything that happened before, and not do too much," he said. "I told myself just stay within myself and put the ball in play. Good things will happen."

He got around on a fastball from Preston Pera and Murray, running on the 3-2 pitch, didn't stop until he cruised to home plate with the winning run.

Three Things We Liked (And One We Didn't)

• Riley Lim. The junior has not pitched a bad inning this year. On Friday, he went a season-high six innings before giving way to winning pitcher Ian Josephson. His strong showing is allowing Keplinger to ease Davis Minton into the rotation when he's ready.
• Emmett Arnott. The Bellarmine right-hander is the first freshman to make the varsity squad there since at least 1988, coach Nate Sutton said. Sutton didn't hesitate to throw him into the fire. With the bases loaded in the fifth, he put him on the mound and Arnott responded by getting Minton to ground out to end the threat. The moment wasn't too big for him. That's a good sign for Bellarmine.
• Bellarmine. Sutton has a team that is going to win a lot of games this year. The Bells are athletic and have enough pitching to compete in the WCAL. The front end of their lineup, led by Evan Tavarez, will scare a lot of teams. And shortstop DJ Dunne can make all the plays. "It was a step in the right direction," Sutton said. "It's good for us to experience these tight games and some finding out that the little things are the difference in the game."

And what we hated. The Padres were called for bench interference for yelling too loudly when a foul ball fell between catcher Nate Bateman and first baseman Ollie McNamara. The official ruling was the Serra was yelling for the ball, but with the crowd being so close to the action at Dan Frisella Field, it's impossible to know exactly who was yelling, not that we object to such gamesmanship.

He Said It

"Our mantra has been to finish. We want to finish. So today was a proud example of just sticking with it, and the guys are learning how to finish games. I think that's what I'm most proud of right now." – Mat Keplinger, Serra coach.

Up Next

Serra takes on Saint Francis Tuesday at home and in Mountain View next Friday, while Bellarmine hosts Homestead on Saturday before taking on Valley Christian on Tuesday.

W: Josephson. L: Pera. HR- D.Minton (S). 2B- Hui (S), Knight (B).

Saint Francis 2, Valley Christian 1

The Lancers rode the right arm of Nick Chow to complete the sweep of the team many believe is the team to beat in the WCAL.

Chow threw 99 pitches in six innings of work. He allowed four walks and struck out seven before giving way to Ian McMahon, who pitched a clean seventh inning for the save.

The Lancers (8-2) scored their only runs in the second inning off Kole Laubach, who lasted just two innings. Sione Tulua walked and his twin brother Siale Tulua singled.

Henry Dommer singled to load the bases and shortstop Bobby Hill delivered a base hit into left field to give Saint Francis a 2-0 lead.

The Warriors (6-3), struggling to score runs after being shut out in their last two games, broke their scoreless streak in the fifth on a triple by Brock Ketelsen and a sacrifice fly by Hunter Fujimoto.

W: Chow. L: Laubach. S: McMahon.
2 hits- Marsh (VC). 2 RBI- Hill (SF). 3B- Ketelsen (VC). 2B- Marsh (VC).

Burlingame 3, Sacred Heart Prep 2

Burlingame snapped a three-game losing streak and kept Rallin Covey winless despite throwing a complete-game three hitter.

Dionisios Vorrises matched him with a three-hit complete game of his own – a 91-pitch effort where he struck out five.

The Panthers scored two runs on wild pitches and a third on a throwing error – one of seven errors the two teams combined to commit.

Nico Pollioni and Liam Philibosian had two hits each to lead their respective teams. Philibosian's hits included a triple.

W: Vorrises. L: Covey. 2 hits- Pollioni (SHP), Philibosian (B). 3B- Philibosian (B).

Mountain View 6, Carlmont 2

Mountain View improved to 6-2 with an impressive win that was led by a nine-hit attack and the efficient pitching of Brennan Dooley.

Dooley needed just 77 pitches to go the distance. He allowed three hits and didn't walk a batter, while striking out three.

Zander Yokem had three hits, including two doubles, while Austin Xu and Jackson Blake had two hits each.

Grant Goetz had two hits for Carlmont, which fell to 4-4.

W: Dooley. L: Fong. 3 hits- Yokum (MV). 2 hits- Xu (MV), Blake (MV), Goetz (C).** 2 RBI-** Yokum (MV), Blake (MV). 2B- Yokum (MV) 2.

Hillsdale 5, Woodside 4, 11 innings

The Knights improved to 4-2 with a walk-off win in the 11th inning, thanks to consecutive singles by Jake Belloni, Hugo Guzman and Jacob Bonner.

The win snapped Woodside's modest winning streak, but the Wildcats continued their torrid hitting by pounding out 14 hits.

Jeremiah Arias Torres had three hits to lead the Wildcats, while Hunter Taylor and Diego Perez had two hits each.

Belloni, Tommy Schultz and Jacob-Charlz Gementara had two hits each for the Knights.

W: Schultz. L: Torres. 3 hits- Asias-Torres (W). 2 hits- Taylor (W), Perez (W). Belloni (H), Schultz (H), Gementera (H).

Archbishop Mitty 4, Riordan, 3

Waylon Walsh hit his first game-winning home run – not quite a walk-off but close enough – in the top of the seventh inning as the Monarchs rallied to beat Riordan, 4-3.

"It felt awesome," said the senior shortstop who is committed to Santa Clara. "It was a real slow-paced just gritty game. We hadn't done a lot offensively."

Going into the seventh inning, the only thing the Monarchs had to show for was a Grayson Munoz two-run home run. They trailed by a run entering the seventh when Andres Lopez-Monsivias led off with a walk, bringing Walsh to the plate.

Walsh turned on his second pitch from Santino Williams and drove it over the fence in right field. He added a little bat flip as he turned toward his dugout in celebration as he headed to first.

"It was definitely more (celebration) than usual for me," he said. "I guess I got caught up in the emotions of the moment."

Keoni Ordonez had four hits for Riordan.

W: Lopez-Monsivias. L: Williams.** 4 hits-** Ordonez (R). 2 hits- Parenti (R), Munoz (M). 2 RBI- Walsh (M), Munoz (M). HR- Munoz (M), Walsh (M).

Mount Eden 3, San Mateo 1

The Bearcats fell to .500 with the loss. Neel Sardesai had two hits for the Bearcats.

W: Nangioli. L: Okimura. 2 hits- Sardesai (SM). 2B- Nishiyama (SM).

Sequoia 8, Westmont 7

The Ravens hung on to beat Westmont and climb above the .500 mark, thanks to Morgan Winfield, who came out of the bullpen to pitch three innings and pick up the win while also pounding out two hits.

Vince Olinger-Giani had two hits and drove in two runs for Sequoia, which will travel to Mountain View Saturday. Sequoia opened the season with a win over Mountain View, which has regrouped and now stands at 6-2.

W: Winfield. L: Hines. 2 hits- Hines (W), Raub (W), Winfield (S), Olinger-Giani (S). 2 RBI- Olinger-Giani (S). 2B- Nishijima (W), Winfield (S).