Baseball team avoids upset in 7-6 win over No. 15 Archie Williams
Piedmont High’s comeback kids were at it again on Tuesday, May 20 in the opening round of the Division 3 North Coast Section baseball playoffs. As the No. 2 seeded team, the Highlanders avoided an upset at Humphries Diamond, beating No. 15 Archie Williams in comeback fashion.
The result marked the team’s sixth comeback victory of the season. They won 7-5 over Acalanes on February 28 after trailing 5-4, trailed 4-3 against Encinal on March 27 before winning 8-5, were also down 5-3 to Head-Royce before winning 7-5 on April 9, and beat Alameda 8-7 on April 18 after falling behind 7-4.
“We get our offense late in games. Maybe it’s just us getting acclimated to the pitcher. You’re going to need clutch performances in the playoffs,” said coach Eric Olson.
Piedmont trailed 6-1 after the second inning, but began chipping away. They rallied to put themselves one run down 6-5 with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, and went ahead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Piedmont senior Will Parker smacked the game-winning run on a single to right field to score Diego Delventhal.
Junior pitcher George Bishop also had a clutch performance on the mound after entering in the second inning. He struck out seven batters in 5.1 innings of shutout baseball.
The Highlanders will host Northgate in the NCS Quarterfinals on Friday, May 23 at Witter Field. No. 10 Northgate is 17-7 after upsetting No. 7 Bishop O’Dowd 9-2 on Tuesday night.
Game Recap
Trailing 6-0 after the top of the second inning, Piedmont got its first run when freshman Jonah Cha-Foster hit a two-out single to score Jordan Vo, who led off with a walk. PHS scored again the following inning when Vo drew a one-out walk with the bases loaded, but PHS struck out twice with three runners stranded.
Piedmont’s big three-run fourth inning all came with two outs. After Cha-Foster and Delventhal opened with walks, Shafer Dando was hit by a pitch with two outs. With Brandon Dicke at the plate, Cha-Foster and Delventhal scored on the same wild pitch. Then, Dicke slugged an RBI double to the right field fence, making it a 6-5 deficit.
In the bottom of the fifth, Jack Meyjes drew a leadoff walk. With one out, Delventhal cracked a ground ball through the middle of the infield. On his horse was Meyjes, wheeling all the way around from first to home to tie the game up at 6-6. After Delventhal made his way to third, Parker smacked a single of his own to score Diego.
Bishop stayed in the game at pitcher and retired three of four batters in the top of the sixth and the seventh.
Final stats:
Delventhal went 2-for-3 with an RBI, two runs, and a walk. Lagios went 1-for-4 with a run. Parker went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Dando scored once. Dicke went 1-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Vo had a run, RBI, and drew three walks. Meyjes scored once and drew two walks. Cha-Foster went 1-for-3 with a run, RBI, and a walk.
Bishop was the winning pitcher, throwing 5.1 innings for five strikeouts, no earned runs and allowed seven hits.
NEXT UP
Piedmont (16-9 overall) hosts Northgate (17-7) on Friday, May 23 at 5:00 p.m.