Mountain View outdone Mountain View outdone (March 18, 2005)

Fourth inning dismantles Spartans' hope to win

By Scott Campbell

Once Los Gatos got its bats going, the runs just kept coming. A seven-run fourth inning by the Wildcats broke open a close game and led to a deflating 14-3 loss for host Mountain View last Friday.

Trailing 3-2 in the top of the fourth inning, the Spartans (2-2 overall, 1-1 league) saw Los Gatos send 11 hitters to the plate before they could finally retire the side.

"The floodgates opened up, that's for sure," said Mountain View coach Dave Salter. "They hit the ball hard, they got a lot of hits in a row ... and that's when the wheels fell off."

Spartans pitchers Jason Marshalla and Nick Mattes combined to allow seven consecutive hitters to reach base in the inning as Los Gatos used a home run and three doubles to take a 10-2 lead.

"They had really patient hitters," said Marshalla, who allowed seven runs in 3 1/3 innings. "They waited for the right pitch and just took a good hard swing at each one."

New to the De Anza Division this season as champions of the lower El Camino Division last year, the Spartans welcomed the challenge of playing one of the upper division's heavyweights.

Los Gatos (4-2 overall, 2-0 league) used consecutive two-out walks to take a 2-0 first-inning lead, but Mountain View clawed back with a run of its own in the second.

Spartans right fielder Tommie Bommarito walked to open the inning, stole second base and came around to score on first baseman Tom Jones' infield groundout.

After the Wildcats scored another run in the top of the third, Mountain View rallied again. Following a leadoff walk, shortstop Adam Lanthier advanced to third base after Los Gatos pitcher Kyle Blair committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt.

Spartans left fielder David Ronconi followed with a groundball that bounced over Los Gatos shortstop Justin Schafer's head to bring Mountain View within 3-2. But once the Wildcats' bats woke up, the Spartans would get no closer.

"[Marshalla] struggled to get his off-speed pitches over for strikes, so they were just sitting [on] fastballs and they're a really, really good fastball-hitting team," said Salter.

On the heels of its fourth-inning onslaught, Los Gatos went to work on Mountain View's pitching again in the fifth, scoring four runs off relievers Mattes and A.J. Rossi.

"It shows a high level of concentration [for] guy after guy to come up and have a good approach at the plate," said Los Gatos coach Brad Sanfilippo. "Guys weren't forcing the issue."

With the Wildcats' Blair settling down to notch a complete-game victory, allowing only six hits, Mountain View knew the game was out of reach.

"It's never easy to take a loss like this. ... We've got to put this one in the past," said Ronconi. "There's not going to be such a thing as an easy game for us this year."

Mountain View plays in the Serra Tournament on March 19-24 and resumes league competition against reigning champion Wilcox at home on March 25.

E-mail Scott Campbell at sports@mv-voice.com

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