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Drake baseball’s improbable win ends Miramonte bid for perfection
The script couldn’t have been written any better:
Miramonte-Orinda’s baseball team had a chance to finish undefeated in longtime coach Vince Dell’Aquila’s final season.
What’s more, the North Coast Section Division 3 title game was played in Miramonte’s backyard at St. Mary’s College, a perfect venue from which to start a victory parade back to campus.
Unfortunately for the Matadors, no one shared the script with Drake-San Anselmo, an overachieving, underwhelming bunch that second-year coach Will Mosley said “wouldn’t pass any initial eye test.”
Despite appearances, Drake pulled out a 4-3 victory to end Miramonte’s perfect season and claim the school’s second NCS title in three years and fourth overall.
The win also took the sting out of a last year’s season-ending loss to Miramonte and completed the program’s first trifecta of Marin County Athletic League regular-season and playoff titles and the NCS crown.
The Pirates (25-5) also set a school record for victories.
“This team responded to everything we asked of them and every challenge put in front of them,” Mosley said.
Even facing an undefeated team with a lot of motivation, these guys just play with so much heart and play so smart.
With a rotation led by Nick Roth (9-3, 0.82 ERA, 92 strikeouts, 81 innings) and Ryan McLaughlin (9-1, 0.40, MCAL Pitcher of the Year), Drake didn’t allow more than three runs in any game this season.
[...] after Eric Woodrow tied Saturday’s game 2-2 in the fourth with an RBI double and McLaughlin followed with a two-run double, Drake had its magic number of four runs.
Miramonte (27-1) responded by loading the bases with no outs in the sixth.
[...] McLaughlin (four-hitter, eight strikeouts) wiggled out of the jam, allowing only a run.
In the seventh, junior catcher Case Delst threw out a would-be base-stealer, all but sealing a terrific game and season for his team.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my guys,” Dell’Aquila said.
Winning five or 10 games in a row is unique in baseball, let alone 27.
Saturday’s win wasn’t the only memorable one of the season for the Pirates.
In the section semifinals, Drake broke Analy-Sebastopol’s 18-game win streak with a 1-0 victory as Roth struck out 10 and allowed three hits.
On May 20, Drake won the MCAL playoff title 2-1, beating Marin Catholic on a 19th-inning home run by Owen Hamilton in a game that had to be completed the day after it started because of curfew at the park.
“Something magical changed after that,” Mosley said.
MaxPreps senior writer Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for The Chronicle.
Final Chronicle
top 10 baseball
De La Salle
Monte Vista
NR
NR
Casa Grande
NR
Final Chronicle
top 10 softball
Foothill
NR
Freedom
Heritage
More...
The script couldn’t have been written any better:
Miramonte-Orinda’s baseball team had a chance to finish undefeated in longtime coach Vince Dell’Aquila’s final season.
What’s more, the North Coast Section Division 3 title game was played in Miramonte’s backyard at St. Mary’s College, a perfect venue from which to start a victory parade back to campus.
Unfortunately for the Matadors, no one shared the script with Drake-San Anselmo, an overachieving, underwhelming bunch that second-year coach Will Mosley said “wouldn’t pass any initial eye test.”
Despite appearances, Drake pulled out a 4-3 victory to end Miramonte’s perfect season and claim the school’s second NCS title in three years and fourth overall.
The win also took the sting out of a last year’s season-ending loss to Miramonte and completed the program’s first trifecta of Marin County Athletic League regular-season and playoff titles and the NCS crown.
The Pirates (25-5) also set a school record for victories.
“This team responded to everything we asked of them and every challenge put in front of them,” Mosley said.
Even facing an undefeated team with a lot of motivation, these guys just play with so much heart and play so smart.
With a rotation led by Nick Roth (9-3, 0.82 ERA, 92 strikeouts, 81 innings) and Ryan McLaughlin (9-1, 0.40, MCAL Pitcher of the Year), Drake didn’t allow more than three runs in any game this season.
[...] after Eric Woodrow tied Saturday’s game 2-2 in the fourth with an RBI double and McLaughlin followed with a two-run double, Drake had its magic number of four runs.
Miramonte (27-1) responded by loading the bases with no outs in the sixth.
[...] McLaughlin (four-hitter, eight strikeouts) wiggled out of the jam, allowing only a run.
In the seventh, junior catcher Case Delst threw out a would-be base-stealer, all but sealing a terrific game and season for his team.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my guys,” Dell’Aquila said.
Winning five or 10 games in a row is unique in baseball, let alone 27.
Saturday’s win wasn’t the only memorable one of the season for the Pirates.
In the section semifinals, Drake broke Analy-Sebastopol’s 18-game win streak with a 1-0 victory as Roth struck out 10 and allowed three hits.
On May 20, Drake won the MCAL playoff title 2-1, beating Marin Catholic on a 19th-inning home run by Owen Hamilton in a game that had to be completed the day after it started because of curfew at the park.
“Something magical changed after that,” Mosley said.
MaxPreps senior writer Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for The Chronicle.
Final Chronicle
top 10 baseball
De La Salle
Monte Vista
NR
NR
Casa Grande
NR
Final Chronicle
top 10 softball
Foothill
NR
Freedom
Heritage
More...