The St. Joseph baseball team has its second straight Mountain League title in hand. The Knights also have some bragging rights.
The Knights made the most of their seven hits Friday, their pitchers got some big outs and the Knights beat cross-street rival Righetti 9-6 on the Warriors’ Senior Day in both teams’ regular season finale at Righetti.
St. Joseph took the three-game series with Righetti two games to one. The Knights won the last two games between the teams after the Warriors won the first.
The Knights finished the regular season 22-5-1, 13-2 under first-year coach Tino Estrada. The Warriors finished another solid regular season under veteran coach Kyle Tognazzini 16-10, 8-7. Both teams long since became playoff eligible.
The last of the Knights’ three pitchers, Lucas Woodruff, got the last out. He also hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot over the left field fence in the top of the seventh. Woodruff had to make a slight u-turn during his jaunt around the bases.
“I was watching the ball, and I passed first base without touching it,” said Woodruff. He backtracked a bit then touched ‘em all to make the home run.
More than 130 special education elementary school students came to Liberty Elementary School to participate in different sports Friday morning during Sally Ostini Adapted Sports Day.
On the mound, “I mainly threw the slider,” said Woodruff. Woodruff entered after a two-run Kamron Walker single off the glove of St. Joseph second baseman Eli Hendricks pulled Righetti within 7-5 with one out in the fifth. With the bases full, Woodruff snuffed out the rally:
Woodruff pitched around two walks in the sixth. Max Anderson drove in a Righetti run with a two-out double in the seventh but Hendricks caught a pop fly to finish it.
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The Warriors out-hit the Knights 9-7, but Righetti stranded 14 base runners and left the bases loaded twice. Meanwhile, six of St. Joseph’s hits were RBIs.
Righetti broke on top when Max Villegas singled in the first run of the game in the bottom first. Robbie Roemling, the No. 9 hitter in the St. Joseph lineup, lined a two-run single to right for the first runs in a four-run St. Joseph second. The Knights stayed ahead.
Walker went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs, but freshman St. Joseph starter Xavier Horta retired Walker on a fly to right with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom third.
“We have a lot of arms. eight pitchers on the team,” said Estrada. “Whatever it takes to get the job done.”
One of those eight, left-hander Mason Majewski, pitched a perfect game earlier this season. He was the St. Joseph first baseman Friday. Majewski had two hits and drove in two runs.
“The hitting’s been coming around the last six games,” said Majewski.
The junior is a third-year varsity player who was one of the mainstays for a team that lost in a CIF Central Section divisional final last year.
“We’re putting more effort into it this year,” said Majewski. “Last year, we were a little lackadaisical in practice at times.”
“We’re going to need the bats to keep coming around during the playoffs,” Estrada said after his team ended its regular season with a big win.
The playoffs start next week.