Viking Baseball Wins Quarterfinals and will Move on to CCS Round Two on May 25th
Following a 25-5 record and an outright league title, Paly baseball is set to take on WCAL rival Valley Christian on Wednesday, May 25th, in the CCS Division 1 semi-final game. This comes after a back and forth battle with Carlmont in the quarterfinals, resulting in an 11-10 walk-off win in favor of the Vikings.
The Vikings took the lead quickly, with home runs by seniors Danny Peters and Henry Bolte in the third and fourth innings. However, Carlmont fought back, scoring eight runs, including a grand slam in the fifth inning.
Carlmont was able to pull ahead 10-9 in the top of the seventh inning resulting in a nail-biting bottom of the seventh for the Vikings. With Henry Bolte and senior Zach Hayward on base, sophomore Stanford commit Charlie Bates singled on a 2-2 count bringing in two runs and the 11-10 walk-off victory.
“Knowing that Henry was on second base, I knew all I had to do was put the ball in play, and my teammates would do the rest. The team chemistry this year has been incredible, and we are all working towards the end goal of bringing home a championship title,” CharlieBates said.
After a streak of six years of not making it out of the first CCS round, this is the second year in a row that the Vikings and coach Pete Fukuhara have advanced to the semi-final round. The matchup against the Valley Christian Warriors is familiar for the Paly baseball team. The Vikings have had their seasons ended by Coach John Diate and the Warriors the past two seasons in the first and second rounds of the CCS playoffs. Jack Haight was a freshman on the team who started in a CCS game against Valley, where their season ended.
“We’re hungry for this game. It feels like a long time coming, and we have been waiting to get our chance back at them this year. This is our best chance to take them down, so I am looking forward to it,” Haight said.
It is safe to say that the Vikings are more prepared for this game than ever. With an experienced team with many college-bound athletes, it is making out to be the best matchup between the two schools in the past couple of years.
Fortunately for the Vikings this year, there is no threat of a season-ending loss as they have clinched a spot in the Normal Regional State tournament following their victory against Carlmont.
“It’s a great thing to know that regardless of the outcome Wednesday, we still have a good chance to continue our season. Regardless, all our focus is on the game against Valley at this point,” Texas-bound senior Henry Bolte said.
