Tonight, the bats of the Palo Alto High School varsity baseball team fell silent at the San Jose Municipal Stadium in the Central Coast Section (CCS) semifinals. The Vikings, the top seed entering the tournament, lost 4-2 in extra innings to the Warriors of Valley Christian, a West Catholic Athletic League (WCAL) powerhouse.
Both of the Vikings’ runs came from season-long standout B.J. Boyd (’12), who was walked three times and had a triple in the first inning. Ben Sneider (’12) held the Warriors scoreless through ffour innings until, with the Vikes up 2-0, Valley Christian tied it up in the fifth.
At that point Paly’s offense fell flat. Their hitters were unable to connect on Theron Kay’s (’14) devastating change-ups, which made it very difficult for the Vikes to regain the lead. The Warriors scored two more runs in the eighth inning to make the score 4-2, sending the Vikings packing for the second straight year in the CCS playoffs.
Palo Alto will graduate nine seniors from the program including Ozzy Braff, Jack Witte, Justin Grey, Alec Wong, Christian Lonsky, John Dickerson, Jacob Lauing, and Boyd.
