PACIFICA, CA -- It was a day of upsets in the CCS -- five WCAL teams lost -- and among the mind-benders was No. 15-seed Mills over No. 2-seed Terra Nova 6-4 in eight innings in a Division II game
Mills, from the C-Division PAL-Lake, was 1-12 this season in non-league games before this game, including a blowout loss to Menlo-Atherton in the opener of the PAL Tournament.
"It feels good," Mills shortstop Robert Thorgersen said. "Not a lot of people had confidence in us winning this game. I just didn't want to end the season yet; I want to keep going."
Thorgersen knew the outlook was grim for Mills heading into this contest against an A-division team, despite the Vikings' 15-0 record in the PAL-Lake.
"Every game we played out of league, we usually got blown out, so I don't think people had much faith in us, but we just did it for ourselves," he said.
It was a day for the doubters right up until the last out of the seventh inning when Mills (17-12) managed to tie the game 4-4 on Jordan Ganim's clutch RBI single to left field. Aaron Kwong was hit in the helmet to lead off the seventh. A groundout and a wild pitch advanced the runner to third before Ganim's key hit.
In the eighth, Thorgersen led off with a sinking line single that skipped past the center fielder for a two-base error.
"I was just trying to get on base and extend the game," Thorgersen said.
An RBI single by Austin Brown put Mills ahead 5-4. Another run came in on a throwing error and the Viking dugout was howling, and with good reason. The Vikings' only out-of-league victory before this was a 3-1 decision against Woodside.
Terra Nova's Mat Lavaroni managed a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth, but relief pitcher Daniel Walsh bore down and retired the last batter on a line drive back to the mound.
Mills celebrated briefly near the pitcher's mound before breaking to shake hands with the Tigers (17-12). It was an incredible victory for the Vikings against a daunting opponent.
Terra Nova took the loss hard. Five or six of the Tigers lingered in the dugout for a long time after the game, unable or unwilling to move.
"There's no doubt in our minds we thought we were going to win the game," TN coach Joey Gentile said. "But it's baseball; I try to tell the kids that -- that we can't take anyone lightly. (The Vikings) played a good game and they deserved to win. We couldn't make the plays and they did and they got the W."
On the opposite side of the field Mills coach Tony Adornetto, in his 11th year, was quietly pleased.
"It feels good," Adornetto said. "It's been eight years since we've won a CCS game. Obviously nobody expected us to."
Regarding Mills' less-than-stellar non-league record, Adornetto said: "There were only two or three games that were really out of hand. We've played pretty well overall."
Mills took an early lead against TN pitcher Ray Falk. Dominic Cozzo led off the game with a double down the left-field line, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Austin LaDuca's RBI groundout.
The Vikings made it 2-0 in the second on a lead-off single by Walsh who went to second when the ball was thrown away. Walsh scored on Alex Lolas' double.
TN scored two runs in the third against Ganim to tie the game, then went ahead 3-2 in the fourth after Lavorini led off the inning with a double to left. He was bunted to third and then scored on a wild pitch.
Mills tied it 3-3 in the fifth on a walk to Cozzo, a single by LaDuca, a wild pitch and a balk. But TN surged ahead 4-3 in the bottom of the inning on Jacob Braslaw's RBI single.
That's the way it remained until Mills found a way in the seventh.
The Vikings will now make the long trek to Monterey Peninsula College for an 11 a.m. game Saturday in the quarterfinals against Carmel, 13-3 winners in six innings Wednesday against Scotts Valley.
