ATHERTON, CA -- Trailing by five runs after 2 1/2 innings, host Sacred Heart Prep had Burlingame right where it wanted.
The Gators stormed back, scoring 11 runs over the final 4 1/2 innings to win 11-6. The victory came in a CCS Division II quarterfinal game. The Gators now advance to Tuesday's semifinals where they will meet Monterey at 7 p.m. at San Jose Municipal Stadium.
It wasn't the first time SHP has rebounded from a big deficit to win a game, but it was in the most crucial of situations.
A six-run sixth inning pushed the Gators past Burlingame. Sacred Heart Prep entered the inning trailing 6-5.
"I talk to them as a team a lot about resilience and overcoming adversity," said SHP's Anthony Granato who was coaching against his alma mater. "That's part of life. Really this whole experience is about moving them on and getting them ready for life after high school and baseball is a great tool for that. Can you bounce back when you get knocked down or do you get up?"
The Gators (19-12) got up, with a lot of help from Burlingame.
The Panthers (18-13) walked four batters and hit two in a nightmarish sixth inning. Cole March took a pitch off the arm to force in a run and tie the game 6-6. Then Stanford-bound junior Andrew Daschbach did the same as SHP took a lead it never relinquished.
"It's one I probably could have gotten out of the way of," Daschbach said with a laugh. "But at that point in the game I was just trying to get a run across any way I could and keep the rally going. So when I saw a ball a little in I wasn't immediately getting out of the way."
Those hits batsmen hurt Burlingame more than they stung SHP. The third walk of the inning then made it 8-6 before Joe Armstrong stepped to the plate and broke the game open for the Gators.
Armstrong lined a double into left field on an 0-2 delivery that cleared the bases and increased SHP's lead to 11-6. Burlingame wasn't going to rally from a deficit like that.
Panther coach Shawn Scott wasn't pleased with an effort in which his team led 5-0 only to squander the advantage while also walking six batters and hitting two. Scott sat alone in the Panther dugout for a long time afterward, staring at the empty artificial turf.
"You walk (that many) batters, you don't deserve to win," Scott said. "You can't be afraid to pitch."
Asked what he'd think about the season when he gets some distance from the final game, Scott said: "I couldn't tell you. There were probably a ton of things I could have done to help us get better -- some moves I could have made. Probably just the same thing every other coach who lost today thinks about."
The Panthers had their high points, though -- foremost perhaps a 5-0 win against Half Moon Bay to win the PAL playoff title.
Mitch Martella and Blake Marcus each had a pair of hits for SHP and Armstrong had the key three-run double. Griffin Intrieri, Dominic Garcia and Robert Harrigan both had two hits for Burlingame.
Cole Spina got the win for SHP in relief. He gave up one run over 3 1/3 innings, allowing four hits.
