Page One

The St. Mary’s baseball team nearly played a great game on Wednesday against BSAL rival Salesian. But one inning of defensive carelessness led to the Panthers going down, 2-1, to the league leaders. 

St. Mary’s starting pitcher Anthony Miyawaki threw a gem, allowing just four hits while going the distance. But in the top of the fourth inning, his defense let him down. Third baseman Tom Wright made a great diving stop on a Derek Yow grounder to start the inning, but threw high to first and Yow was safe. After the next batter grounded out, Dar Sefidi hit a single to right-center. But right fielder Chase Moore let the ball get by him, and Yow scored all the way from first. Miyawaki then made his one big mistake of the game, and Peter Callegari followed with a booming triple over Moore’s head to plate Sefidi, and the Bulldogs had all the runs they would need. 

“Anthony pitched a great game. Our offense is supposed to be our strength, but it just didn’t happen today,” St. Mary’s head coach Andy Shimabukuro said. “If you told me before the game they would score two runs, I’d have said we’d win.” 

Salesian (4-1 BSAL) starter Randy Renn was just as good as Miyawaki on Wednesday, and his defense never stumbled behind him. Renn held the Panthers (2-2) to six hits, and the Bulldogs threw out two St. Mary’s runners in the final two innings. In the sixth, Miyawaki drew a walk to start the inning. Alex Tapp was sent in to pinch-run, and he reached second base on a fielder’s choice. Right fielder Jeff Marshall punched a single into right field, but Tapp was cut down at the plate by five feet, killing the rally. 

In the seventh, St. Mary’s catcher Ryan Badaho-Singh started things off by raking a shot off of the left-field fence. But the Bulldog relay throw got Badaho-Singh at second. Center fielder Omar Young followed with a nearly identical blast off the wall, but cautiously stayed at first, and the Panthers couldn’t get him around to score. 

“They made great plays,” Shimabukuro said. “We’d send those runners again and see if they could make those plays again.” 

The Panthers only run came in the third inning, as Young walked, stole second and was brought home by first baseman Joe Starkey. 

The loss puts the Panthers in the middle of the pack in the BSAL, and they will have to win games down the stretch just to get into the postseason. 

“I guess now we’re just battling to get into the playoffs,” Shimabukuro said. “If we get there, we can play with anyone. That’s our goal right now.”