CCS DVI baseball finals: Stevenson celebrates title with 18 run uprising
SAN JOSE — Instead of charging the mound in a massive celebration, players raced out of the dugout towards second base where Reggie Bell landed.
A walk-off win in unique fashion unfolded when Bell’s third hit of the game drove in two runs in the fifth inning, padding Stevenson’s lead to 10, abruptly ending Thursday’s Central Coast Section Division VI title game at Excite Park.
“I hit one into the left-center gap,” said Bell, after the Pirates 18-8 win over South San Francisco. “I was around second base, turned and saw my teammates coming at me. All the amazing hard work we put in. This was a team effort.”
Champions of the Mission Division, Stevenson will put up a section title banner as well — its second CCS title in three years. It will be seeded Sunday into the State Northern California Divisional playoffs.
“The last time we got bumped to Division IV,” Stevenson coach Nick Wilcox said. “We were a lower seed and had to travel. It would be awesome to host one game. It’s special to be one of the few teams still playing baseball. I don’t want the season to end.”
The Pirates (19-8) have sprayed the ball all over the field in the postseason, having scored 37 runs in three games, racking up 15 hits in the title game, with all nine players in the starting lineup having at least one hit.
“Offensively, I’ve never seen a team like this,” said Wilcox, whose team’s only setbacks in the month of May have been non-league games to Carmel and Monterey, both of which are in the CCS finals in their divisions. “It’s special to watch.”
Bell, who was a part of Stevenson’s first CCS title team as a freshman in 2023, set the stage for what was about to occur by tripling on the game’s first pitch, later scoring.
“I felt as a freshman I learned how to be a leader and impact the game,” Bell said. “Influence the players, get them to reset when things aren’t going well. I’m doing those things this year.”
The Pirates erased a two-run first inning deficit by sending 10 hitters to the plate, with Henry Blaxter, Phinn Thomas, JJ Hall, Alex Wang, Soren Hillman and Bell all driving in runs.
“After watching them in pregame warmups, it looked like it would be a closer game,” Bell said. “We had to play clean. I did feel my triple set the tone.”
Not that the Pirates pitching staff — minus one starter — wasn’t challenged as South San Francisco battled, tying the game at eight in the third inning.
“We had guys ready to throw that had thrown maybe one or two innings all year,” Wilcox said. “We expected a bullpen game. These kids bought in.”
Over the next two innings, it looked like batting practice for the Pirates, as they outscored South San Francisco 11-1 to close out the game.
“The way the kids have been hitting the ball in the postseason, I wasn’t surprised by the output,” Wilcox said. “They are swinging it well and they are locked in. Every guy has confidence when they come to the plate. It’s infectious.”
Production came up and down the lineup as Hillman collected three hits and drove in four in the No. 9 slot, while Jack Bucich had three hits and two RBI, and Hall two hits and three RBI.
Alex Wang, who also drove in two runs, one on a sacrifice fly that tied the game at 7 in the third, hurled the final two frames, allowing just two hits to earn the win.
“It’s not sinking in,” said Bell, who is hitting .480 this year. “Once we get in the car ride home, it will hit me — all of us.”
