San Diego Prep Baseball : Vista’s Playoff Hopes Vanish in 18-5 Loss to Mount Carmel

Mike Sanchez, Vista High School’s baseball coach, watched a pop up fly down the right-field line in the second inning and turned toward his assistant coach.

“Please fall in,” he said. “You would think we could get one of these.”

The ball dropped foul by a couple of feet and Vista, with two runners on base at the time, missed a chance to score.

“That’s been our season right there,” Sanchez continued. “It looks like it’s going to be another one of those days.”

It was. And then some. Vista, which reached the 3-A semifinals last year, dropped to 3-7 in the Palomar League and saw its playoff hopes vanish Tuesday in an 18-5 loss to second-ranked Mount Carmel.

“We’ve been a tough-luck club,” Sanchez said. “But a lot of it has been that we haven’t played consistent baseball.”

The teams Vista has played, however, have consistently come through with the key hits that Sanchez wishes he could get. Mount Carmel had 18 hits Tuesday to win its 16th straight game and improve to 9-0 in league and 20-4 overall. The Sundevils have clinched a playoff berth.

Mount Carmel scored six runs in the first inning. The first batter, Rich Hooper, struck out but reached first when catcher Mike Simmons dropped the third strike. Simmons’ threw in time to get Hooper at first, but his throw hit Hooper in the elbow.

An RBI double by Ron Kelly scored the first run and consecutive singles by Miah Bradbury, Jim Tecjek, Todd Kingery and Pete Cowen accounted for three more runs. Steve Shantz singled in two more.

Mount Carmel scored three runs in the second and six more in the third to lead 15-1 after three innings.

Elsewhere in the Palomar League Tuesday, Fallbrook beat Torrey Pines, 6-4, and Orange Glen defeated San Dieguito, 5-1.

In the Metro Conference:

Montgomery 6, Hilltop 1--Lee Langevin (7-0) allowed four hits and threw only 71 pitches in his complete-game victory at Montgomery. In the second inning, Luis Rodriguez singled in a run, stole second and later scored to put the Aztecs (7-3, 14-6) ahead, 2-0. Hilltop is 3-7, 6-12.

Mar Vista 8, Castle Park 6--Mar Vista (3-7, 6-11-2) scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning to overcome a 6-2 deficit at Castle Park.

Coronado 3, Southwest 1--Paul Austin pitched a four-hitter and drove in the go-ahead run with a fifth-inning double to lead the Islanders (5-5, 10-9) at Southwest. Coronado leads Castle Park by one game in the race for second place in the South-Bay League.

Bonita Vista 7, Chula Vista 5--David Woodhouse had a single, double and RBI for Bonita Vista (7-3, 15-7) at Chula Vista (4-6, 8-12).

Sweetwater 6, Marian 3--Steve Contreras pitched a five-hitter and struck out seven for Sweetwater (8-2, 11-10) at Marian (2-8, 4-16). Eddie Magdaleno hit a three-run homer in the seventh for Sweetwater.

In the Avocado League:

San Marcos 7, Ramona 4--Tino Lozano hit a two-run home run in the third inning to lead the seventh-ranked Knights (8-2, 13-7) past the Bulldogs at Ramona. San Marcos extended its league lead to 1 1/2 games over idle Carlsbad.

El Camino 4, Oceanside 1--The Wildcats won their first league game behind the hitting and pitching of Alex Capitanski. Capitanski pitched a complete-game four-hitter and hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.