Alemany Makes Notre Dame Pay for Lack of Hitting

Hocus-pocus, the bats flat broke us.

Dubbed “Houdini” by scouts who couldn’t believe that his Notre Dame High baseball team was winning despite its minimal offensive output, Coach Bob Mandeville finally lost his magic touch Saturday at Alemany.

Struggling all season with the bats, Notre Dame was held to six hits and fell to upstart Alemany, 4-1, in a Mission League battle for first place.

Notre Dame, which entered the week with a batting average of .250, failed to cash in scoring opportunities in almost every inning. The Knights, in fact, left runners in scoring position in the third through seventh innings and stranded 10 altogether.

“It caught up with us,” Mandeville said. “The pitching’s been carrying us.”

Alemany (7-4-1, 4-1 in league play) played both little ball and big ball in the third inning, when all of the scoring took place.

After Notre Dame (7-2-1, 3-1) took a 1-0 lead on Glen Carson’s sacrifice fly, Alemany tied the score on a two-out bloop single to right by Andy Dominique that drove in Carlos Castellanos. Chris Tashima followed with a single, and, with Brian Shaw at the plate, Dominique moved to third on a wild pitch by Notre Dame left-hander Chris Leveque (1-1).

Tashima broke for second on a double-steal attempt, and Dominique scored easily when shortstop Ryan Stromsborg failed to tag Tashima at second and then fired late to catcher Dave Supple.

“If Ryan goes hard after the runner, he might have tagged him before Dominique even scored,” Mandeville said.

The play loomed even larger when Shaw hammered a two-run home run to left for a 4-1 lead.

Alemany starter Freddie Perez (1-1) allowed four singles over the first 4 2/3 innings, but when Notre Dame mounted a rally in the fifth, Alemany Coach Jim Ozella went to his relief whiz, Kevin Tate.

Trouble started brewing when Alemany right fielder Chris Gallagher misjudged a looper by Francisco Dongo that fell for a hit and Perez walked Cesar Martinez. Tate, a right-hander who starts in center field, struck out Carson on three pitches.

Notre Dame mobilized again in the sixth with a pair of infield singles, but Tate retired Erik Roth on a liner to right to end the threat. In the seventh, with Tate tiring, Notre Dame loaded the bases.

With one on and two out, Carson walked and Supple ripped a hanging curve into right field to load the bases. Ozella conferred with Tate over how to handle the next batter, Stromsborg, who had singled in the fourth.

“He wanted to make sure we pitched him inside,” Tate said. “He wanted a ground ball.”

Mission League mission accomplished. Tate jammed Stromsborg with a fastball to record the final out on a chopper to short.

It marked Tate’s fourth save, as many as any reliever in the region had in 1991, and it moved Alemany into first place. Tate had no trouble pinpointing the turnaround for Alemany, which was 2-10 in league play last spring.

“We’ve been getting good pitching,” Tate said. “We’ve always had the hitters.”

Notre Dame, which stranded seven runners in its final three at-bats, still is looking for the latter.