Thursday Jul 31

Burlingame is best in legion baseball

Armanino strong for six innings; first-year franchise wins crown

By John Reid / Daily News Staff Writer

Strike up the band. Burlingame Post 409 struck the right chord with a 4-0 defeat of San Mateo Post 82 in the American Legion 17-and under Area 2 Tournament championship game Wednesday night at McKelvey Park in Mountain View.

In a striking pitching performance, Forrest Armanino and Ryan Bender combined to strike out 12 Bulldogs hitters, allowing just two hits along the way. Bender relieved a tiring Armanino in the top of the seventh with no outs and runners at first and second. Bender struck out the side, though a one-out fielding error filled the bases, bringing the tying runner to the plate.

When he was finished, Bender walked off the mound and tugged his hat off his head. There was no dogpile by the Burlingame players, just some fist-bumping among teammates for a job well done. Burlingame (30-20), in its first year of existence as a Junior Legion team, advanced to the state tournament in Yountville, set to start a week from Saturday at the Veterans Home.

"I don't know who or when we play," Burlingame manager Brian Blanton said. "We just want to savor this and worry about that when the time comes."

The Bulldogs finished the summer season an impressive 34-9. Manager Silvio Rocha could only give credit where credit was due.

"Burlingame outpitched us and outplayed us," Rocha said. "They came to play. Armanino was a force on the mound, and they played tremendous defense behind him. Their coaching staff did a great job with their kids. We had a great season. We have nine players coming back, and that's the most I have ever had returning."

Armanino had a no-hitter through four innings before Nick Sanzeri ripped a single to left to start the fifth frame. Armanino struggled with his control, at times, walking seven batters in six-plus innings. He either got out of trouble with his strikeout pitch or his defense bailed him out of any trouble spots.

Armanino erased a leadoff walk in the second by inducing a 6-4-3 double play ground ball to end the inning. The Bulldogs had the bases loaded in the fifth, but Armanino recorded a strikeout to end the threat. With Petey Woodall on at second base with two outs in the sixth, Sanzeri hit a wicked liner to center field that Bender charged in on to make a shoestring catch.

"Armanino had them frustrated and off balance," Blanton said. "He hit his spots, punched them in, punched them out. He's a competitor and wanted the ball. He's the ace of our staff. We took him out because he got tired. It was time to make a move."

"I just tried to throw strikes," Armanino said. "I didn't try to do too much. It was amazing for us to win this title."

Armanino had a gutty catcher behind the plate in Bryan Kuh. On one pitch, Kuh took an Armanino fastball that one-hopped the dirt off his chest. Kuh shook it off and went back to work.

"Forrest had all his pitches working," Kuh said. "He felt good before the game started and asked for the ball."

Matt Page started for San Mateo and pitched well in his 4 2/3 innings of work. Page gave up a leadoff single in the first to Nick Martinez. However, Chris Blanton's bunt was popped up to Page, who threw to first to double up a straying Martinez.

Burlingame tacked an unearned run on the board in the fourth inning. Bender doubled to right-center field with one out, then scored when Armanino's grounder was thrown away for an error.

Kuh beat out an infield single to begin the fifth inning as Burlingame did some serious manufacturing for three more runs. Martinez was hit by a pitch, then Chris Blanton laid down the perfect bunt for a base hit to jam the bases. Mitch Foley's fly ball to right field scored Kuh. Page made a bare-handed play on Bender's check swing roller, the ball heading toward second base. Page threw Bender out at first, but Martinez was able to score. After a walk to Armanino, Frank Cooke blooped a single to center to score Blanton.

Cooke was robbed of a hit in the fifth inning when his blooper to left field was flagged down by Bulldogs shortstop Julian Merryweather, who came out of nowhere to make the catch.

Burlingame's victory made it an Area 2 sweep. The Burlingame 19-and under American Legion team won the Area 2 title and opens up play at the state tourney in Yountville on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

- San Mateo reached the title game with a thrilling 3-2 defeat of Berkeley in Wednesday's opener. Ferris' pinch-hit double in the bottom of the sixth scored Merryweather with the game-winning run. Merryweather had led off the inning with a single. Merryweather had two hits, including a double. Page also had two hits and a double for San Mateo.

Merryweather picked up the win in relief, pitching the final 2 2/3 innings without allowing a run. Matt Nichol started the game for San Mateo. Nichol and Merryweather combined for a two-hitter while fanning nine.



E-mail John Reid at jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.



San Mateo Post 82 000 000 0 - 0 2 2

Burlingame Post 409 000 130 X - 4 5 1

Page, Lloyd (5) and Ferris; Armanino, Bender (7) and B. Kuh. WP-Armanino. LP-Page. 2B - Bender (B).


Berkeley Post 7 100 010 0 - 2 2 0
San Mateo Post 82 000 201 X - 3 5 0

Greenberg, Mattingly (4), Mahley (6) and Potter; Nichol, Merryweather (5) and Woodall. WP-Merryweather. LP-Mattingly. 2B - Page, Merryweather, Ferris (SM). 2 hits - Page, Merryweather (SM).