The junior varsity (JV) boys baseball team managed their first win of the spring season via a shutout, after a difficult first two games that both ended in a blowout loss for the Wildcats.
The JV boys team entered their first home game with a record of 0-2, after some tough blowout losses to Archbishop Riordan High School on Feb. 25, ending 14-3, and Soquel High School on March 1, ending 12-5. The team was hoping to snap their losing streak with a victory against Mills High School on March 4, which they ended up doing. The Wildcats scored three runs in the second inning, one run in the third inning, and another two in the fourth inning, while Mills wasn’t able to score a run of their own. According to the team’s center fielder, Xavier Palafox, the team feels good about the win.
“I think we’re happy that we finally won [a game],” Palafox said. “Especially [since it’s] a league game.”
The starting pitcher for Tuesday night’s game was sophomore Jason Taylor, who pitched a great 3 ⅓ innings before being substituted by sophomore Samuel Sigal, who pitched until the end of the game. Taylor struck out five batters and walked another five, but only allowed a single hit to Mills’ leadoff hitter. That was the only hit that Mills could gain against Woodside. Sigal pitched 3 ⅔ innings, striking out three batters and walking two.
“They were throwing a lot of strikes,” Palafox said. “In our past couple of games, we couldn’t really throw many strikes, so [their pitching] was good.”
Taylor and Sigal both managed to get out of jams that could have ended badly. In the first inning, Mills had the bases loaded with no outs. Taylor was able to get out of the jam without allowing a run or hit. In the fourth inning, Taylor got into another bases-loaded jam with one out, and ended up being subbed out for Sigal, who managed to get out of the jam with a strike out and a ground out.
According to Palafox, he thinks that everybody’s teamwork was a big reason why the team won the game.
“We all contributed to the game,” Palafox said. “[We made] sure we were in it at all times.”
Palafox was right, as it did seem like everybody contributed to the win. Freshman Colby Fernandez, the teams shortstop, was making many running plays at shortstop and even hit a leadoff double in the third inning that led to him scoring later that inning. Freshman Mateus Mokhtarani, the team’s third baseman, hit a double in the fourth inning that looked like it was nearly a home run. After bouncing off the wall, Fernandez and freshman John Tinson scored.
“I think this win that we got tonight is going to help our confidence in later games,” Palafox said.
