Baseball Season Comes to an End

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

There were plenty of tears being shed and hugs being exchanged  in the visitors’ dugout last Saturday afternoon at Carson High after Palisades’ season ended in a 6-0 loss to the second-seeded Colts in the City Division I quarterfinals.

“It hurts right now, but when you look back someday on what you’ve had to endure, not having a field but finishing runner-up in league and making it to the second round of the playoffs, you’ll hold your heads high,” said Mike Voelkel, who has coached the program to 316 victories and 11 league titles in his 18 seasons. “We got beat by a better team.”     

The seventh-seeded Dolphins (18-11) were held to one hit in the first three innings but threatened in the fourth before stranding runners at second and third. Carson’s Juno Carillo hit an RBI single in the third and another run scored on an error. The Colts tacked on four more runs in the fourth and only two Dolphins reached base in the last three innings.

After a bye in the first-round, Palisades traveled to 10th-seeded Kennedy last Thursday. Palisades scored three runs in the first inning and another in the third. Center fielder Noah Andrews threw a runner out at the plate in the sixth to keep his team ahead. In the bottom half, Jack O’Brien hit an inside-the-park homer to score three runs and in the seventh reliever Ian Sullivan allowed one run but struck out to batters to nail down the 7-4 win. Jett Tegardin allowed three runs on three hits with eight strikeouts in six innings.

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