The Palisades High baseball team proved they could fight back at No. 6 San Fernando in the first round of the City playoffs Tuesday. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, that fight didn’t translate into a victory. After spotting the Tigers a 6-0 lead after two innings, No. 11 Pali started its comeback in the third. Senior Brad Schaeffer led off with a single, junior Jason Barnett bunted for a hit and sophomore lead-off hitter Sam Wasserman drove them in with a triple to right-center. Spencer Simon then singled in Wasserman to make it 6-3, and later in the inning, Chase Holmes came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. The senior drilled the first pitch he saw down the third-base line and the ball looked destined to be a base-clearing double, but San Fernando third baseman Will Vazquez calmly backhanded the grounder and stepped on third to end the inning. The Dolphins added runs from Schaeffer and Wasserman in the fourth, but would never get any closer. San Fernando’s five-run outburst in the fifth put the game away for good and the Tigers went on to an 11-5 victory. In the end, Pali exhibited great determination in support of starting pitcher Dylan Jeffers (who exited in the second) and relievers Nick Poulos and Harrison Simon’though there remained a feeling of what-might-have-been on Holmes’ based-loaded groundout that ended the third. ’We came back, scored (in the fourth) and kept it going,’ said Dolphins coach Mike Voelkel of Holmes’ potential game-tying hit, ‘but that would have made the game different. It was a heck of a play.’ Voelkel added, ‘More than anything, San Fernando earned it.’ Pali graduates seven seniors: Schaeffer, Holmes, Jeffers, Poulos, Phillip Joseph, Jake Green and Adam Levin.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
