LIVERMORE — Last week’s North Coast Section final between Granada and De La Salle was a classic.
But this time around, it was much different.
In the third matchup between the East Bay powerhouses that took place Thursday afternoon in Livermore, there was no drama or suspense. No extra innings or controversial calls. And the game finished before sundown.
In what was a master class performance on the mound from Parker Warner, top-seeded Granada (31-1) blanked No. 4 De La Salle 5-0 in the NorCal semifinals to advance to the championship game where it will play St. Mary’s-Stockton at home on Saturday.
Warner pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just five hits and striking out two batters.
“I knew putting Parker on the bump, the moment wasn’t going to be too big for him,” said Granada coach Corrigan Willis. “He might have only struck out two but he was pounding the zone, throwing pitches for strikes. We’ve been playing good defense all year, so when that happens, I like our chances.”
After winning the last two Division I NorCal championships, De La Salle’s season ended in the semifinals. A team-wide sickness forced some of the Spartans’ key starters to sit out Thursday’s game, including power-hitting junior Alec Blair.
“A lot of these guys I had since sophomore year,” said De La Salle coach David Jeans. “I’ve won two championships with them and we didn’t get it done today, but that’s ok. That’s high school baseball. … We tip our cap to Granada.”
After watching senior left-handed pitcher RJ Meyn throw eight scoreless innings in the NCS final last week, many believed he would be the one to step on the mound on Thursday for De La Salle (21-8).
But Jeans said he didn’t want to push the Santa Clara commit to his limits six days after throwing over 100 pitches.
“There’s a bigger picture besides high school baseball, and he’s got a future at Santa Clara,” Jeans said. “ If I run him out there today and he does something to his arm because he’s trying to be the guy and help the team, that’s where I have to step in and make a decision.”
Granada held a 2-0 lead after four innings, but broke the game open in the fifth after taking advantage of some untimely errors from De La Salle.
With the bases loaded and one out, Peyton Richards hit a ground ball that would have been a routine out at first base. But De La Salle overthrew first and allowed Mikey Boyd to score from third, extending the Granada lead to 3-0.
In the next at-bat, Quinn Boyd flew out and the Spartans threw the ball to the cut-off man at shortstop to halt the tag play at third from reaching home. But De La Salle overthrew the catcher, which allowed Riley Winchell to score to give the Matadors a four-run cushion.
Later in the inning, second baseman A.J. Martinez capped off Granada’s fifth inning rally by scoring from third on a passed ball to make the score 5-0.
“We wanted to get the game over with,” said catcher Tommy Brown. “De La Salle was pitching us backwards the whole game, so we had to just wait for our pitch and they gave us a couple. They made a couple mistakes and we executed on those.”
In the last two games, De La Salle has committed eight errors, three of which came on Thursday.
While Granada capitalized on De La Salle miscues, the Matadors’ defense played a near-flawless game.
Warner didn’t have to strike out many batters as he let his defense do a majority of the work. The Stanford commit approached the game knowing he was going to try to get ahead in the count and trust his backline when he put the ball in play.
“I was trying to get as many outs as early as I can early in the count and I feel like I did that today,” Warner said. “It’s great having a defense like I have behind me. They’ve been solid all year and I wouldn’t want to have any other group of guys back there.”
When Warner retired the final batter of the game, the packed stands at Granada’s field gave the Matadors a standing ovation. Groups of kids lined up near the Granada dugout to snag autographs from their favorite players.
The Matadors have 10 shutouts this season and held 19 of 32 opponents to one run or fewer. Granada will be the first public school to reach the NorCal Division I finals when it plays St. Mary’s on Saturday.
“It means a lot to be the first team to do this in school history,” Martinez said. “This is good momentum going into the championship game, but we all know the job is not finished. We have one more to get through.”
