Grizzlies fall to St. Mary's in Boras championship game

Of Granite Bay's top 13 players who have the most at bats this season, there is only one senior: Kenny Devault. Of the seven players who have pitched this season, three are seniors. The Grizzlies are a young team with loads of potential. They're young enough where head coach Pat Esposito said that the team would likely take some lumps early, but in the end could have a really good season. Well, the Grizzlies started the year winning six of its first 11 games, including its first four games in Sierra Foothill League play before dropping two close games to Whitney immediately before the team entered the always competitive Boras Invitational this week. The young Grizzlies put those two losses to Whitney on the back burner and won three straight games at the Boras and all but had the fourth one in the bag Thursday night in the championship game before blowing a four-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning before eventually losing to St. Mary's 8-7 in nine innings. The Grizzlies opened the tournament with a pair of wins on Tuesday, beating Los Gatos, 6-3, and St. Ignatius 6-5 in 10 innings, before earning an 11-2 win over Serra on Wednesday. "The young team has actually risen to the occasion," Granite Bay coach Pat Esposito said. "They're playing scrappy; they're playing tough. They don't look like deer in the headlights out there. Sometimes you get those young guys who are scared to death to be out there, but our guys are like, 'hey, I've been here before.' "I think it's kind of the travel ball mentality. Some of these guys have played against some really talented players so I guess they've seen enough of it. It's one of those things where you go 'whatever it is it works. I ain't messing around with something that ain't broke.'" Things were going well for the Grizzlies on Thursday against St. Mary's until the seventh inning. Trailing 1-0, Granite Bay tied the score in the top of third inning when Dylan Tetz reached on a fielder's choice, moved to second on a ground out and then scored on a double by Brenden Jones. St. Mary's took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning, but Granite Bay scored two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to take a commanding 6-2 lead. In the fifth, Isaac Schroeder hit a bases-loaded double which scored two runs. In the sixth, Logan Sanchez doubled to start the inning, moved to third on a bunt by DeVault and then scored on a St. Mary's error. Later in the inning, Ryan Miller hit a two-run single to give the Grizzlies a 6-2 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Sanchez, who started the game on the mound, allowed the first two batters to single before being replaced by Ian Brooks. Brooks walked the first batter to load the bases before getting the first out. He then allowed a sacrifice fly to score a run to make it 6-3, but now had two outs. An error kept the inning alive and allowed the Rams to score two runs before a base hit tied the game at six. In the top of the seventh, Andrew Jones reached first on a bunt, moved to third on an error and then scored on Schroeder's base hit, but the Grizzlies couldn't finish off the Rams. A one-out walk, followed by two singles and a sacrifice fly allowed the St. Mary's to tie the game. St. Mary's won the game in the ninth after Granite Bay's sixth walk and third error of the game. Granite Bay had 11 hits but that didn't matter. The Grizzlies jump back into Sierra Foothill League play Tuesday at Del Oro.