When St. Mary’s new playoff craze became the topic of conversation, coach Jason Lindholm wasn’t rushing to sign up.
After Wednesday’s playoff performance, though, he may not have much choice.
“School’s a little upset,” Lindholm joked. “We’ll see what we’re going to do. Considering how well it went today, I may have to join in.”
The craze? Bleached blond hair.
And in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I first round against SJAA champion No. 16 Tokay, top-seeded St. Mary’s wore it proudly at the Thompson Sports Complex during an 11-0 mercy-rule rout May 6.
“We got in a little bit of trouble with the school,” first baseman Jeremy Krause said. “We’re going to need to figure out if we play this good with it. A lot of us ended up doing it, which was really surprising. This is the first time since I’ve been here.
“It definitely brings the team closer together. Now we all kind of look the same. It’s fun and creates good vibes.”
Sporting a bleached blond skin fade instead of his usual flow, UCLA signee Nico Bavaro threw a complete game, allowing just three hits and no walks.
Only five of St. Mary’s nine hitters bought into the look, but all nine found a way to reach base.
“We just played well,” Lindholm said. “We pitched well, hit well, saw the ball well and made loud contact. That’s everything you want to see.”
Getting things started for St. Mary’s was junior right fielder Dawson Labarthe. He launched a solo home run in the first inning to open the scoring and finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
From there, St. Mary’s broke things open with three runs in the third and seven more in the fourth to punch its ticket to the quarterfinals against No. 8 Central Valley on Friday, May 8, at 4 p.m.
“We’ve been coming out slow the past few games,” Krause said. “Against Lincoln, we did it all three games, and even here we started slow. But we really picked it up in the third and fourth innings. We put the bat on the ball, drew a couple walks and finally got some runs.”
Labarthe added, “I wanted to get the boys on the board early. I got a fastball, was on time and didn’t miss it.”
Other blonds helping fuel the offense included Krause, who went 2-for-2 with an RBI, senior second baseman Ethan Silva, who was 1-for-3 with an RBI, and junior left fielder Gino Lovotti, who went 2-for-2.
The non-blonds kept it rolling, too. Shortstop Dylan Patten went 1-for-2 with three RBIs, Mississippi State signee and third baseman Dax Hardcastle finished 2-for-2, and designated hitter David Haggerty added an RBI while going 2-for-3.
“This is exactly how we wanted to start,” Labarthe said. “This is going to give us great momentum.”
‘It’s go-time’
As Lindholm watched batting practice unfold, he could sense something was clicking.
“If it’s a good batting practice, most of the time it carries over,” Lindholm said. “Sometimes it doesn’t. Most of the time, it does.”
That was especially true for Labarthe.
After his home run, Labarthe returned to the plate with a runner on second base in the third. Holding a 1-0 lead, he delivered an RBI single to score the runner. Patten followed with a two-run double to score Labarthe and Haggerty.
Up 4-0, Labarthe and St. Mary’s were just getting started.
“We always talk about it as coaches,” Lindholm said. “That ball just flies off his bat ball.”
Three straight batters reached base to open the fourth inning, with Lovotti scoring on a passed ball.
Watching it all unfold, Labarthe knew the at-bat was his for the taking.
With runners on first and second, Labarthe lined a ground-rule RBI double to right-center field. Had it traveled a couple more inches — literally inches — it would have cleared the fence.
“Against a lefty like that, I’m just trying to see a ball over the plate,” Labarthe said. “Just trying to keep the stick moving.”
Already leading 6-0, St. Mary’s continued to pour it on.
Haggerty delivered an RBI single, and Patten added an RBI sacrifice fly. Then Krause nearly sent one over the center-field fence, settling for an RBI double.
“I realized the wind was carrying it,” Krause said. “It came off the barrel really well. It’s a deep ballpark to center, so I just kept running. I didn’t pimp it or anything, but I definitely thought it had a chance.”
The inning looked finished when center fielder Moses Alexander lined an RBI single, sending St. Mary’s through the entire batting order.
Instead, Silva, who recently committed to Hawaii, still had one more swing left, lining an RBI single to make it 11-0.
“We definitely wanted to see the ball up,” Krause said. “We didn’t want to chase the slow stuff low in the zone. We wanted to attack early and give ourselves the best opportunity. That was our approach the second time through, and it’s why we had so much success.”
Labarthe added, “When playoffs come around, it’s time to bleach the hair. That’s how you know it’s go-time.”
This article originally appeared on The Record: St. Mary’s embraces bleached-blond look in first round rout of Tokay
Reporting by Dylan Ackermann, The Stockton Record / The Record
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
