There doesn’t appear to be an ounce of quit in the Palo Alto Post 375 American Legion baseball team.
The squad, which features five players with Los Altos High School roots, clawed its way through the losers’ bracket to capture the Area 2 tournament on July 27.
“This is the best team I’ve ever played on,” said second baseman Casey Lopez, a 1997 Los Altos High graduate. “We hit the ball unbelievably well.”
Post 375, which features some of the Peninsula’s top 18-and-under players, had to win three games in two days to claim the crown. This included back-to-back wins against previously-undefeated Union City on the final day at Baylands Athletic Center in Palo Alto.
And none of these wins came easy. Post 375 had to rally from late-inning deficits to win all three weekend games.
The club scored five runs in the seventh to pull-out a 14-12 win against Lafayette on Saturday. Lopez and former Los Altos High classmate Victor Ambruso played major roles in the victory. Lopez hit a triple and two doubles, finishing with four RBI. Ambruso pounded out three hits.
Post 375 put together another five-run rally in the seventh inning of Sunday’s early game to overcome Union City, 10-8. Kevin Searles, a 1996 grad of Los Altos High, belted a three-run homer to spark the comeback. Lopez followed with a solo shot, his second of the game.
This marked Union City’s first loss of the double-elimination event, forcing a second game to decide the champion.
Once again, Post 375 accomplished the improbable. The team trailed 13-8 going into the eighth, but still managed to erase the deficit. Post 375 scored six runs in the final two frames to win, 14-13. Lopez drove in the tying run with a single to center in the ninth and then Searles scored the game-winner on a wild throw home.
The reward for taking the title was a berth in the state tournament, which kicked-off last weekend in Yountville.
