But MVHS warmed up in the bottom of the second. Senior Matthew Li immediately opened up the inning with a deep hit down center field for a single. Then with a steal by Li to second and another low hit down right field by sophomore Josh Huang, Li was able to advance to third. Now, with Granzella at bat and two bases loaded, Granzella hit a grounder to the third baseman, who threw off line to first. Everyone advanced: Huang to third, Granzella to second, and Li to home. The game was tied up.

With only one out and a chance to take the lead, junior Allen Iwamoto settled for a walk to make the bases loaded. Sophomore Jarrett James then stepped up to the plate and hit a high ball over the outfielders, which was enough for Huang and Granzella to round the bases to make the score 3-1. Before the second inning ended, MVHS scored two more runs to increase the lead to 5-1.

For the next three innings, both teams underwent a scoring drought. However, MVHS had its chance to put more runs on the board. In the bottom of the fourth inning, senior Matthew Hui hit a ball to shallow right field, and a PHS player missed a diving catch. But the MVHS baserunners thought it was a catch, and trotted back to their bases. Then PHS capitalized upon the mistake and had two force outs to end the inning.

Strong pitching by Ding and later Huang limited the amount of times PHS went on base, and perhaps the Matadors dominance hurt PHS’s game energy. In the sixth the Matadors had their second scoring spree to increase their lead to 9-1. With four runs, the lead increased to 9-1.

As the Matadors’ record improves to 3-4, they look to become a team with a winning record as they approach their March 15 game against Mountain View High School.
“[This score] shows that we’re a good team,” James said. “And it gives us confidence going into league play. Last time we lost to Mountain View and now we know we’re a lot better team.”