Leghorns come very close to World Series trip

Petaluma’s Leghorns a win away from playing in Western Regional Tournament championship game.|

“That final game is always devastating,” philosophied Petaluma American Legion senior baseball manager Casey Gilroy. Of course, for a team that makes the playoffs as Gilroy’s Leghorns almost invariably do, all season’s end with a loss.

The irony is that the deeper you play into the playoffs, the deeper the hurt when it finally ends.

For the Leghorns, this season’s end in the semifinals of the Western Regional finals in Denver was particularly hurting, coming just a game away from a chance to play in the championship game for advancement to the American Legion World Series.

“The biggest hurt is the realization that they will never all be on the same team together,” added coach Paul Sequeira. “They may go on to play more baseball and some will come back to play for the Leghorns next summer, but they will never all be on the same team again.”

And, even by lofty Leghorn standards, the 2018 team was special.

“They have a lot to be proud of,” said Gilroy.

Petaluma’s final record was 30-8, making them only the third 30-win team in Leghorn history. The season included unbeaten Area and State championships. At one point in the season, they rolled off 22 straight wins.

According to Gilroy, the specialness of this year’s Leghorns team went beyond the numbers.

“One of the great things was watching them grow together,” he explained. “Every game they got better.”

“They bonded really well,” Sequeira added. “They played for each other and not just for themselves.

The selflessness was rewarded with a trip to Denver and the Western Regionals. It isn’t quite on the par with a trip to Shelby, North Carolina and the American Legion World Series, but it is a big deal.

“Anytime you get on an airplane and not a bus, you know it’s special,” said Sequeira. “And anytime you see teenagers smiling before 6 in the morning, you know it is a really big deal.”

Once in Denver, the dinners, speeches, pomp and ceremonies gave the tournament a different feel, but they didn’t seem to effect the Leghorns on the diamond.

In retrospect, the Leghorns probably lost their chance for a World Series spot in their first game when they were beaten by Nevada State champion Las Vegas, the pre-tournament favorite, 3-2.

“It was a dog fight,” Gilroy said. “It was a well-played game that turned on a couple of little things. Nik Kamages (from Casa Grande) pitched great for five innings against a great-hitting lineup.

“We had our chances, but we didn’t string enough hits together.”

Jake Duca from Petaluma High School gave up two runs in the first inning of the Leghorns’ second game against Pleasant Grove, the Utah State champion, but settled down and pitched the Petalumans to a 5-2 victory.

Petaluma followed up by belting Fort Collins from Colorado, 14-0, in a game that was ended by a 10-run rule after five innings.

Nick Andrakin, another Petaluma High product threw two perfect innings and went on to shut down the Colorado champions.

The Leghorns, after going hitless in the first two innings, exploded for seven runs in the third and romped from there.

The end came in the semifinals with a 4-2 loss to League City, the Texas State champions in a game the Leghorns, to a player and a coach, believed they should have won.

Petaluma was leading 2-0 behind the pitching of Casa Grande’s Travis Morgan through five innings.

Things happened in the Texas half of the sixth when walks, errors and a couple of good hits combined to score four runs.

Petaluma had threats in both the sixth and seventh innings, bringing the potential winning run to the plate in the seventh. But the key hit remained missing.

“That’s how baseball goes,” said Sequeira. “It is true, ‘baseball always breaks your heart.’”

Las Vegas easily won the championship game, beating League City, 11-1.

“I guarantee you that the Las Vegas coaches were very happy to be playing Texas and not us in the championship game,” said Gilroy.

Five different high schools contributed to the Leghorns’ super summer.

Andrakin, Kempton Brandis, Blake Buhrer, Logan Douglas, Jake Duca, Porter Slate and Bradley Smith came from Petaluma High School.

Cameron Downing, Kamages, Joe Lampe, Morgan, and Jesse Robinson played at Casa Grande.

Zeke Brockley and Chris Latorre are from Maria Carrillo.

Max Handron and Shane O’Malley played at Sonoma Valley and Oscar McCauley is from Sonoma Academy.

Put them all together and they add up to 30 wins.

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