Anatomy of a NorCal championship comeback: How De La Salle set stage for Hank Tripaldi’s grand slam

SAN JOSE — By now, it’s clear that no lead is safe against De La Salle’s baseball team, especially in the postseason.

Not since College Park beat the Concord powerhouse in a section final eight years ago has De La Salle lost a playoff game.

The hero of the Spartans’ 11-8 comeback victory over Valley Christian on Saturday in the NorCal Division I final was Hank Tripaldi.

The junior third baseman hit what turned out to be the winning grand slam with two out in the top of the seventh inning in honor of his late mother, Robin, who died from breast cancer in late April.

But how did De La Salle get to Tripaldi’s spot in the order?

Valley Christian, a program that has won five of the past six championships in the Central Coast Section’s top division, led by four runs after five innings and by three after six.

De La Salle’s first batter of the seventh grounded out to shortstop.

Valley Christian was two outs from ending the Spartans’ postseason winning streak – which now stands at 30 games – and nobody was on base.

“I call that a Spartan game right there,” left fielder Kai Smith said. “That’s a Spartan finish. The same thing as last year. We never give up until the very last pitch.”

In a game filled with walks and hit batters, the De La Salle rally started when pinch hitter Will Rueb got hit by a pitch.

Then Tyler Spangler, the ninth batter in the order, walked and leadoff man Smith Chandler followed with a single to center to load the bases.

Tanner Griffith got hit by a pitch to bring in a run to make it 8-6.

Then Smith walked to score another run.

Connor “Bear” Harrison, the East Bay Athletic League’s player of the year, struck out to set the stage for Tripaldi.

Thinking about his mother throughout the game, all Tripaldi had done to that point was single in a run and hit a solo home run.

“My mind was clear,” Tripaldi said. “Spartans pick each other up. That’s what we do. Every kid on this team will fight till the very end. No matter what the circumstance is. Whether we’re down four like that or we’re winning, doesn’t matter. We’ll always fight till the end, and we came out on top today.”

Tripaldi’s grand slam cleared the tall fence in left field, causing an emotional celebration on a day when emotions were high on the field and in the stands, which were filled to capacity.

Last June, when De La Salle rallied in the bottom of the seventh for four runs to stun St. Francis 7-6 in the NorCal Division I final, Tripaldi felt fortune just to be allowed to sit in the dugout.

“I didn’t get to play,” he said. “But that was like the most special moment of my life. I didn’t think anything could get bigger than last year. It just happened today. Today was the best moment of my life, dog-piling right here. I did it for all of my guys. My buddies. My seniors. My mom. I love her.

“I was pointing up in the air. That’s for Mom.”

Valley Christian, which had won its previous 19 games, tried to rally in the home half of the seventh. Keaton Norris hit a one-out single to right and Jordan Ortiz got hit by a pitch.

But a flyout to center field and a ground out to second base ended the epic game that took more than three hours to complete.

“We didn’t go away, they didn’t go away,” said Valley Christian coach John Diatte, who just completed his 34th season at the San Jose school. “They just happened to have more runs than we did at the end of seven innings. Kudos to them.”

Told of Tripaldi’s backstory, Diatte said, “If he can have a special day, then it’s all meant to be. In the long run, like I told our kids, winning and losing happen. That’s not the end-all or the thing we’re going to learn most from athletics.

“It’s going to be the character-building, the love, the camaraderie, the brotherhood, all those things that we learn from being around team sports. Winning and losing goes away. But the love, care and brotherhood that we share never do.”

Etc.:

Valley Christian standout Michael Castaneda, who was taken to a hospital after being hit in the face by a pitch in the second inning, returned to campus late Saturday bandaged up but doing OK, Diatte said. Castaneda was FaceTiming with his teammates during the game. The Northern Kentucky-bound senior tweeted on Sunday morning, “Gonna miss it but super excited for the next chapter in my life!”