Three Leigh pitchers shut out Westmont, keep Longhorns unbeaten in league play
Leigh generates just enough offense to beat Westmont in a BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division baseball game.
CAMPBELL — Leigh received some outstanding pitching and just enough hitting Tuesday to win at Westmont 2-0.
A week and a half into the divisional season, the Longhorns are the only undefeated team in the Blossom Valley Athletic League’s Mt. Hamilton Division at 3-0.
They had three pitchers combine on the shutout — Lance Takamura, who went the first four innings, Dylan Christian, who pitched the fifth, and Ollie Obenour, who closed it out, going the last two innings.
“All three of them were fantastic on the mound, throwing strikes, getting ahead,” Leigh coach Drew Marino said.
And that’s kind of the way it’s gone so far this season. Leigh is 6-3 overall (the three losses are to Valley Christian, Mitty and Los Gatos) and has allowed a total of 10 runs in those six wins. And all that after Stanford-commit Dom Panella had to exit Leigh’s season opener Feb. 20 vs. St. Francis after three innings, and has not returned.to the mound.
“We’ve had some guys fill in and have kind of done it by committee,” Marino said. “We hope to have Dom back soon.”
Westmont starter Mason Pound, who went into the game 4-0 on the season, matched zeroes with the Leigh hurlers until the fifth inning when Takamura led off with a single. Jacob Madonna laid down a bunt that the Westmont third baseman attempted to snag on the fly, but the ball was ruled to have touched ground before he gloved it, and runners were on first and second with nobody out.
Takamura scored on an errant pickoff throw at first base and Madonna came home on a sacrifice fly to right hit by Truman Beaudoin.
That was it for the scoring.
“Mason Pound has been doing a good job keeping us in games and giving us a chance to win,” Westmont coach Tony Pianto said. “We’re just trying to find our stroke. We’re in games because of our defense and our pitching. We’ve got to find a way to get some consecutive base hits and go from there.”
The Warriors (7-4, 1-2) put two runners on in the bottom of the sixth with none out and Marino called Obenour in from shortstop to pitch. Obenour, the one senior in Leigh’s starting lineup Tuesday, retired all six batters he faced, five on strikes, throwing all fastballs. Radar guns behind home plate clocked him in the mid-80s, a significant increase from last season.
“I’ve been working hard in the weight room, getting way more physical overall, and it’s carried over to pitching,” Obenour said. “I put on 15 pounds since last year and feeling better than ever.”
