Alejandro Zavala pitched a complete game shutout for Mission Bay High in a 7-0 victory over La Jolla on May 18. The crafty right hander gave up just two hits and two walks over his seven innings of work. “I knew it was going to be a tough game and I had to come with my best stuff,” Zavala said. A junior, Zavala is not an overpowering pitcher. But he throws strikes and he knows how to manage a game – and that’s exactly what he did. Zavala didn’t allow many base runners, and when he did he kept them in check. Case in point, in the bottom of the fourth, Zavala put three runners on base. But he picked off two of them with quick moves and accurate throws. “Alejandro has been real consistent for us all year and the defense really backed him up from the get-go, and that was the key,” said MBHS head coach Greg Farrar. The Bucs defense was solid and sometimes spectacular on what proved to be a busy day in the field. In the top of the fifth, MBHS first baseman Robert Phiakeo jumped up against the fence to reel in a pop-up in foul territory. Then, Phiakeo collected himself in time to make a perfect throw to third baseman Sam Elgoual to nail a Viking runner who had tried to tag from second on the play. Elgoual helped open up the game for the Bucs when he smacked a two-run single to left in the fifth to give the home team a commanding 7-0 lead. “He left a pitch up 1-0 and I just took advantage of it and it fell in for a hit,” said Elgoual, who also pointed to the team’s patience. “Today we just clicked. We saw the ball well. We got our pitches. We weren’t too aggressive and we waited for our pitch, which we haven’t done the whole season.” With the win, MBHS finished its regular season on a three-game winning streak heading into the playoffs. “We played good baseball today. We’ve had an up-and-down year, but we like to finish up strong, and winning these last three in a row means a lot to us,” Farrar said. For the seniors, it was a chance to go out on top. “This is my senior year and my last home game, so it’s a great win,” said Buccaneers shortstop Jay Pryor.
