On May 28, the Giants’ varsity baseball team took on the Carmel Padres in the first Norcal state playoff game in the program’s history. The Giants came into the game with a record of 26-4, off a devastating extra innings loss in the North Coast Section (NCS) championship to Cardinal Newman. Senior Chas Veley was set to toe the slab for the Giants, entering red-hot with 12 strikeouts and no earned runs over his previous eight innings. 

Carmel dealt the initial blow, stringing together three hits and taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Padres’ sophomore starter, Stanford commit Matt Maxon, held the Giants scoreless through the first three innings as Redwood’s bats remained cold. 

However, a leadoff double from sophomore and Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) Player of the Year Theo Trono gave the Giants the spark they needed. Fellow sophomore Jack Moseley then singled two batters later before senior captain Gavin Soper brought him in with a line-drive single. 

Now equipped with a 2-1 lead, Veley would not look back. The senior threw his first complete game of the season on only 78 pitches, striking out six batters while only allowing three hits. After the leadoff hitter reached on an error to start the seventh inning, the Padres began to regain momentum. Yet, sophomore Ethan Ferry made the play of the game, snagging an outside pitch and back-picking the runner at first. Veley would go on to get two ground balls, fielded by Trono and junior Lucas Ghio, respectively, to seal the win.

With the win over Carmel, Redwood advances to the Norcal semifinals and will face St. Ignatius on Thursday, May 30, at Fairmont Field in Pacifica.