By DICK SPARRER
Jeremy Cunningham couldn't have picked a better day to have his better stuff.
The righthander went the distance on the hill to lead the North County Cobras to a 12-4 win over the Santa Clara Red Sox in the final game of the Palomino League season.
With the win, the Cobras finished league play with a 15-3 record and gained an automatic berth in the Northern California Regional tournament at Baylands Park in Palo Alto.
Cunningham, who starred at Monta Vista during the high-school season, took a team-leading 7-2 mound record into the tournament. He had struck out 51 in 50-plus innings of work for the Cobras.
The Cobras went into the tourney with a 26-8 season record that included a championship in the Peninsula Angels Fourth of July tournament, and they opened with two wins in three games.
North County won by forfeit over Blossom Valley in the tournament opener, then whipped the PAL Indians 7-2 behind a three-hitter by Cunningham.
Cunningham was in command in the win, striking out 12 and allowed just one walk. He threw 59 strikes among his 78 pitches, and he threw all strikes to 14 of the 26 batters he faced.
Todd Duncan led the offensive attack for the Cobras with two hits, two runs-batted-in and a stolen base.
But the Cobras lost 14-9 to the rival Santa Clara Red Sox a game later to slip into the loser's bracket. The Cobras slapped 14 hits and scored in each of the first five innings, but the Sox rallied for seven runs in the seventh to come from behind for the win.
Justin Stortz, Ahmad Bhatti and Matt Hall were the top North County hitters heading into the regional tournament.
Stortz topped the club with a .519 average and Bhatti was close behind at .500. Hall was hitting .421 with a team-high 40 hits, including 10 doubles.
Shawn Hancock led the squad with five home runs and 27 runs-batted-in and boasted a solid .325 average. Bhatti had four homers and had knocked in 19 runs, and Hall had driven in 23 runs. Jeremian Yacap was hitting .367 with three homers and 25 rbi.
Eddie Ishap was batting .390 and topped the club in runs scored with 29 and stolen bases with 10. Chad Purcell was close behind with 28 runs and eight steals and was hitting .391. He also led the club in triples with five.
Others hitting over .300 were Garrett Thee (.376) and Jesse Soto (.316). Soto also had eight stolen bases and a team-high 20 walks. Brian Connelly hit .250 and Pat Lynch hit .205 but stole seven bases.
Bhatti posted a 4-3 mound record and a low 2.53 earned run average. Scott Rogers was perfect at 5-0 on the hill and Brent McCann was 4-0.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, August 14, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.