What else is new? Turlock, St. Mary’s meet in baseball playoffs again

Turlock High baseball coach Mark de la Motte probably wasn’t surprised when he first perused the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South playoff brackets. In fact, he chuckled when asked about it.

“Hey, all roads go through St. Mary’s in the playoffs,” said de la Motte, whose club nearly played itself out of a postseason berth with a sluggish stretch-run in Central California Conference play. “We’re just happy to be in the playoffs ... all the pressure is on them because they’re the No. 1 seed.”

After the No. 8 Bulldogs’ postseason opener against No. 9 Bear Creek, which Turlock (18-9) won 11-5 on Monday, St. Mary’s (Stockton) loomed as a second-round opponent.

It figures. The teams have only met nine times – all at UOP’s Klein Family Field in Stockton – during the last five postseasons. They’ll meet for a 10th time, on that same diamond, Thursday night at 7, with somebody’s season destined to end.

The Rams (17-11) hold a distinct advantage over the Bulldogs, winning seven of the nine meetings, including three times in the final (2010-11, ’13). St. Mary’s has won the south bracket six consecutive seasons and seven of the last eight. The Rams went on to beat the north champ for the section crown in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

And just to prove its dominance over the city of Turlock is no fluke, St. Mary’s owns an 8-6 playoff win over Turlock’s other high school, Pitman High, in their only meeting in 2010.

At 4 p.m. Thursday, No. 12 Enochs (10-16), which delivered an 11-3 upset over No. 5 McNair (Stockton) will take on No. 4 Tracy (19-9), the third-place team out of the Tri-City Athletic League.

The winners of those games will meet Monday as the tournament enters the double-elimination stage.

This story was originally published May 13, 2015 at 8:38 PM with the headline "What else is new? Turlock, St. Mary’s meet in baseball playoffs again."