Atascadero upsets Morro Bay as regular baseball season winds down
Morro Bay High’s baseball team has had a dominant season, closing in on 20 wins.
But on Thursday, the Pirates (19-5, 10-0 Ocean) hit a speed bump against a gritty cross-county opponent.
In a non-league game, Atascadero (12-12, 5-5 Sunset) showed its grit in a 6-4 come-from-behind win, fueled by a three-hit day from junior shortstop Damon Mitchell, who’s batting .341 on the season.
Mitchell smashed a go-ahead RBI double to right-center in the top of the seventh inning in the Pirates’ park to cap off his 3-for-4, two-RBI game.
And reliever Weston Witt held on in the bottom of the seventh, getting Morro Bay’s lineup out in order. Witt gave up two hits in three scoreless innings to save the game after Wyatt Azelton started, giving up four earned runs in four innings while striking out four.
“We’ve played nothing but close games throughout this season,” said Greyhounds Coach Samm Spears. “It’s been the same grind from this group the whole time. It’s a game of ups and downs. Morro Bay is a good, young team, and we knew that coming in.”
Atascadero faced a 4-1 deficit in the second inning after star shortstop Quentin Crotts launched a three-run home run to left-center off of a curveball from Azelton.
Despite being down early against a quality opponent, Atascadero battled with two runs in the fourth and a game-tying double in the fifth by Mitchell, another shot to the gap in right that carried over the Pirate outfielder’s head.
“I’ve been working on a new swing,” Mitchell said. “It’s kind of like aiming my elbow towards the ball, and then kind of going through it up the middle. So that led me to taking it to right center.”
Mitchell said his goal is to stay calm, relaxed and stay in the moment.
“I feel like baseball is all mental, so if you overthink it, then it’s gonna affect you,” Mitchell said. “And so I feel like we’re building momentum and league is up for grabs next week.”
Morro Bay shines
Morro Bay Coach Jarred Zill said his team has displayed well-rounded offense with solid hitters from one to nine in the lineup and excellent starting pitching from go-to pitchers Evan Davis and Eli Brown. Colton White, who came on in relief, has been a strong closer, alternating between third base and his pitching role.
Crotts, a junior, has been a team-leader in hitting throughout the season, batting .400 with 26 hits and 15 RBIs, while notching his first home run of the year Thursday.
“He’s an outstanding kid,” said Morro Bay Coach Jarred Zill. “(Crotts) is the hardest-working kid in our program. He’s the first one here. He does the most field work. He’s the last one out. He’s a very respectful kid. I cheer for all of our kids, but I’ve probably never cheered harder for anyone as a coach than him.”
Crotts said his keys to success have been “coming to practice every day and not skipping anything.”
“I just come and do the work and try to stay focused,” Crotts said. “My goal has been just putting the ball in play, and having quality at-bats.”
Zill said he encourages players to hit the ball in the air for power, veering from past generations of emphasis on line drives and ground balls.
“We do like to hit the ball hard in the air,” Zill said. “That is, that is something we work on, I would say, compared to last year. I don’t know what the numbers look like, but I’d imagine we had way more ground outs last year than we do this year.”
Zill said that’s “kind of the modern way of baseball, and statistically, that’s just what has proven over time to give them more success, maybe a little bit less in high school baseball, because the defenses aren’t as good, and the fields aren’t as good. But we want to give them skills that are going to play at the next level, and hitting a bunch of ground balls doesn’t, unfortunately, play at the next level.”
Winding down the regular season
While Morro Bay has clinched the Ocean League, Atascadero is battling for the top spot in Sunset as San Luis Obispo has a 7-5 league record and the Greyhounds are .500 at 5-5.
Atascadero faces Paso Robles (11-11, 4-5 Sunset) on Tuesday and Thursday with hopes to square their record with SLO (12-11, 7-5 Sunset), whose league season has finished.
Spears said his squad has been “trending in the right direction for a while, and sometimes we’ll stub our toe a little bit, but it doesn’t mean we’re going backwards.”
“We just hit speed bumps sometimes, like in a tournament (earlier in the season). We played a very tough schedule in the tournament, but we wanted it,” Spears said. “I told them, ‘That’s going to make us better for the end of the year.’”
Spears said battles versus Templeton and preparing for Paso Robles next week have toughened his squad.
“We want to go get two from (Paso Robles), and so it’s a North County rivalry,” Spears said. “So, the job’s not done yet. It’s been fun. It’s been a fun group for my first year (as head coach).”
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 9:19 PM.
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