DANVILLE, Calif. — The Walnut Creek Crawdads entered Sunday tied with the Alameda Merchants for first place in the CCL North. They’ve weathered storms throughout the first half and have come out on top more often than not, but even Superman has his Kryptonite. The Crawdads entered the day with a 0-3 record against the Menlo Park Legends, the penultimate team in the standings and their opponents that afternoon. 

The teams were neck-and-neck through the first two innings, right-handed starter Dylan McShane retired the first six batters he faced. Then the wheels fell off the bus. A sloppy, three-hit, two-error inning scored three Legends runs. They would continue to pile on throughout the game, and inconsistent stretches of Crawdads’ offense held the team back.  

When it was all said and done, Walnut Creek (16-12) dropped to 0-4 on the season against Menlo Park (13-17), losing in front of its home crowd at Monte Vista High School 10-6. 

“In all four games, we haven’t been able to do all three (facets of the game),” Crawdads head coach Brant Cummings said. “… There’s pitching, throwing strikes. Then there’s playing defense. Catching it, throwing it, catching it. Then, there’s the offensive side, being able to hit enough to score guys and draw walks and steal bases. We just can’t seem to put together all three in any one contest against them.” 

The third inning, which started the downfall, started simply. Legends third baseman Cal Zemaitis flared a single into left field. The man behind him in the order, catcher Blake Cowans, followed it up with a single of his own, lining one off of McShane’s right leg. The six-foot-nine right-hander stayed in the game and said postgame that the hit didn’t have any effect on the rest of his outing, but coincidentally or not, that’s when the defensive miscues started. 

Second baseman Russell Filter followed up Cowan’s hit by laying down a bunt, which went to the third base side of the mound. McShane got to the ball quickly, but his throw to first pulled first baseman Kam Taylor off the bag. The next batter, left fielder Quincy Via, hit one to Taylor, who threw to McShane covering first base, but the pitcher dropped the ball.

“When he threw me the ball, I wanted to catch it with my glove, but I didn’t, and it was like ‘s—’,” McShane said. “I don’t know, I work on that a lot, but got to work on it more.”

With the bases still loaded, no-outs, and a run already in, McShane was in damage control mode. He was able to get the first out of the inning on a popup, but not before he allowed a double that drove in two runs, and hit another batter to reload the bases. Left-handed reliever Ryan DeLaney took over for McShane and got a double play to end the frame.  

DeLaney tossed 3.1 innings but allowed four earned runs. Left-handed reliever Max Cohen was brought in next and pitched 1.2 innings but allowed three earned runs. The Crawdads had no answer for the Legends’ bats, and it was partly due to the visiting team’s ability to hit in high-pressure situations. 

“They did a really good job today with two strikes,” Cummings said. “I’ve seen that the last two days, where teams with runners in scoring position have fought off decent pitches and hit balls that we couldn’t catch.” 

By contrast, the Crawdads weren’t able to take advantage of opportunities at the same level that the Legends did. The lineup left nine runners on base and never had a sustained rally, but did produce two big hits. 

Second baseman Chris Esquivel and third baseman Cam Calvillo each hit their first home runs of the season. Esquivel’s home run kicked off the scoring for the Crawdads in the bottom half of the first inning, and Calvilo hit a two-run shot in the ninth inning, but the game was already out of reach. 

“Felt phenomenal,” Esquivel said. “Pretty much knew it off the bat. Just gave it a bit of a courtesy run. Felt good to just finally get some barrel on the ball.” 

Cummings will need players like Esquivel and Calvillo to get hot and stay hot, since the lineup is dealing with injuries as the season goes on and has been inconsistent in recent games. Beyond those two, Cummings is looking at other ways to get the team going. 

“We’re becoming the walking wounded,” Cummings said. “We’ll need (Esquivel and Calvillo) while they’re healthy. We’ve got to be able to score and right now, the last two days has been difficult.

“We just have to find something to give us that good feeling, gain confidence. … The biggest thing is going to be how well we do offensively. If that means we’re either going to have to hit or we’re going to have to find ways to manufacture runs, hitting and running and creating pressure. Drag bunt, maybe sac bunt every so often, then we’ll have to do that.” 

One thing that would help the team gain confidence and enter the All-Star break feeling good about themselves would be beating the Legends. The Crawdads have the chance to do that tomorrow, as they head across the Bay to try and beat them for the first time this summer. 

It’s been a challenging task, but the team hasn’t given up. 

“They seem pretty legendary at this point,” McShane said. “But we get to go into their hometown, home field and show them what the Crawdads are all about. I’m excited for it. I’ll be there and I’m ready to cheer on the guys go turn around this season against those guys.”

By Ethan Ignatovsky