One of my most vivid baseball memories came a number of years ago when I watched Arizona Diamondbacks manager Buck Showalter elect to intentionally walk Barry Bonds with the bases loaded, actually forcing in a run and putting his team closer to a loss. The move worked out for Showalter that day, but it is memorable because it is not something that you see in “the book” that managers usually follow when running a game.

Every once in a while you see a high school hitter that is so dangerous, especially in the clutch, that I am reminded of that Showalter moment and wonder if I might not follow that same strategy if I were managing the game.

Rocklin’s Pat Stover and Yuba City’s Max Stassi jump to mind as hitters that take me there in my thought process.

Yesterday, as I sat at the battle for second place in the Sierra Foothill League, I had the feeling again. The first two times he came to the plate, Granite Bay catcher Andrew Knapp was left standing at the dish while teammates were thrown out on the bases to end an inning. That left the switch-hitting catcher as the leadoff hitter in the subsequent inning.

When he came to the plate in the fifth, once again there were two outs, and Del Oro’s hard-throwing ace Mason Magleby had just walked Travis Israel. As the Showalter call ran through my mind, Knapp drilled a line shot to the right-field side of the Del Oro centerfielder that two-hopped the fence and chased Israel around to score.

Having seen Knapp swing the stick a number of times this season, that was the outcome I expected – the big hit in the big spot. Give him a chance to beat you, and he usually will. The bases weren’t loaded, but walking him would have put the go-ahead run at second base, and I am not sure that wouldn’t have been worth the risk.

The good news for local sports fans is that Knapp is a junior, which allows for you to catch his act in this year’s playoffs and then again for another full season of SFL action.