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The St. Mary’s baseball team has been hearing the stories about Piedmont High pitcher Matt Shartsis all year, but until Wednesday afternoon, it was all second-hand information.  

Though Shartsis came through with a solid effort for the Highlanders, it was perhaps the intimidating lefty’s reputation that hurt the Panthers most. As St. Mary’s starting pitcher Jeremiah Fielder admitted after the game, the Panther offense hesitated to assert itself amidst the buzz about Shartsis’ dominance. And by the time they figured out he wasn’t so tough, it was too late. 

“We fell into the hype a little bit, seeing the scouts with (radar) guns,” said Fielder about the hubbub surrounding the opposing pitcher, who is bound for Arizona State on a full ride next season. “We had read about (Piedmont) in the paper, and now we’ve seen them for real.  

“(Shartsis) pitched a good game, but we saw we could play with them.” 

Fielder managed to turn the opening innings into a bona-fide pitcher’s duel, allowing just three runs in the first five innings to keep the Panthers within a run. The Highlanders managed to break the game open in the sixth, however, stringing together four runs, and prompting a pitching change. Though Joe Storno closed out the Highlanders with minimal damage, St. Mary’s couldn’t capitalize on a bases-loaded situation in the seventh, and ultimately dropped the league game, 9-4. 

“They were definitely the real deal,” St. Mary’s coach Andy Shimabukuro said after the game. “Shartsis pitched a good game, got outs when he needed to. I give credit to him, because we’ve been strong on offense all year. There’s nothing we could have done today.” 

The Piedmont starter pitched six strong innings, allowing just five hits and two earned runs to the usually productive Panther offense. Fielder and Storno registered the only two extra-base hits for St. Mary’s – both picking up doubles.  

“We faced (Encinal star) Dontrelle (Willis), and we figured (Shartsis) was on that same level,” Fielder said. “We can play with good pitchers, (the hits) just didn’t fall our way today.” 

Currently occupying second place in the Alameda-Contra Costa Athletic League, St. Mary’s has four league games to play before the conclusion of the 2000 campaign. With a strong regular-season finish and a complementary performance at the ACCAL tournament, the Panthers could contend for a North Coast Section playoff bid. 

“We’ll take (the Piedmont loss) in stride,” Fielder said about his team’s resilience. “Now we know we can play with them.” 

“We’ve got four league games left, and we’re going into all of them expecting to win,” Shimabukuro added.