Who says lightning never strikes twice?
It did on May 20 at Cabrillo High, in the form of junior Nick Hay, who smashed back-to-back grand slams against visiting La Puente High in the first round of the CIF baseball playoffs.
Hay, the Conqs’ starting first baseman, finished with 10 RBIs in the 28-5 drubbing of the Warriors.
“It felt really good,” Hay said about the second home run. “I didn’t even realize it had gone out until I was rounding first base. I tried to keep a serious face running around the bases, but I had a smile and tears going on.”
Hay entered the game with only one home run all year, in a pinch-hit role no less. Considering himself a run-producer instead of a slugger, the Conqs’ No. 3 hitter finished the regular season with a .490 batting average and a team-leading 42 RBIs.
“He’s been hitting the ball hard all year,” said Cabrillo head baseball coach Jonathan Osborne. “He worked really hard in the off season and proved to be a lot more than we thought he was going to be.”
Hay received few at-bats as a backup catcher last season for the Conqs, and Osborne said Hay’s opposite field power and success driving the ball into the gap this year came as a direct result of the extra work he put in at the start of the school year.
“I was going out to the fitness center we have on campus working out two to three times a week,” Hay said. “Conditioning and sprint training helped me a lot with my stamina and not getting fatigued late in the season.”
As of press time, Cabrillo was set to take on L.A.’s Cathedral-Whittier Christian in the second round of CIF.
This article appears in May 27 – Jun 3, 2010.