Norsemen are bracketbusters; Patriots beat Aztecs

By ECS Staff
Updated: May 25, 2016

JOSH HEIDER rounds third following his go-ahead homer in the ninth inning on Tuesday against St. Augustine.

2016 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com

SAN DIEGO (5-25-16) — When the San Diego Section playoff pairings were drawn, not many with a Sharpie included the Valhalla Norsemen.

Surprise, surprise. The No. 12 seeded Norsemen stunned St. Augustine Tuesday (May 24) at Hickman Field. The two teams wrestled for nine innings before the Norsemen pulled off a 2-1 victory to eliminate the heavily favored Saints in Division I play.

Valhalla catcher JOSH HEIDER slugged a solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning to snap a 1-1 tie which stood up for the Norsemen’s victory over the Saints.

“I think it was an 0-2 pitch,” said Heider, “and the guy left it over the plate. As soon as I hit it I was just hoping that the ball would land for a hit. But as soon as I saw the ball carry I heard my teammates scream. It was an awesome feeling.”

Heider’s ball supported the pitching of CASEY O’SULLIVAN and JUSTIN POE.

O’Sullivan pitched seven innings, allowing only 5 hits, one run, one earned, one walk and 9 strikeouts.

Reliever Poe (1-9) blanked the Saints over two innings on one hit, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts after the home run.

“The way we look at our season now we’re 1-0 in the playoffs,” said O’Sullivan. “We’re gonna forget our rough season. This is a team that can play much better and we all know that. I see us as the ultimate underdogs, so there’s no telling how far we can go.”

Christian High’s Chase Wehsener delivers to Montgomery on Tuesday in the CIF playoffs.

CHRISTIAN 3, MONTGOMERY 1 – Some might call this an upset, but more than that it was the smooth sailing pitching of CHASE WEHSENER who scattered 7 hits and allowed only one run against three losses.

Wehsener threw only 81 pitches in a game that lasted 70 minutes and eliminated visiting Montgomery. He finished with his 6^th complete game.

Christian took the early lead in the first inning as Wehsener singled, advanced on a passed ball and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Arizona State bound ZACH HOGUIESSON for a 1-0 lead.

The Patriots stretched the lead to 2-0 in the fourth as NATE CAZARES hammered a solo home run.

In the fifth inning Christian stretched its lead another notch to 3-0 on singles by GARRET NIELSEN, ETHAN CONTRERAS and KYLE STOWERS. Stowers’ run came across when the left fielder booted the ball.

For Montgomery, junior right-hander Jose Cerda allowed just one earned run. He was consistently clocked between 87 and 89 mph and struck out 10.

The Patriots, last year’s Division III champion, will take on the Division II first round play against No. 1 seeded Santana today (Wednesday, May 25) as the playoffs return to double elimination play.

Steele Canyon’s Avery Tuck steals second base on Tuesday.

FRANCIS PARKER 5, STEELE CANYON 4 – Two home runs by the Lancers helped lead to the loss by Steele Canyon in Tuesday’s (May 24) San Diego CIF Division II playoffs.

The Cougars counterpunched with 3 hits and 2 RBI by SERGIO ALCARAZ.

MATTHEW BRINKMEIER singled off the pitcher’s glove for a 1-0 lead for SC in the third inning. Row knocked in AVERY TUCK on a ground ball out in the top of the seventh to close the Lancer lead to 4-3. Alcaraz drove in the game-tying run with a hard line single to left field with two out.

The game-winning home run in the bottom of the seventh for Parker was hit Alex Nicita.

WESTVIEW 10, WEST HILLS 9 – The West Hills Wolf Pack seemed to have all the right buttons pushed vaulting out to an 8-2 lead over the Westview Wolverines after 3 1/2 innings of their CIF Division II play-in game Tuesday afternoon (May 25).

But the Pack’s batteries fizzled, as the hosts roared back to take a 10-9 victory in nine innings to advance in the section playoffs.

With the score tied at nine, Blaune Atwell singled home Chris Fousek with the winning Wolverine run to walkoff with the win.

West Hills scored four in the first behind RBIs from AARON BARKLEY, ZACH SANDOVAL, DWAYNE WITMEIER and PAUL ANDERSON.

SAMMY SANDEZ walked and scored in the frame, while BRADEN SANFORD started things off with a single and came around to score.

Although Westview answered back with two in the bottom of the first, starter JONATHAN MAAT held the hosts off the scoreboard over the next two innings.

West Hills then added four in the fourth, as Barkley (singled) and Sandoval (walk) both drove in another run, while RANDY JEWELL (walk) and CLAYTON LEWIS (HBP) also had an RBI each.

There were 22 hits in the contests off of eight pitchers – three from West Hills.

Trailing 8-3 in the sixth, Westview started a rally that knocked middle reliever NOAH QUINTANA from the game, bringing in Barkley. The Wolverines tied the game 8-8 and both teams scored a run in the seventh, as well.

The Wolf Pack took a 9-8 lead in the top of the seventh as MITCHELL CARLIN singled, scoring on a hit by Sanford. Westview tied the game in the bottom half, however, on a sacrifice fly.

West Hills finished 17-9 and exceeded consensus expectations, taking the Grossmont Valley League championship down to the final game against eventual champ and crosstown-rival Santana.

They played those key games and entered the postseason without top ace JEREMIAH BARR, who was injured during a midseason league game at Petco Park against Monte Vista on a freak leg injury while swinging during an at-bat.

By Ramon Scott, © EastCountySports.com

CHULA VISTA 10, MONTE VISTA 1 – Snowballs are not cool in Southern California. Even more so on baseball fields in Southern California.

The eight seed Monte Vista (10-17) dropped a Division IV Play-in game for the CIF-SDS Baseball playoff bracket to nine seed Chula Vista (13-16) 10-1 at Marv Lacey Field on Tuesday (May 24).

JUSTIN SCHWEIZER (4-4) started the game out positively with a strikeout. Then the Monarch errors began. A fielding error gave the Spartans their first run of the day. Then the junior induced a double play to get out of the inning.

Monte Vista went quietly in the first inning. A ground out and a pair of solidly hit fly outs to right.

Then the Spartans put a large crooked number up in the second. A hit by a pitch led the inning off. That runner was taken care of on a caught stealing. Then an error, an infield single, a bloop single to center, a single to left to load up the bases. An RBI single continued the rally, then a two-run single chased the right-hander. JUAN GUTIERREZ came in to induce a fielder’s choice, a sacrifice fly and a ground out to close out the inning. When the dust settled seven runs were on the board for the visitors.

“Plays that we should have been making and plays that we make every day we didn’t make,” Monarch head coach MATT ATKINSON said. “A couple of errors that we don’t make throughout the year. We just sped the game up. I don’t know if it was nerves or if the game was just too big. But they put a few hits together and they snowball those seven runs.”

The third inning wasn’t as bad, but it wasn’t good either for the Monarchs. A pair of walks and a three-run home run to right field over the “Black Monster” provided the rest of the Chula Vista offense.

Monte Vista threatened in the third and fourth innings, but they just couldn’t get that one big hit to get a run in.

In the fifth inning, the Monarchs DIEGO SANDOVAL led the inning off with a booming double to right center field. JON GULLEY followed that with a double of his own to left center field to bring in Sandoval to avoid the shutout. The rally died on a base running mistake.

MVHS had the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. However, again they couldn’t get that one big hit to help the cause.

“We had three seniors that really have just played with us this year,” Atkinson pointed out. “(BRENDEN) COLLINS, (ANTHONY) ROSARIO came from Grossmont, BRYAN (HARMON) who wasn’t on the team last year. Then we have JOHN (ELIA) who has been with us for four years. Having a year with those three guys has been awesome! They came out, they were “gamers”, they battled all year and made us a better ball club. It will definitely help us build in the future with having those guys around this year and their leadership. I’m really proud of our guys. This is the first time in five or six years that we’ve made the playoffs.”

Chula Vista will now take on the top seed in Division IV Bishop’s (15-12) later today (Wednesday, May 25) in La Jolla. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. as dictated by the CIF-SDS.

By Chris Davis, © EastCountySports.com

CALIPATRIA 33, EL CAJON VALLEY 3 – The Braves’ short-handed pitching staff made matters even worse for El Cajon Valley in Tuesday’s (May 24) San Diego CIF Division V playoff game in the desert.

The first inning lasted an hour . . . get the idea.

It didn’t get better for the Braves, who will receive a second chance in the playoffs when they host Borrego Springs on Thursday (May 26) at 3:30.

Tue., May 24, 2016
SDCIF Playoffs – Play-in
Division I
NORSEMEN 2, SAINTS 1 (9 inn.)
Valhalla      ab r h bi St. Augustine ab r h bi
Dirkes 2b      4 0 2 1  Fullen 3b      4 0 0 0
CBrown dh      4 0 1 0  Murasky 2b     4 0 3 0
Henderson ss   4 0 1 0  Vanderbosch pr 0 0 0 0
Mosier cf      4 0 1 0  Anderson cf    2 1 0 0
CSt.Clair 1b   4 0 0 0  Dashwood p     2 0 0 0
RO’Sullivan 3b 4 0 1 0  Wilson p       2 0 0 0
Howard rf      4 1 0 0  Gutierrez c    3 0 2 1
Heider c       3 1 2 1  Dolak 1b       4 0 0 0
Zamudio pr     0 0 0 0  Bell 1b        0 0 0 0
Dunnam lf      4 0 1 0  Fontes dh      4 0 1 0
                        Goodrich rf    0 0 0 0
                        Staker ss      3 0 0 0
                        Barrett ph     1 0 0 0
                        White lf       3 0 0 0
                        Vinti ph       1 0 0 0
TOTALS        35 2 9 2  TOTALS        33 1 6 1

  Valhalla       (4-26) 010 000 001 – 2 9 0
  St. Augustine (16-13) 000 100 000 – 1 6 0

GWRBI-Heider (1).
E-None. DP-Saints 1. LOB-Saints 8, Val 8. 
2B-CBrown, Fontes, Gutierrez, Murasky. 
HR-Heider (2) 9^th, solo. SB-Vanderbosch. 

PITCHING SUMMARY
Valhalla         ip  h  r er bb so
 CO’Sullivan    7.0  5  1  1  1  9
 Poe  W(1-9)    2.0  1  0  0  2  3
St. Augustine
 Dashwood       5.0  7  1  1  1  4
 Wilson  L(2-1) 4.0  2  1  1  0  3
WP-CO’Sullivan. 

Division II
PATRIOTS 3, AZTECS 1
Montgomery    ab r h bi Christian    ab r h bi
Jimenez 2b     4 0 0 0  Stowers 1b    3 0 2 0
ATorres ss     4 0 0 0  Wehsener p    3 1 1 0
JCerda p       3 1 1 0  Hoguiesson cf 3 0 1 0
Murillo 1b     2 0 1 0  Ledgerwood 3b 2 0 0 1
JMartinez dh   3 0 1 0  Cazares lf    3 1 1 1
Quintana rf    0 0 0 0  Gershow 2b    2 0 0 0
Martinez pr    0 0 0 0  Nielsen dh    2 0 1 0
JAMartinez 3b  3 0 2 1  Josephson c   0 0 0 0
Gonzalez pr    0 0 0 0  Hester pr     0 0 0 0
Amador c       3 0 1 0  Contreras rf  2 1 1 0
Leyva lf       3 0 1 0  Beck ss       2 0 0 0
JTorres cf     3 0 0 0
TOTALS        30 1 7 1  TOTALS       22 3 7 2

  Montgomery (17-13) 000 001 0 – 1 7 1
  Christian  (18-10) 100 110 x – 3 7 1

GWRBI-Ledgerwood (1).
E-Leyva, Ledgerwood. DP-Mont 1, Chr 1. LOB-Mont 8, Chr 2. 
HR-Cazaares (1) 4^th, solo. SF-Ledgerwood.


PITCHING SUMMARY
Montgomery        ip  h  r er bb so
 JCerda  L       6.0  7  3  2  0 10
Christian 
 Wehsener W(6-3) 7.0  7  1  1  1  3
WP-Cerda 2. PB-Amador.

LANCERS 5, COUGARS 4
Steele Canyon   ab r h bi Francis Parker ab r h bi
Tuck cf          3 1 1 0  Allen ss-p      3 1 1 0
Taylor lf        0 1 0 0  Hastings c      3 0 0 0
Brinkmeier cf-lf 4 0 1 1  Hayes p-3b-ss   3 0 0 0
Esquibel 1b      3 2 1 0  Young lf        2 2 1 2
Row p            3 0 1 1  Burnett 1b      2 0 0 1
Alcarez 2b       4 0 3 2  Campagna 3b-p   2 0 0 0
Logan 3b         3 0 0 0  Stewart pr      0 0 0 0
Arias c          1 0 1 0  Risse dh        4 0 0 0
Fiedler ss       3 0 0 0  Nicita 2b       4 1 2 2
Smith rf         3 0 0 0  Krongard 2b     0 0 0 0
                          Chatfield cf    1 1 0 0
                          Neels rf        0 0 0 0
TOTALS          27 4 8 4  TOTALS         24 5 4 5

Steele Canyon (12-18-1) 001 010 2 – 4 8 1
Francis Parker  (18-10) 002 110 1 - 5 4 0

GWRBI-Nicita.
E-Esquibel. DP-FP 2. LOB-SC 7, FP 10. 2B-Tuck, Allen. HR-Nicita 4^th, solo; Young 5^th, solo. SB-Tuck 2, Hastings 2. S-Burnett.

PITCHING SUMMARY
Steele Canyon    ip  h  r er bb so
 Row            3.1  2  3  3  6  3
 Schirer        2.2  1  1  1  1  4
 Luban  L(2-4)  0.1  0  1  1  2  0
 Fitch          0.1  1  0  0  0  1
Francis Parker
 Hayes          5.0  7  2  2  1  4
 Campagna       1.0  0  0  0  1  0
 Allen  W       1.0  1  2  2  1  1
HBP-by Schirer (Hastings), by Allen (Esquibel), by Hayes (Arias). WP-Hayes, Allen. PB-Arias, Hastings. 

WOLVERINES 10, WOLF PACK 9 (9 inn.)
West Hills (16-10) 400 400 100 –  9  8 4
Westview   (14-14) 200 015 101 – 10 13 1
Maat, Quintana (7) and Barkley, Sanford (5). 
Sniffin and Rueter (4).
(No further information provided.)

Division IV
SPARTANS 10, MONARCHS 1
Vista     ab r h bi Chula Vista    ab r h bi
Chula Vista (13-16) 073 000 0 — 10 8 0
Monte Vista (10-17) 000 010 0 —  1 5 4
Gomez, Lucero (5), Salazar (7) and Garcia. Schweizer, Gutierrez (2), Gonzalez (3), Rosario (7) and Sandoval.  WP-Gomez.  LP-Schweizer (4-4).


Division V
HORNETS 33, BRAVES 3
El Cajon Valley (10-15)  3
Calipatria      (14-10) 33