Baseball threshold for pain on max

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: March 16, 2022

2022 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS staff writer

EL CAJON — Baseball Psychology 101: Anguish.

Does the conscience brain even register that moment one “squarely” places the round bat upon the round ball? Particularly, when the “batter” often can never escape the confines of imaginary prison walls we know as the batter’s box.

The joy and adrenaline rush instantly gone, cut short after a millisecond, a microsecond, or the time frame of your choice after assured success instead turns to tragedy.

You crazy Americans! No wonder the rest of the world prefers soccer/futbol, while many North Americans (and smaller population pockets from round the world) prefer baseball.

America’s pastime? Maybe if one enjoys inflicting pain upon one’s self — and we love it.

Well, expect in Tuesday’s (Mar. 15) contests when all five East County based ballclubs (metro and rural) were on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

San Diego HS 5, Mount Miguel 4
SPRING VALLEY — The Mount Miguel Matadors started the day sharing the lead with three other schools in its pool of the Steve Vickery flight (Division 4) of the Bill Dickens Memorial/GMC Tournament.

However, the Matadors’ 3-run rally in the seventh inning fell short, meaning a berth in Saturday’s championship contest is unlikely after San Diego spurred a surprising upset win.

Mount Miguel performed fair on defense, fair on pitching, but the offense was marginal with just five hits through six innings against San Diego left-hander Diego Nunez. But when the Cavers bullpen took over, fortunes began to change.

“Early in the season you are trying to find the character of your team.” said Matadors head coach Frank Coit. “nd today you know, we really showed character, this team really showed their character down 5-1, really played hard.

David Keller started applying pressure on the young Cavers. Following his lead single, he stole second base. The throw was so poor, the right fielder retrived the ball, but when the throw from the outfield went astray, Keller scored.

Steve Gulley followed with a basehit, scoring on a booming double to center by cleanup hitter Matt Acevedo to trim the deficit to 5-3.

Acevedo (2-for-3) scored when San Diego took an out at second base for a fielder’s choice. Late, with two runners in scoring position, San Diego coaxed a fly out to survive the rally.

“Well ‘almost’ is how they describe hand grenades and horseshoes, and we ended up with hand grenades and horseshoes with the bases loaded at the end,” added Coit. “We just got under the ball a little too much or we could have pulled this one out.”

Early on, the lone Matadors run came in the first inning when both sides exchanged markers and the only time the hosts had a runner on third base.

Four batters reached base to open — a dropped third strike, hit batter, fielder’s choice and w walk — but no runs came home until the fifth batter; Miles Emerick,slapped a hard grounder that was booted.

However, Nunez escaped with a ground ball for a double play to kill the threat.

For Mount Miguel (4-3 overall), cleanup hitter Matt Acevedo went .2-for-4 with a double.

“Although losing 5-4 , that is a break our way of almost winning that ball game.” the coach noted. ” But we always preach to the boys, give us the effort and the wins will take care of themselves.”

“I’m not disappointed in the boys at all, everyone is great win you are winning, but who are you when you have to fight for something or struggle through adversity, snd the boys fought through that adversity. The biggest takeaway is a team down 5-1 with only three outs away from the end of a game, not giving up.”

Chula Vista 4, Foothills Christian 3
CHULA VISTA — Foothills Christian loaded the bases with one out in the seventh inning with two chances to move into the lead, but the Baseball gods made their (its?) choice, preferring host Chula Vista.

The Knights hit a pair of hard grounders which had a chance to slide through the infield, but the Spartans were able to glove and throw out baserunners to take the win in a dramatic Bill Dickens Memorial/GMC Tournament contest.

The decision kept Chula Vista unbeaten in its pool of the Steve Vickery flight (Division 4), tied with two other schools. For Foothills Christian, good news came when other game results found the Knights are also in a deadlock for first in its pool. Thus, both schools remain alive for a berth to Saturday’s championship contest.

Chula Vista held leads of 3-0 and 4-2, yet the Knights kept fighting to get within a run, but never quite broke through.

Key hits for FCHS included consecutive RBI snigles by Colby Johnson and Billy Temple, both with two down, in the third inning to trim the deficit to 3-2.

Then in the sixth, Seth Gilbody stroked a lead single, moved to third on an error, then came home on ohn Popka’s knock to center field.

However, the Knights (3-5 overall) stranded nine base-runners, missing their opportunity to both move back to the .500 mark while defeating a large-enrollment school,

Elijah Morr, Gilbody and Johnson all collected two hits each,as Foothills Christian out-ht the Spartans, 11-7, while not committing an error..In addition, Popka fired two innings of shutout ball in relief.

Quotes

Colby Johnson:

“All of us put together great at-bats. We still have room for improvement in certain areas, but we have been executing great in the last few games.”

“Today we fielded the ball great. Coach Dave (Lewis) always believes the team who throws the ball and catches the ball the best wins ballgames, which nearly led us to a win today.”

Seth Gilbody,on his pitching:

“I think I’m gaining velocity coming out of my shoulder injury, i just have to keep my location on as I change my release point. I am making progress and am slowly improving as the season goes on.”

“It was mainly my location and my curveball wasn’t on — was just a bad day for me”

Morse 8, El Capitan 2
LAKESIDE — The Morse Tigers, located within a long javelin throw from Mount Miguel, made a rare visit to the East County on Monday (Mar. 15), tallying three times in their initial at-bat to subdue El Capitan, 8-2, at Hostetler Field.

Both sides entered at the bottom of their respective pools in the Steve Vickery flight (Division 4) of the Bill Dickens Memorial/GMC Tournament.

Much like Foothills Christian (see above), the Vaqueros held prospects to obtain the .500 plateau, but they were rejected by Morse pitcher Alex Leyva. The senior tossed a complete-game 4-hitter, striking out six El Cap batters.

Tigers cleanup slugger Michael Chapman led the offense with a pair of doubles as part of his 4 RBI effort.

Chapman’s first double scored a run in the fifth, then he added a two-run double off the high grade in left for two more runs in the seventh. He also opened the scoring with a sacrifice flyin the first, helping jump-start Morse to a 3-0 advantage.

El Capitan moved to with 4-2 with single runs in the third and fourth frames.

Brady Reed reached on an error, then scored on a balk and a wild pitch, An inning later, Landon Harbach and Wyatt Caro accepted consecutive one-out walks, then Harbacj stole both third and home.

Both ballclubs are now 3-5 overall;

Elsewhere
In the back country, the Ocean View Christian Patriots (the former Lutheran High) of Chula Vista handed winless Julian its third straight setback, 16-6.

Meanwhile, the Borrego Springs Rams traveled to Calexico, where they fell to the Vincent Memorial Scots, 17-2. It was the season opener for the Rams.