Christian, Henry post pitching gems

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: April 1, 2022

2022 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS staff writer

EL CAJON — On an afternoon of outstanding pitching performances throughout East County, joining the list of talented arms is rising standout Ashton McCurty of Christian High.

McCurty, a sophomore, fired six innings of shutout ball, combining with Aaron Shebloski to shut out Mira Mesa, 7-0, in the teams’ final non-league prior to the opening of league play next week.

McCurty yielded just six hits to the Marauders, striking out five Mira Mesa batters. Shebloski followed with a 1-2-3 seventh to give the Pats their fifth victory in seven decisions.

“The team putting up seven runs definitely helped my pitching because I always had a lead and was able to work more things out,” said McCurty.”My favorite pitch today was my curve, but I mixed in all my pitches”

“We also played really good defense and were all around having a blast as a team.”

Christian tallied single runs in the second and third innings, but 5-spot in the fifth blew the ballgame wide open.

A trio of lead singled by Hunter Kaul, Nathan Cena and Caden Leonard opened the scoring, An inning later, Shane Bailey went to center field with a solo home run that landed just to the right of the swimming pool.

In the fifth, Mira Mesa’s pitching yielded a bases-loaded walk to Kaul for a run, setting up Ceba on his bases-clearing, line double to left.

For the contest, Cena, the right fielder went 2-for-4 and the three RBI. Cena and Leonard, the third baseman, each produced a pair of basehits from the bottom third of the batting order,

Underclassmen from Mira Mesa (5-9) led the offense, as sophomore Danny Underwood and freshman Khalil Graham each had two basehits.

Patrick Henry 3, Scripps Ranch 1
DEL CERRO — The Patrick Henry Patriots received another dominating pitching performance, but this time it wasn’t by senior Ryan Ellis.

Patriots sophomore Talin Gardini fired a complete-game, 1-hitter, claiming a 3-1 decision over visiting Scripps Ranch in Thursday’s (Mar. 31) final prep prior to Monday’s Eastern League opening series with Coronado.

Gardini, who struck out 10 Falcons batters, carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning when one lone basehit led to the only run allowed.

However, Patrick Henry answered with a run in the home-half of the sixth to re-claim its 2-run advantage, then Gardini finished off his gem with a 1-2-3 seventh.

Driving in runs for the hosts was senior Dominic Benami, and juniors Ryan Ruch and Brady Hull.

Meanwhile, sophomore Jack Giordano collected two hits for the Patriots (8-3 overall). Scripps Ranch fell to 5-6 in falling to the Pats for the sixth time in the teams’ last nine outings.

Monte Vista 6, Mount Miguel 2
SPRING VALLEY — Less than 25 hours after sufferig the school’s biggest blowout loss in the 21st Century, the Monte Vista Monarchs displayed some pride with a bounce-back victory.

Trailing 2-0 after 1.5 innings on a pair of unearned runs, the Monarchs responded with six unanswered runs to down neighborhood rival Mount Mihuel, 6-2, in a non-league contest on Thursday (Mar. 31).

Monarchs pitcher David Rodriguez fired a complete-game 7-hitter for the victory. He only struck out one, but no walks or hit batters kept him out of difficulties all afternoon.

Meanwhile, Jacob Schweizer continues his power-hitting display of late with a pair of doubles. Gavin Daley also doubles, while.Isaiah Hilke added a triple among his two hits as Monte Vista scored in five of the team’s six trips to the plate.

The key inning for the Monarchs came in the fourth.

After turning an inning-ending double play, the hosts re-claimed the lead, as the defensive momentum carried over to the bats.

Schweizer leadoff with a double, Davus Rodriguez (2 hits) single to place runners on the corners, then No. 9 batter Niko Heidt dropped a bunt downtahe first-base line for an RBI on the squeeze play.

Everyone seemed to contribute for Monte Vista.

Justyn Stone added a sacrifice gly in the fifth, then Tyler Lemen singled home a run in the sixth.

.Mount Miguel’s first run saw David Kellet reach on an error, later scoring on a double-steal.

Monte Vista moved to 4-8 overall; Mount Miguel is close behind at 4-9, despite seven different players recording one hit each as the Matadors work to find a steady batting order.

Escondido Charter 15, ECVHS 3
EL CAJON — Following Grossmont High’s victory to knock out St. Augustine from the ranks of the unbeaten on Wednesday (Mar. 30), there were only a handful of ballclubs remaining in the CIF-San Diego Section with unblemished records, all from the Division 4 and 5 levels.

One of those clubs was the White Tigers of Escondido Charter, which came to town Thursday, running its record to 8-0 after whipping El Cajon Valley, 15-3.

Senior pitcher Jacob Ronalds tossed a 2-hitter over five innings. The southpaw — “the paws was the cause;” that’s the team’s motto — struck out 10 Braves batters, while two of the runs were earned.

ECVHS stay within reach the opening four frames, then the White Tigers scored eight times over the final three innings to pull away.

Runs for the Braves (2-4-1) featured an RBI single by Chris Cosio in the third, scoring Rikki Ortiz, who smacked a leadoff double.

An inning later, following walks to Eddie Cazarez and Ortiz, both runners scored on a catcher’s throwing error and a wild pitch.

For Escondido Charter,Ronalds equaled a school record with three doubles — one shy of the CIFSDS record, in a 3-for-5 outing with five RBI.

The doubles mark, set by many, was first established by Jim Hinton of Christian in 1977, then later matched by Kevin Nulton of El Capitan in a 1997 contest against Valhalla.

Senior Mateo Encinas also posted three hits and drove in three, while Micah McGinty scored three times for the White Tigers.

Elsewhere
Liberty Charter 4, CV-LCC 2
At Chula Vista, the Liberty Charter Lions doubled up the Cobras of the Chula Vista Learning Community Center charter school, 4-2, in a non-league contest.

Liberty Charter (5-5 overall) returns to Patriot League action Monday with its longest road trip of the season, traveling to the new athletics center at Pala Indian Reservation to meet the Bonsall High Legionnaires, starting at 3:15 p.m.

Bonsall (1-5-2) has dropped two straight following a 16-16 tie with Julian on Mar. 21.