Mammoth rally sinks No. 1 Granite Hills

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: May 28, 2022

File photo by Dave Dickens

2022 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS staff writer

LA JOLLA — Employing pressure all contest after trailing 3-0 following the first inning, La Costa Canyon buoyed a seventh-inning, solo home run by Gabe Camacho into a one-sided affair.

The second-seeded Mavericks tallied seven times in the eighth inning, more than enough to wash away the title hopes of top-seeded Granitye Hills, 10-3, in Friday’s (May 27) CIFSDS Open Division baseball championship held at UC San Diego’s Triton Field.

The ballgame was a rematch of the first CIFSDS Open Division title game of 2014, won by Granite Hills, 3-0.

The Eagles, which had revamped their batting order at mid-season to transform from a slugging unit into a consistent, run-scoring machine, parlayed four basehits into three quick runs.

However, Mavericks pitcher Roni Chutke limited the Eagles tro just three additional hits the rest of the way to give his offense time to finally recover.

With Granite Hills just two outs away from the San Diego Section title, the decisive blow came on Camacho’s homer ro right field. Then in extra innings, a pair of LCC hits and two errors allowed the Mavs to grab the lead for the first time,

When Chutke ran out of pitches, Camacho was again called to provide relief, collecting the final two outs, capped by a fly ball to right fielder Dylan Fishbough to end the 3:33 marathon.

The disappointment was far-reaching among the Eagles roster, who politely stood for the awards ceremony before departing.

Granite Hills’ early success saw the offense open with three straight basehits — by Brenden Lewis, Granit Mac Arthur and Jacob Embleton (RBI — then a soft ground ball by Camden Sos easily scored another run.

And then Ethan McNish-Heider smacked a line single to left, things obviously looked promising at 3-0.

However, the leadoff batters for LCC marked the difference.

A lead double by Kaden Bass in the third was cashed in on a one-out single by Nolan Farley

The combination also gained a second run in the fifth, as another Bass lead double saw the shortstop score on a Farkley sacrifice fly.

Finally, Granite Hills called Lewis, the CIFSDS saves leader to close it out. But Camacho took advantage of the slight ocenocean breeze towards right field to forge extra innings.

It was East County’s second straight CIFSS title game to go extra innings. On Thursday, Grossmont fell to Eastlake, 7-6 in 11 innings, at the same venue.

The Mavericks’ extra inning trip to the plate again featured a lead double, this time by Jacob Paul, followed by a walk to James Theodore.

But when Granite Hills committed errors on the next two batters for the go-ahead run, the disjointed Eagles saw their title dreams vanish.

For La Costa Canyon (24-10 overall), Bass batted 3-for-4 and scored all three times, whle Paul batted 4-for-4 with three RBI, including a two-run single to cap the big outburst in extras, giving them 10 unanswered runs.

For the Mavericks, it was their fourth section championship, including back-to-back titles in 2003-04. The other came in 2012.

Granite Hills )(24-6) saw Grant Mac Arthur, the East County home run champion, bat bat 2-for-2 with two walks, including an intentional walk with two down and no one on base in the seventh.

The Eagles were seeking their seventh title — the past three on current head coach James Davis; three earlier crowns by the late Grodie Thompson.

MAVERICKS 10, EAGLES 3 (8 inn.)
La Costa Canyon (24-10).. 001 010 1 7 – 10 11 0
Granite Hills (24-6),,………300 000 10 – 3 7 2