Throughout most of Wednesday’s Central Coast Section Division I
semifinal game between Gilroy and Valley Christian, it was hard to
believe the scoreboard at Municipal Stadium.
San Jose – Throughout most of Wednesday’s Central Coast Section Division I semifinal game between Gilroy and Valley Christian, it was hard to believe the scoreboard at Municipal Stadium.
The Warriors were consistently putting runners on base and seemed to be dominating, but that wasn’t showing up on the scoreboard as the Mustangs were doing just enough to stay in the game.
But that didn’t last forever for Gilroy. After the Mustangs scored in the sixth to knot the game up at 2-2, Valley Christian pushed across two of its own in the bottom of the inning to earn a 4-2 victory and spot in Saturday’s CCS title game.
“I think a couple early bounces just didn’t go our way,” Gilroy coach Clint Wheeler said. “You have to tip your cap to them and their pitcher (Jonathan Hughes). He pitched a heck of a game.”
The win pits Valley Christian (32-4) against San Benito (29-8) in the championship game, to be played at 7pm Saturday at Municipal Stadium. The Haybalers beat Santa Teresa 8-0 to advance to the finals for the first time in school history.
Gilroy (24-12), which earned a share of its first league title since 1991 this season, saw its year come to an end, but could hardly be disappointed.
“This is what we play the game for,” junior right fielder Kevin Grove said. “To come from 4-7 to the CCS semifinals. This is a great group of guys. I had a lot of fun this year.”
The Warriors struck in the first inning. With runners at first and third, Hughes hit a grounder to second and Gilroy’s Matt Hemeon rushed in hopes of turning a double play, but didn’t field it cleanly. He picked the ball up and tried to get Hughes at first as a run scored, but he threw it away to allow the other runner to advance to third.
Mustangs starter Jacob Dexter limited the damage by striking out Kevin Miller and getting David Garcia to fly to right to end the inning with a one-run deficit.
Dexter wiggled his way out of trouble again in the second, cutting a runner down at the plate on an attempted safety squeeze and leaving the bases loaded when McPherson lined out to second for the third out.
Valley Christian added a run in the third, but again the Mustangs limited to damage. After a leadoff walk to Hughes, Miller doubled him home for a 2-0 lead but he would eventually be cut down at the plate as part of a double play.
In the top of the fourth, Gilroy landed its first punch as Grove blasted a home run deep over the left-field fence to cut it to 2-1.
After the Warriors had two straight innings of leaving a pair of runners on base – boosting their total for the game to 10 – Gilroy took advantage and tied the game in the sixth.
Danny Contreras led off the inning with a double to the left field corner and Michael Stevens moved him to third when he grounded out. Grove popped up to second on the first pitch he saw but Hemeon delivered a two-out RBI single to tie it at 2-2.
That deadlock was short-lived however. Michael Reilling drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the Warriors’ sixth. Justin McPherson hit a one-out single to put runners at the corners and Hughes executed a safety squeeze to drive in the go-ahead run. Miller followed with an RBI single for a 4-2 lead that ended Dexter’s day.
Gilroy had one final hope in the seventh when Dexter reached on a two-out infield single. But with pinch-hitter Adam Martinez at the plate, Dexter was caught too far off the bag and the throw down to first got him for game’s final out.
“At least we went down being aggressive,” Wheeler said.
Valley Christian left 12 runners on base for the game, but Hughes seemed unfazed as he kept the potent Gilroy bats under control.
“It made it a lot tougher,” Hughes said of the offensive struggles. “But definitely not out of reach.”
Gilroy 000 101 0 – 2 5 2
Valley Christian 101 002 x – 4 10 0
Dexter, Stevens (6) and Fortino. Hughes and Howard. WP – Hughes, LP – Dexter.
