GILROY—The Cougars were red-hot heading into Wednesday’s Central Coast Section Division I playoff game and were riding a four-game winning streaking. But unfortunately for Christopher, its ride ran out of gas.
The Cougars fell 6-2 to Monta Vista High at Gavilan College, knocking them out of the single elimination postseason tournament.
Both of Christopher’s runs came in the fourth inning. The Cougars capitalized on a bases loaded situation and cut into Monta Vista’s lead as Justin Nelson and Nathan Fhurong drew back-to-back walks to send their teammates home.
The Cougars had two of their four hits in the fourth inning along with three of their five walks.
The Matadors struck first, scoring a run in the second inning. Pitcher Sheldon McClelland hit a liner to centerfield and stole second a few pitches later. McClelland advanced to third on a pitch in the dirt that catcher Darren Santos was able to block. But the ball rolled far enough to his left that it allowed the Matador to reach third without a throw. Ryan Granzella hit a sacrifice fly to bring him in and put the visitors ahead 1-0.
Monta Vista added two more runs to its lead in the fourth inning, one in the fifth inning and two more in the sixth.
“They (the Matadors) made plays when they needed to make plays,” Christopher coach Ryan Dequin said. “They played fundamentally sound for the most part.”
Christopher threatened in the first. Nelson drew a walk and Anthony Rodriguez notched an infield hit before he stole second base, thus preventing a double play.
Or so the Cougars thought.
Bryan Easton hit a soft grounder to the pitcher who threw to first for the force out. As soon as McClelland threw to first Nelson took off for home. But he didn’t get there in time and was tagged out to complete the 1-3-2 double play.
Easton pitched three and two-third innings, giving up five hits and three runs with one strike out.
The Cougars were poised to score again in the second inning. Santos stood on third and Makaio Duyao on second, putting runners in scoring position for Josh Wheat. But neither Wheat nor Richie Rios could get the crucial hit needed to bring them home.
“Nothing was going our way,” said Easton. “It was rough.”
The Matadors committed four errors while the Cougars had only one, but the home team couldn’t translate those into runs.
“We didn’t capitalize on any of their mistakes,” Dequin said.
Christopher tried to ignite a rally in the final frame, putting men on third and second with two outs. But the clutch hit the Cougars needed once again eluded them.
“It was that knock that we didn’t get. That could be the deciding factor of the ballgame and it was today,” Dequin said.
The Cougars finish their season 15-12 overall. They had a stellar second half to their season, rebounding from a 2-4 league record towards the end of March to finish 11-7 in the Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division to earn the No. 3 seed.
