Casa makes most of opportunities

The Casa Grande High School baseball team had more chances and took better advantage of them than rival Petaluma last week in a 15-4 victory.

Casa scored three times in the top of the first inning before host Petaluma came to bat. The Gauchos never trailed, but the Trojans did make it interesting against Casa’s mound ace Eric Parnow before things began to get out of hand late in the game.

“When they had their chances, they got the job done, and when we had our chances, we couldn’t get it done,” summed up Petaluma coach Paul Cochrun.

“I feel pretty good about our offense,” Casa Grande coach Paul Maytorena said after the Gauchos had rapped out 12 hits against a trio of Petaluma pitchers. “Berry was incredible today.”

Berry would be new Gaucho second baseman Blake Berry, a junior who went 4-for-4 with 6 RBIs.

Meanwhile, three Casa Grande pitchers allowed the Trojans just three hits, but lack of command kept them in a constant state of jeopardy. With the exception of the first inning when Parnow whiffed the side, and a quiet seventh hurled by junior Jason Wutsh, the Trojans had base runners in every inning, and generally had them in scoring position,.But, as Cochrun pointed out, the key hit at the proper time was missing.

The game was highlighted by a spectacular catch by Casa Grande sophomore right fielder Chris Joaquim, who turned his back to the infield to run down a deep drive by Petaluma’s Harrison Royal in the fourth inning.

“I didn’t think I was going to get it,” Joaquim said. “As I was chasing it I kept thinking, ‘I’m not going to get it,’ but it stuck in my glove.”

Joaquim, in his first season of playing outfield after a youth baseball career as a pitcher/infielder, made a similar, although not nearly as spectacular, running catch on a drive hit by Austin Gabbert in the sixth inning. The sophomore’s fourth-inning snare helped preserve a 7-3 Gaucho lead built primarily on a pair of three-run rallies.

Casa opened with the three-run, first-inning start that featured a sacrifice fly by Spencer Torkelson, Joaquim’s RBI single and the first of Berry’s productive hits. Three more runs in the third, built on hits by Parnow, Tyler Moore (bunt), Brian Hupke and Berry, chased Petaluma starting pitcher Hunter Williams from the mound and put the Gauchos into a comfort zone.

Parnow made things look easy in the first inning, striking out the Petaluma side, but in the second, a walk and sundry other wildness allowed Petaluma to score a run. The Trojans had an opportunity to really get back in the game, loading the bases, but managed to score only one of the runners.

Three more Casa Grande runs in the third on clutch two-out hits by Hupke and Berry pretty much decided the issue.

To make sure, Casa, already leading, 8-2, fashioned a four-run rally in the sixth with the bat-blistering Berry driving home three more runs with a double, his fourth hit of the affair.

Petaluma scored two runs in its half of the sixth in a rally that might have provided more had Joaquim not made his second extraordinary catch of the contest to rob Gabbert.

As a chill began to creep over a fine spring afternoon, and a multitude of substitutions populated the field for both teams, Casa fashioned a final three-run rally in the seventh with hits from replacements Andrew Trujillo and sophomore Quentin Gago, coupled with a long double by Parnow to spark the rally.