Gauchos slug their way to NBL Tournament title

After letting the North Bay League championship pennant slip away by losing a couple of games they believe they should have won, Casa Grande High School’s baseball Gauchos bounced back to soundly thump Maria Carrillo’s league-champion Pumas, 13-5, to win the postseason NBL Tournament last week.

In a wild and weird game played on Cardinal Newman’s neutral diamond, the Gauchos took two big scoring gulps to refresh their spirits as they headed into the North Coast Section playoffs, scoring six runs in both the first and fifth innings.

In the top of the second inning, Casa Grande went three up and three down. It was the only batting stanza for either team that did not include a base runner.

When everything was totaled up at the end of a three-hour contest, each side had 14 hits, Casa Grande left eight runners stranded and Maria Carrillo was even more frustrated, leaving 13 players dangling between first and home. Each side used four pitchers, including one for Casa Grande who was throwing his first varsity pitches ever.

Casa Grande took charge early with its half-dozen runs in the first inning. Things started mildly enough with a walk and a hit batter after an initial out. But the roof caved in on the Pumas, followed closely by the moon and the stars.

In rapid tempo, Quinton Gago, Hance Smith and John Green singled. There was a brief pause for a pop-up before sophomore Dylan Moore served a two-run single into right field. A walk to Eddie Bermudez and a hit by Stephen Proctor in his second at bat of the inning completed the early devastation.

The big rally was so much fun, the Gauchos did it all over again in the fifth inning, again scoring six runs. This time there were only four hits involved, with Moore, Bermudez, Proctor and Blake Berry providing the knocks. A key rally enhancer was a drop of a bloop fly to right field hit by Spencer Torkelson that supplied two unearned runs.

After that eruption, Casa Grande led, 12-1, and, had it been a Sonoma County League game, it would have been stopped by the 10-run mercy rule. But there is no mercy in the NBL.

Besides, Maria Carrillo was seeking no mercy. The Pumas were just getting started.

Despite slugging nine hits over the first five innings, the Pumas had only one run to show for their efforts against Casa Grande pitchers Jason Wutsch and Parker Ruoff.

Maria Carrillo’s bats were much more productive over the final two innings, scoring twice in both the sixth and seventh innings. Highlight for the Pumas was a massive two-run blast over the left-field fence by D1-bound Andrew Vaughn.

The Pumas might have created even more of a ruckus against Casa relief pitchers Aaron Van Tighem and Nik Kamages, making his varsity debut, had it not been for two stellar defensive plays.

In the sixth, Casa center fielder Proctor raced in for a short fly, reaching to make the snare as the ball spun to within a dew drop of the turf.

Moore had three hits for Casa Grande, giving him five in his two varsity games. Smith, Proctor and Gago each had two hits. Wutsch was credited with the pitching win for his three innings. He struck out four and walked one.

Maria Carrillo’s No. 9 hitter Wilson Brede went 4-for-4 for the Pumas.

Ukiah beaten

Casa Grande slugged its way to the tournament final with a 9-4 win over visiting Ukiah.

Unlike the first two previous pitchers’ duels which the two teams split in regular-season NBL play, this was a slug fest, with the Gauchos doing most of the damage in the opening two frames. Casa Grande plated six runs against Wildcat starter Devin Kirby, who was no mystery to Gaucho hitters as they peppered hits to inviting open areas around the diamond.

The decisive outcome was also a bit sloppy in the field by both teams, with a combined seven errors to help keep the lines moving.

A four-run second inning by Casa eventually made the difference. The Gauchos batted around against Kirby with six base hits, paced by Gago, who knocked in a pair of runs with a sharp hit to right field.

Berry, who finished with three hits on the afternoon, also knocked in a run with a well-placed single. Berry is now hitting .356 for the season.

While Kirby struggled from the outset, Gaucho starter Chris Joaquim was able to regroup after the Wildcats hit him with a two-spot in their first at bat. Morgan Edwards got Ukiah started with a run-producing double into left field when Joaquim left the ball up in the zone.

Joaquim adjusted, however, and he began to pound the lower part of the strike zone. He eventually went six innings to earn the win by holding the Wildcats to only two earned runs. The Gaucho junior settled in nicely in the middle innings by facing only two batters over the minimum.

A well-turned double play by the keystone combination of Smith and Bermudez helped the Gaucho right-hander get out of the third inning. In the fourth inning, Joaquim dispatched three Wildcat batters on only four pitches. He improved his season pitching record to 4-2 with the win.

Overall, the Gauchos pounded 14 hits, and it could have been more with hard-hit balls ringing off their bats all afternoon. Gago, Berry, Torkelson, A.J. Miller and Moore had multi-hit outings as Casa improved to 19-5 for the season.