Gaucho bats go cold in NBL finals

The storm that has been the Casa Grande baseball offense was turned into a mist by Maria Carrillo’s pitch-bending moundsman Cade Sheets in the finals of the North Bay League Tournament on Friday evening on the Santa Rosa Junior College diamond.

Utilizing a swift fastball and a Gauch-baffling breaking ball, Sheets hurled Carrillo’s Pumas to a 4-2 win in the finals of a tournament that had no bearing on the NBL pennant chase, already clinched by Casa Grande with a 12-2 record ahead of the Pumas’ 9-3 league record.

Sheets shut the Gauchos down on six scattered hits, three in the fourth inning. He struck out only four but kept the Gauchos off balance for the entire game.

Casa’s pitchers, starter Broc Burleson and reliever Nic Kamages, were effective, but both benefitted from exceptional Gaucho glove work.

Three times the Gaucho hurlers were pulled out of trouble by double plays. Two of the double kills were of the classic infield variety involving shortstop Joe Lampe, second baseman Dylan Moore and first baseman A.J. Miller. One went short-to-second-to-first and the other the other way around from second-to-short-to-first.

Kamages stopped a Maria Carrillo rally in the fifth by grabbing a popped-up bunt and doubling a runner off second.

There was also an eye-popping grab of a high foul pop by third baseman Cold Santander and a great throw from Lampe after he snatched a ball that glanced off Santander’s glove and fired to first to nip a Puma runner.

At the end, it wasn’t enough to overcome the Casa Grande bat futility.

Casa got on the scoreboard first, when Joey Loveless led off the bottom of the fourth of what was still a scoreless game with a solid single to left. Moore followed by shooting a double to right with Loveless holding third.

Santander then grounded to Maria Carrillo shortstop KC Kelly, who came to the plate. Loveless slid and slapped the plate, Maria Carrillo catcher Kody Kent slapped Loveless with his glove holding the baseball.

“Out!” bellowed the umpire.

“No! No! No!” screamed the Casa fans.

Guess who won the argument.

Casa did get a run home on Elijah Waltz’s clutch single, but the one that wasn’t loomed big the rest of the way.

Maria Carrillo bunted three consecutive times to open the fifth inning, One went for a single, one resulted in an error and one was a successful sacrifice. Brian Orr followed bunt mania with a long double down the left-field line for two runs and a 2-1 Carrillo lead.

Maria Carrillo put the game out of reach with a two-out rally in the sixth. Three singles and a batter whose uniform buttons were grazed by a pitch did the damage.

The Gauchos went down battling. Waiting patiently at the plate, something they had been unable to do through the first six innings, the Gauchos scratched out a run on two hit batters, a walk and an error, and had the bases loaded when Cole Shimek hit hard to shortstop for the final out.

Moore accounted for two of Casa’s six hits, while sophomore Bryce Veler had a big day for Maria Carrillo, going 3-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.

The title game was in sharp contrast to the Gauchos’ opening tournament game when they belted Rancho Cotate, 12-1.

Two five-run Casa Grande rallies, one in the third and a repeat in the fourth, turned that contest one-sided.

Casa had 11 hits in the game, with Ibai Guadron, Cameron Downing and Loveless each collecing three hits. Lampe tripled and Miller doubled. The first baseman had three RBIs in the game.

Counting the tournament, Casa Grande goes into the North Coast Section playoffs with a 19-7 record. Maria Carrillo will enter with a 20-6 mark, while Rancho Cotate starts the playoffs with a 14-11 overall record.