JSerra celebrates first CIF title with victory over Notre Dame Sherman Oaks

JSerra players and coaches celebrate after winning the CIF title. (Photos: OC Sports Zone, Tom Connolly).

JSerra High School’s baseball team pushed across two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a tie game and reliever Tyler Gough closed the door on Notre Dame Sherman Oaks to help the Lions defeat the Knights 3-1 in the CIF Division 1 championship game Friday night before a near a capacity crowd at Cal State Fullerton’s Goodwin Field.

It’s the first CIF baseball championship in school’s history. JSerra extended its winning streak to eight games and finished the season by winning 17 of its last 18 games, avenging a loss in the championship game in 2021.

“I didn’t want to be the Buffalo Bills and lose consecutive championships,” said Lions Coach Brett Kay. “This gets the monkey off our backs. Each year we have great expectations for our team to play at a high level. I’m elated for our guys, our school and our fans. We went from a 6-9 team to winning a CIF championship.”

Gough said the game got nerve racking late but the Lions held tight.

“This is my first year being here and we are going to be leaving a championship legacy behind us,” said Gough, who came on in relief of starter JJ Hollis and pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to earn the win. “We were so mentally focused. It’s so special to win, I can’t explain how I feel right now.”

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With the score tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth, Owen Fuller drilled a one-out triple. The next batter Jonathan Mendez was intentionally walked. Dominic Smaldino was supposed to bunt but at the last second JSerra’s coach Brett Kay yelled ‘swing away’ and Smaldino promptly ripped an RBI single to right center (scoring Fuller) to break the tie and give the Lions a 2-1 lead.

Mendez reached third on the play. Benjamin Reimers pinch ran for Smaldino and then stole second. Mendez scored the Lions third run on David Horn’s RBI sacrifice fly to right.

After allowing a walk to Max Aude in the top of the seventh, Gough (2-0) struck out the next three batters to secure the game and the championship for JSerra.

“This championship is what it’s all about,” said Smaldino, a Cal commit. “I was supposed to bunt when I was batting in the sixth, but then I heard my coach scream, ‘hit away’ when the pitcher was in his wind up. I hit a slider and it felt amazing. This is the greatest day of my life.”

The Lions took a 1-0 lead in the third inning after Brandon Chang walked and scored on Andrew Lamb’s two-out RBI triple.

“We didn’t take anything for granted and we didn’t take one pitch off tonight,” said Lamb, a USC commit. “It feels unbelievable to win after we came so close last year.”

The Knights had multiple scoring opportunities but couldn’t capitalize. In the second inning, Notre Dame had a runner gunned out at home for the final out of the inning.

In the fifth, the Knights had the bases loaded with two outs, but Gough struck out Dean West to end the rally. In the sixth inning, the first three Notre Dame hitters reached base and the Knights tied the score at 1-1 when Brandon Gonzaga scored. However, Notre Dame had another runner thrown out at the plate and then Gough came through again as he struck out Anthony Revelas with two runners on base to end the inning.  

“We couldn’t come up with that one big hit,” said Notre Dame Coach Tom Dill. “We had ‘ducks on the pond’ but we couldn’t get that big hit.”

Cole Clark (8-3/LMU commit) pitched the whole game for the Knights and yielded only four hits but walked five batters. Revelas had two hits for Notre Dame. Fuller had two hits, scored a run and was on base three times to lead the Lions.   

—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone