Rancho Alamitos players celebrate after Friday’s CIF Division 8 quarterfinal round playoff victory. (Photos courtesy John Luciano, For OC Sports Zone).
Rancho Alamitos High School’s baseball team had to switch venues for a CIF Division 8 quarterfinal game with Chadwick Friday due to a malfunction in a tank possibly containing a flammable chemical in Garden Grove which closed the school and caused some evacuations in the neighborhood.
But the Vaqueros adjusted, came ready to play and defeated Chadwick 4-2 at nearby Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley to advance into the semifinals Tuesday at home against Oxford Academy.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
The game is expected to be played at Rancho Alamitos. Athletic officials believe it’s the first time Rancho Alamitos has been to the semifinals, but that hasn’t officially been confirmed.
“We got to find a way to win so we knew our two sophomore pitchers had to step up, Jacob Neri went four innings and Ethan Shepherd went the last three,” said Rancho Alamitos Coach Sammy Macias. “Ethan did it with his bat {3 for 4, three runs scored} at the number two spot, he’s hot lately, so we needed those two guys to step up and they did.”
Neri allowed two runs and four hits while striking out two and Shepherd pitched three scoreless innings allowing three hits and striking out three. Shepherd started the game at catcher and when he came into pitch, Neri became the catcher.
“It wasn’t pretty sometimes, but we got the win,” Macias said.
Chadwick (13-11) gave Rancho Alamitos (14-11) a scare in the top of the seventh inning. Ian Malishka singled with two outs and Makai Mah reached on an error. The two runners advanced to second and third on a passed ball into scoring position.
But Bryson Edgar grounded out on a close play to end the game and the celebration began.
“We knew we could get to playoffs and once we got to playoffs, anything is possible,” Macias said. “The last two or three games we got hot and started hitting and getting more hits and more hits. We told the kids, ‘if we believe, you got to believe.’ We’re playing with confidence.”
And the team made the adjustment of a new home field, at least for one day.
“The kids are resilient, they battled,” Macias said. “I think they liked the idea they didn’t have to go to school today, that was probably number one. But they were more familiar with this field, they just found a way. About half of the kids had to be evacuated so they had to go somewhere else.”
Nero got out of a jam in the first inning after Chadwick had two runners on with one out.
In the bottom of the first inning, Rancho Alamitos took the early lead with two runs. Shepherd singled and Garcia drove him in with a double. Andrew Ballesta drove in another run on a groundout but on the play, Aidan Martinez was thrown out trying to score for the third out.
Chadwick scored a run in the second and third innings to tie the game.
In the bottom of the third inning, Shepherd walked and Garcia singled to put runners on first and third. Martinez followed with an RBI infield single to help the Vaqueros regain the lead 3-2.
Rancho Alamitos got an insurance run in the fifth inning. Shepherd singled, advanced to third when Garcia reached on an error and scored on an RBI single by Martinez, who was 2 for 2 with a walk and a stolen base.
Then, Rancho Alamitos held off scoring threats by Chadwick in the final two innings to notch the win.
“I felt pretty good, I’ve been hot these past three games,” said Garcia, who has two no-hitters including a perfect game on the mound. “We just got to keep the momentum going, I got my teammates around me, we’re always supporting each other and picking each other up. We just got to keep the momentum going and take us to the finals.
“I would be lying if I told you we would make it this far at the beginning of the season. It’s a blessing to be here with this team and such a dream come true for us.”
Garcia said it will be his turn to pitch on Tuesday.
“Come out and see a good game,” he said.
Shepherd was also excited about the victory.
“It just feels good to come out here and win another baseball game and continue to play the game we all love,” he said. “I started off catching, then I had to come in to relieve, it felt pretty good. That was the plan all week, always thinking ahead to the next, we wanted to save Henry ….. Jacob came in and did his job and then I came in to close it.
“It feels amazing, personally I knew we were going to make it to the playoffs. I didn’t think we were going to make it this far. I’m glad we’re this far and I think we can go all the way.”
Both Garcia and Shepherd didn’t make a big deal about the switch to a different field due to the tank incident.
“Today, all the odds were against us, we had to adapt to a different field, different wind, different fans, but I feel we adapted pretty well and kept the errors very minimal,” Shepherd said. “Some families had to be evacuated, that’s why it wasn’t as many people as we expected, but we’re still glad and very grateful for all the people who showed up.”
As it turned out, while the turnout was a lighter at the ending, perhaps because people weren’t aware of the change, the bleachers were filled up by the second inning.
“This is the first in recent memories of making it to the semifinals,” Macias, the Vaquero coach, added.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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