Capo Valley starts fast and holds on to defeat Beckman 8-5 in CIF Division 1 playoff opener

Nathan Benefeito scores a run in the first inning for Capo Valley (Photos courtesy Rosalene Ledendecker, For OC Sports Zone)

It looks like there could be a little more magic with this year’s edition of the Capistrano Valley baseball team.

Capo Valley, the defending CIF Division 1 champion, took the first step toward another title with an 8-5 victory over Beckman Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the Division 1 playoffs in front of a large crowd at Bob Zamora Field at Capo Valley.

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Zamora led the Cougars to the CIF title last year. He is still an assistant coach and Adam Sorgi, one of his former players, is the head coach.

Capo Valley, the South Coast League champion, broke open a fairly close game scoring three runs in the third inning to take a 7-2 lead. Second baseman Chad Call had the big blow, a bases clearing double which scored Nathan Manning, Jack Haley and Brady Kasper, who were all hit by pitches.

“I got a good pitch to hit,” Call said. “I just took advantage of it and we got a couple guys on base and helped me to get into that position and score a couple of runs for our team. It’s huge, any time you win in the playoffs, it’s a big deal and we’re excited for the next round and what we can do in the playoffs.”

Thursday’s game matched two league champions. Beckman, the Pacific Coast League champion and Capo Valley, the South Coast League champion. Beckman reached the CIF Division 2 title game last year, and was moved up to Division 1.

Capo Valley (19-9-2) moves on to face No. 2 seeded Cypress in the second round Tuesday at Capo Valley.

“They’re a great team, you saw the way they battled back there a little bit,” Sorgi said of Beckman. “We were good enough to put up eight runs and we needed all of them against that team. They have some great hitters. We kind of put ourselves in holes and they made us pay for it.

“We had some great plays defensively from some of our guys that really kept us in and got us a win there. It was a big game for us.”

Beckman scored a run in the first inning. Sean McLain walked, went to second on a passed ball and scored on a double play.

But Capo Valley answered in the bottom of the inning with four runs, cashing in four hits and two walks by Beckman ace Trevor Ernt. Adam Arroyo and Danilo Tiotuico had RBI singles and Brady Kasper drove in two runs with a single.

Ernt came out in the third inning after giving up five runs. Tristan Dupont, Nik Krutiak and Jakob Guardado finished up onthe mound for Beckman.

Beckman (22-5) made it interesting in the seventh. The Patriots trailed 8-3 going into the inning. But Connor McGuire delivered an RBI double and Nick McLain had an infield RBI single over the pitcher’s mound to close the gap to 8-5.

But Kasper, who came on relief got Logan Jackson to strike out to end the threat.

“I think we battled through the whole game even when the score was 8-1 or whatever it was,” said Beckman Coach Kevin Lavalle. “We were putting together quality at bats and not really finding the hits and had the bases loaded a bunch of times.”

Beckman, the Pacific Coast League champion, stranded 16 runners.

“It always hurts to lose but as a coach you look back and think, ‘could we have done anything different?’ I think my honest answer is no,” Lavalle said. “These guys competed today like crazy and they never gave up.

“It’s a hard sport to play sometimes. There’s not a lot of answers. You hit the ball hard and you’re out and you shoot a nine iron over the pitcher’s head and your safe (an infield single by Nick McLain). It’s a hard speech to give your team after a game like that. I told them I’m not sad we lost, I’m just sad that it’s over because it’s a great group of guys.

“Every year, it’s the worst day of the year for a baseball coach. You look back with a lot of pride and the way they represent the school and the way they represent the baseball program. I couldn’t ask for anything more from those 28 guys I had on my team, and especially the 16 seniors.”

Beckman lost starting catcher Jack Harney before the game started. Harney re-injured his back and had to be replaced by Jackson Galentine.

“That was kind of a shock to us all,” Lavalle said. “We knew Jack’s back was hurting a little bit. He’s been kind of fighting it for a while. I know he wanted to play and almost unselfishly he went out there and thought, ‘I have to throw this ball to second base like it’s real time’ and he obviously felt a lot of pain.

“That’s the type of kid you love to have on your team. I’ve got 16 of them. And Jackson Galentine came in and stepped right in there and had two hits and a great game.”

Beckman outhit Capo Valley 13-12. Ricky Teel had three hits and scored a run for the Patriots. Nick McLain, Galentine and Jakob Ho had two hits for Beckman. Sean McLain had a bases loaded walk for an RBI and scored two runs. He walked three times and had a base hit.

Nathan Benefito had three hits for Capo Valley.

Daniel Lee, who came on to pitch in the second inning in relief of starter Timothy Scarlett, got the victory. Rhys Stevens relieved in the fifth before giving way to Kasper, who closed it out.

“Tim didn’t have his A stuff today,” Sorgi said. “And that’s going to happen. He’s had his A stuff all year. But our guys came in and it was a gutty performance by Daniel Lee and Rhys Stevens and Brady Kasper there at the end.”

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-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com