Braden Murphy had two RBI to lead Cypress Wednesday. (Photos Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Cypress High’s baseball team inched closer to another Empire League title Wednesday afternoon, defeating Kennedy 5-2 in La Palma.
The Centurions had to battle back from an early 2-0 deficit before pushing across three runs in the seventh to break open a 2-2 game.
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Cypress (23-3, 7-0) has a two game lead over second place Kennedy (20-7, 5-2). The two teams play again Friday at Cypress. Cypress is shooting for its seventh straight league title.
“We’re just trying to go one game at a time and keep winning,” said Cypress Coach John Weber. “We’re talking about an eight game season now and playing each game as if it’s our last and focusing on that and moving through.”
Cypress had to fight off an inspired Kennedy team on Wednesday.
“The Wyatt (Kennedy pitcher Wyatt Johnson) kid did a good job today, making some good pitches when he needed to,” Weber said. “I thought the umpire helped him out a little bit. He had a really big zone. That didn’t help matters.
“But our guys kept grinding and fighting as frustrated as they kept getting thinking those were balls and being called strikes. They did a good job of showing some maturity which this group has and of fighting through.”
In the seventh inning, Tyler Chaffee led off with a double. With two outs, left fielder Braden Murphy followed with a booming double to center field to give the Centurions a 3-2 lead. Right fielder Peter Werth was then walked intentionally and Noah Carter followed with an RBI single. Then Mike Marsh capped the inning with an RBI single to make it 5-2.
“Murphy getting that key knock for us was huge,” Weber said. “He hits the double with two outs and then the floodgates kind of fell open.”
“Chaffee had a big at bat to lead off the inning and get the runner on second,” Murphy said. “We couldn’t move him over. But I got a fastball early in the count and put a pretty good barrel on it.”
Murphy also had an RBI single in the fifth inning to drive in Elias Rios and help Cypress tie the game 2-2. Brett Wozniak led off the inning with a single. Rios singled and advanced to second on an error and when the ball went out of play, Wozniak was able to come in with the first run.
Cameron Repetti pitched the first six innings, scattering seven hits and striking out six to improve his record to 8-2. Chad Ronningen pitched one scoreless inning, striking out one.
“The team is full of perseverance and Cam battled today even though he didn’t have his best stuff today,” Murphy said. “He really helped us and picked us up when we needed to.”
Kennedy jumped ahead 1-0 in the second inning. Catcher Sebastian McSherry started his big offensive day with a lead-off double and then came home on an RBI double by Jaelyn Edds.
McSherry, a junior, gave the Fighting Irish fans more to cheer about in the fourth when he hit a solo home run to left field to give Kennedy a 2-0 lead. It was McSherry’s third home run this season.
“We play like that all year, we play hard and we don’t give up,” said Kennedy Coach Tom Monahan. “Our players have come a long way this year. We play a lot of good teams and we play them all hard. The players have really bonded together and they’re really a cohesive unit and they like each other and they’ve gotten used to winning, they love to win.”
Kennedy needs to win Friday to cut the Cypress lead to one game. Cypress, which can clinch a share of the league title with a win Friday, finishes up the regular season with a two-game series next week with Crean Lutheran while Kennedy faces Pacifica twice.
“To me, there is no difference between the two teams,” Monahan said. “We can compete with them pitch by pitch, batter by batter. We just need a break.”
Johnson wound up striking out six and giving up nine hits for Kennedy. McSherry, the catcher went 3 for 3 and also singled in the sixth inning.
Cypress played excellent defense behind its two pitchers and Werth, the right fielder, had five putouts and a diving catch to help keep Kennedy off the scoreboard in the sixth inning.
“He’s a first baseman, we stuck him out there two games ago,” Weber said. “We want to get his bat in the lineup and he’s been doing a good job.”
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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