Canyon players react as Coach Jason Smith shows them the CIF championship plaque. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs / John Luciano and Ted Rigoni).
Canyon High School’s baseball team set the tone early and didn’t let up Saturday morning.
The Comanches got outstanding pitching and some clutch hits to defeat top-seeded Crean Lutheran 3-0 in the CIF Division 4 championship game at Blair Field.
It’ was Canyon’s fourth CIF title and the first since 1997. Crean Lutheran went to the finals for the second time in school history and was looking to bring home its first title. The Saints had a seven-game winning streak snapped.
The Saints (24-10) outhit Canyon 7-4, but Canyon junior Cohen Gomez was tough with runners in scoring position, going the first six innings, allowing seven hits, walking two and striking out five. John Sova finished the game with a scoreless seventh. Crean Lutheran stranded seven runners.
“He just showed a lot of poise out there in those moments and a lot of competitiveness,” Canyon Coach Jason Smith said of Gomez. “He’s had to do that at times during the year, it’s something that wasn’t new and he knew how to handle the situation for us and obviously came up big for us because we shut down any rallies they might have had to make it a close game.”
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone
Freshman right fielder Camden Goetz was 2 for 2 with two RBI and first baseman Jonny Lopez was 1 for 3 with an RBI for the Comanches, who won their seventh in a row.
Lopez drove in Gomez with an RBI in the single in the first inning off starter Wyatt Nichol and Goetz had a two-run single in the fourth off the Saints second pitcher Alex Iida to put Canyon (21-12) ahead 3-0. Canyon runners moved to second and third on an errant pickoff play.
“It didn’t really matter who we played,” Smith said. “We just like to play and compete. That was maybe three Top 10 teams we took down in the playoffs and we never talked about that, we only talked about ourselves and play our own game. We love to come out and play and compete, so I was happy for our guys.”
Crean Lutheran looked like it might battle back in the bottom of the first inning.
In the bottom of the first inning, Jack Sand and Mark Fedro singled with one out. But they were stranded there. The Saints also had the first two runners in the second when Blake Needelman and Sho Garcia singled but Gomez got out of the inning unscathed.
Crean Lutheran tried to get a rally going in the fifth. James Derflinger singled to lead off and went to second on a wild pitch. But Gomez retired the next three hitters and got the Saints in order in the seventh, setting off a big celebration on the field for the Comanches and in the stands for their fans.
“It was pretty exciting, I got to pitch in front of all friends and family watching and got in some jams but I was lucky to get out of it and have a great defense,” said Gomez, who has committed to pitch at Stanford. “I trust my catcher Jesse (Maracine). We’re on the same page with everything, we’re best friends so we kind of know what the plan is and we like to go and attack hitters.”
Gomez also got a lift when his team got ahead early.
“Every single post-season game we’ve scored in the first inning and I think that’s a key for us,” he said.
Nichol, who got the win in Tuesday’s semifinal, allowing two hits and one run and struck out three. Iida alllowed two hits and two runs. Garcia was 2 for 3 for Crean Lutheran.
“It came down to when two good teams play, it’s like who played better that day, that’s why at the highest levels you play three, five and seven game series so you really hash it out,” said Crean Lutheran Coach Jake Haney. “One game you got to be at your best and get breaks on the same day and it wasn’t that way for us today.
“We had runners on first and second and nobody out and couldn’t move them over and get them in, which is typically what we’ve done a pretty good job of. We took some really good swings and hit a ton of balls hard, obviously watching from the dugout, we hit a lot more balls hard than they did, but that’s not what wins baseball games necessarily.
“From an offensive standpoint, we swung it really well, we just didn’t execute or get the really big clutch hit.”
The Saints season is not over, however. Crean Lutheran advances into the Southern California Regional after Memorial Day and could again face Canyon, which will also compete in the regional.
Haney mentioned that in his talk to his players in a lengthy post-game meeting.
“Life is full of great disappointments, this is a disappointment but in a different way, a disappointment that will wear off because I think at the end of the day when you look back at this thing you look at it as an extremely positive experience, all the time we put in and spent together was so positive.
“It didn’t end on a positive but it is positive. And we have state regionals to play in, that’s something we will regroup and take a little time off but we will look forward to that too, so that’s a neat opportunity.”
“It wasn’t the outcome we wanted,” added Derflinger, who was 1 for 4. “But I couldn’t be prouder of our team and couldn’t have asked for a better team to come out here with. God blessed us with this incredible opportunity, it didn’t go our way in the end but I couldn’t have asked for a better team and a better season.”
Derflinger said he’s looking forward to the season continuing.
“We’re excited to bounce back,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to get over this for a second but we will come out practicing next week and the week after and we’re going for state.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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