PHOTOS: Rancho Alamitos has tough outing against Schurr in first CIF finals appearance

Henry Garcia winds up to pitch for Rancho Alamitos Saturday. (Photos courtesy John Luciano, For OC Sports Zone).

Fans of the Rancho Alamitos High School baseball team showed up for the CIF Division 8 final at Morongo Stadium in Rancho Cucamonga with high hopes.

The Vaqueros had a remarkable run in the playoffs to reach the finals for the first time in school history. No Rancho Alamitos baseball team had advanced past the quarterfinals.

But Schurr dashed those hopes scoring three runs in the first inning off ace Henry Garcia and went on to capture a 9-0 victory for the championship. Garcia pitched a no-hitter and a perfect game this season.

To see the slide show, click on the first photo:

Javon Bryant, who was 3 for 3 with two RBI and two runs scored in the game, had a two-run triple and Jacob Diaz drove in another run on a groundout.

Garcia, who pitched a complete game in the semifinal win, could only pitch three innings (nine outs) under the CIF weekly out limit. He settled down after the first inning and wound up allowing three runs and four hits while striking out four.

But Rancho Alamitos (15-12) was stymied offensively.

“What got us at this point is we were hot,” said Rancho Alamitos Coach Sammy Macias. “Today, we were just not. Got to give credit to those guys, they played well, their pitcher really kept us off balanced. He did a great job.

“Our pitcher {Garcia) did a really good job in the semifinals. Their guy did a good job today against us. Henry gave us three, that’s all he could do under high school rules and then there were some mistakes of course cost us extra runs.”

Schurr starting pitcher Joey Amano was in control from the start.

The senior had a no-hitter until two outs in the top of the sixth inning when Carson Lamb knocked a solid single to center field.

“Actually, he’s done that twice this year, Orange was throwing a no-hitter against us in the seventh and he broke it, up,” Macias said. “He’s our leadoff batter for a reason, he makes a lot of contact. It’s no surprise he was going to break it up.”

Amano finished with six strikeouts and allowed just one hit. Derek Flores pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

Garcia had a double and Andrew Ballesta a single in the seventh inning off reliever Derek Flores.

Schurr, which had 11 hits, put the game out of reach in the sixth inning with six more runs. Rancho Alamitos, which had three errors in the game, had two errors in the inning. Diaz and Patrick Liggins had RBI singles in the inning for the Spartans (16-16).

After Garcia ended pitching duties, Jacob Neri and Ethan Shepherd finished on the mound for Rancho Alamitos.

Rancho Alamitos players accepted the runner-up plaque after the game and then Macias met briefly with players on the field.

An emotional Garcia was disappointed with the outcome but expressed pride in his teammates.

“It’s definitely not the result I wanted but I was glad I was able to make it far with this team,” said Garcia, who will play next year for Orange Coast College. “Like coach said, furthest we made is quarterfinals …. In the years I’ve been here, furthest we made it is the second round. I’m blessed to have a team that I’ve been able to come this far with.

“Those are my brothers and being able to have them by my side is a good feeling.”

Macias reminded his players of what they have accomplished.

“The kids, as they should be, are upset,” Macias said. “In the end, we did something special. We hadn’t won two games all year back to back. We were on a four-game winning streak to get us in the final.

“It’s a special run. We’re still not done, we qualified for the regionals next week. We still have some baseball left.”

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