Santa Ana’s Julian Gomez turns a double play at second base as Cesar Garcia of Godinez tries to break it up. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)
Santa Ana High pitcher Kaleb Jimenez breathed a sigh of relief after the final out Saturday.
To see the slide show, please click on the first photo
With the Saints leading 1-0 and two outs in the seventh, Godinez designated hitter Ramon Trancozo hit a deep fly to center field.
But Drew Ramirez made an excellent play to catch the ball near the fence and Santa Ana held on for the 1-0 victory in the opening round of the Santa Ana Elks Tournament at Godinez.
It capped a strong performance by Jimenez, who allowed just three hits and struck out seven. The senior did not walk a batter.
“I was scared we were going to go into extra innings for a second,” Jimenez said. “It was a long fly ball but they caught it. With our team, we just dig ourselves into situations but we’re good at getting ourselves out of them into better spots. We balance it out.
“Today, I just felt on it and I was hitting my spots pretty well for the most part.”
The only run of the game was unearned. In the sixth inning, Garrett Gonzales led off with a double and went to third on a balk. Then he came home when the Godinez catcher threw wildly past the pitcher as he was throwing the ball back after a pitch.
Santa Ana (9-6) had its problems too with a few base-running blunders and missed a chance to score in the fourth inning when the runner didn’t tag up and go to home on a deep fly ball.
But the Saints played well enough to win, and they had Jimenez on the mound.
“It’s hard because the kids know each other and it’s twice as hard,” said Santa Ana Coach David Silva said. “We’ve been playing pretty good the last couple of games. They wanted it as much as we did. We kept making mental mistakes, but we’re very fortunate to recuperate and come up with a W and that will help us out.”
Silva was thrilled with the performance of Jimenez (3-1).
“He’s an amazing kid. I’m very, very fortunate to be coaching him,” the coach said. “I know the family, the dad and the mom for a long time. He’s a very special kid and very dear to me and to see him perform the way he has is great. What an amazing job he did.”
Godinez (1-13) also got a strong effort from freshman Juan Plascencia, who scattered six hits and struck out two.
“I thought my kids worked really hard and tried to stay focused being it’s a Saturday,” said Grizzlies’ coach Luke MacLennan. “Our effort was great on defense. Offensively we struggled and couldn’t execute quite when we wanted to and JP, our freshman guy on the mound, did a great job for us. I was very happy with his performance.”
MacLennan was hoping that Trancozo’s ball would carry a little further in the seventh.
“It was close, our big guy, Ramon, took charge of it and was just a couple feet short,” MacLennan said.
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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