Woodbridge Warriors, led by Coach Ryan Brucker, prepare for Tuesday’s CIF playoff game. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
An estimated 800 fans packed Ryan Lemmon Stadium Tuesday night to see crosstown rivals Irvine and Woodbridge battle it out in a CIF Division 4 second round baseball playoff game.
Lots of people were standing, either because they couldn’t find seats, or they were too nervous to sit down in what was believed to be the first second round playoff match-up between the two Pacific Coast League rivals, a result of the new criteria for baseball playoffs this season.
It turned out to be a three-hour battle with Woodbridge pulling out a 2-1 victory with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning on a line double down the right field line by catcher Caleb Camacho, who caught all 10 innings.
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Both teams battled. Irvine, which had defeated Woodbridge twice in league play, received a tremendous effort from starting pitcher Adam Valencia, who finished his stellar career allowing one run in seven innings, striking out six and allowing four hits.
Woodbridge junior Vincent DeMarco, who came on in the sixth inning, earned his 10th victory of the season and helped send the top-seeded Warriors (21-9) into the quarterfinals Friday at Thousand Oaks.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, Chase Anderson led off with a single but was erased at second base when Irvine got the force out on a fielder’s choice with Lucas Render at the plate.
Then, Camacho delivered the biggest hit of his career off reliever Roshan Patel to send home Render and the Warriors poured out onto the field to celebrate the hard-fought win.
“It started on deck, I was locked it,” said Camacho. “Nothing but me and the pitcher. It was my turn, I was due for a hit, I’ve been struggling the whole season, I sat on the off-speed and took it down the line. I was due for it, it was about time.”
Camacho was thrilled to see the winning run score.
“I didn’t know if he was fast enough, but I believed in my teammate that he was going to cross that plate. It was wonderful, it was the most energetic thing you’ve ever seen, both fans were chirping, pitchers were dueling,” he said. “There was a lot of energy.”
“We knew, putting him in the nine hole, with his eye and the way he battles, it’s a good spot to turn the lineup over,” said Woodbridge Coach Ryan Brucker. “We also knew he was capable of doing things like that. I have a lot of confidence in him, he’s a great young man and he works his butt off and he was due and we knew at some point that would be happening. He picked a heck of a time to break out.”
DeMarco said he would remember the game “for the rest of his life.” He wound up striking out 11 in 4 1/3 scoreless innings. DeMarco allowed one hit and one walk and struck out the side in the eighth and 10th innings. DeMarco had pitched five innings in the opening round win over Valley Christian Thursday.
“I was just kind of going out and filling up the zone,” he said. “I knew they couldn’t really hit me, just throw strikes and obviously, that kind of showed. I knew we were going to win once I came in because I knew nothing was going to get hit off me and I just had to put trust in my defense and trust in the offense. We pulled through, that’s all that matters.
“I didn’t have too good of a performance against them the first time around so doing this really, really felt good, especially since we got swept. It was probably the most fun game I’ve ever had in my life, I loved that we came out with the dub too, I’m super thankful. It was a real pitcher’s dual, you got to give credit to their pitchers too, definitely got to give real props to them, Adam Valencia and Roshan pitched really well.”
Starter Kyle Underwood pitched the first 4 1/3 innings, allowing one run, two hits and striking out five. Alex Johnson then pitched the next 1 2/3 innings allowing no runs and no hits and walking one.
“Fortunately the last couple of games coming into the playoffs, VInce had lower pitch count,” Brucker said.”He came to me yesterday and said, ‘coach, I’m good.’ I’m sure he would have liked to start the game if he could of.”
Brucker praised the effort by Irvine (16-13).
“I would like to credit Irvine, they beat us twice during the regular season and Coach (Gabriel) Cota and that group is a really good group and Adam Valencia deserved a better result,” he said. “We got a win tonight, we will worry about Friday tomorrow, we will enjoy this one tonight.”
Woodbridge took a 1-0 lead in the third inning. Camacho was hit by a pitch, went to second on an errant pickoff throw and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by leadoff hitter Nevan Namgoong.
Irvine tied the game in the fifth inning. Drake Brito singled and Ethan Kim walked to load the bases. Brito scored when Nico Macalino hit into a double play and a potential big inning only resulted in one run when Johnson got Hudson Hall to ground out.
The Vaqueros also had runners in scoring position in the sixth and ninth innings, but were unable to score.
Valenca worked out of trouble in the seventh and Patel was solid in the ninth inning, fielding a hard-hit grounder back to the mound and turning it into an inning-ending double play.
“That’s one of the best high school baseball games I’ve ever seen in my life and been a part of,” said Irvine Coach Gabriel Cota. “It’s just a shame that someone has to lose, but someone does have to lose. They got one more hit than we did and that’s just how the game works sometimes. Bringing their guy back on short rest, I knew that was a possibility, but to throw 60 something pitches, I wasn’t expecting that.
“You just got to tip your cap, he’s been great all year long. We caught them a little bit early and we beat them twice in the year, they had like six transfers and they’re gelling and it’s the right time for them. I can’t tell you how proud I am of my guys. Our guy Adam was just dominant and Roshan came on and did a great job and like I said, they got one more hit than we did, and that’s just how the game worked.”
“Adam has been our leader the last few years and you hope he gets the result, but that’s not how the game works and he couldn’t have done anything more than what he did. I’m super proud of him, I’m super proud of all my guys.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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