Goddard’s game-ending double play tops Pius
Rockets advance to face Academy
No. 2 Goddard survived into today’s championship game with a tough win over St. Pius on Friday afternoon in the Class 5A baseball semifinals at Santa Ana Star Field.
At 3 p.m. at Isotopes Park, the Rockets will face Albuquerque Academy, which beat Miyamura on Friday night thanks to a stellar performance from a freshman pitcher. No. 2 GODDARD 5, No. 3
ST. PIUS 3: Justin Miller went from potential goat to game-saving hero — all in a single inning’s time.
After a pair of errors by the Goddard third baseman helped St. Pius (18-10) load the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Miller found redemption in his third opportunity of the frame with his team clinging to a two-run lead. Miller gobbled up a sharp grounder by St. Pius first baseman Isaiah Chavez, stepped on the third base bag and then fired to first to complete the double play and get the final outs.
Just like that, Miller put an emphatic end to the harrowing situation he helped create moments earlier.
“Off the bat I knew I was gonna do it. That’s (the errors) pretty uncharacteristic of me,” he said. “My boys trusted me. I trusted my coaches and everybody else, and we got this (win).”
Added Goddard coach Alan Edmonson: “He’s that kind of kid. Not a whole lot fazes him. That epitomizes our program. We preach toughness: mental toughness, physical toughness and playing hard. He made a big play when it counted.”
The Rockets (23-6) looked like they weren’t going need any dramatics early on, as they raced to 5-0 lead after an inning and a half. Miller was at the heart of the outburst with RBI singles in both the first and second innings. But St. Pius rallied to cut the deficit to 5-3 after CJ Bachechi laced a two-run triple in the second and Josh Lackner doubled home another run in the third.
St. Pius freshman pitcher Hayden Walker replaced struggling Sartans starter Matt Moleres with one out in the second and held Goddard to three hits before leaving the game after the sixth inning. Meanwhile, Goddard’s Ethan Coombes grew stronger as the afternoon progressed, shutting out St. Pius over the final four innings in a completegame effort.
“There in the fourth we were as close to pulling him out as you can get,” Edmonson said. “He’s a competitor and he doesn’t want to come off the mound. He settled in and he started making big pitches at the end.” — Tristen Critchfield No. 4 ALBUQUERQUE ACADEMY 7, No. 8 MIYAMURA 3: The Chargers (23-7) turned to youth to get the job done as freshman pitcher Chase Weissenborn came within an out of a complete game.
“It’s pretty nerve-racking because there are so many people here,” said Weissenborn, who allowed six hits and struck out six. “It’s the biggest crowd I’ve performed in front of. It was nerve-racking, but I had to do it for my teammates. I had to be a dog on the mound and just go right at it.”
The Patriots (17-11) actually took advantage of him early, turning two walks, an error and a single into two first-inning runs, but they could only scrape together one more run.
“I was pretty nervous, but once I got back into the dugout, my teammates believed in me and trusted me and lifted my self-esteem,” Weissenborn said. “I just went out there and did it for them. They said I was the best out there, nobody better and to believe in what I can do.”
The Chargers are returning to the championship for the second time in three seasons and coach Andy Williams said he had no qualms putting the freshman on the hill.
“For me, I have 100 percent confidence in that kid,” he said. “He loves the big games. And he wanted the ball all day. He’s a special kid. He’s a freshman and he lives for moments like this. It was one of those things where we trust him completely. It took him a little while to really find it but once he found it, he was untouchable.”
The Chargers bunched three singles in the third to tie it at 2, then took the lead with a four-run fifth during which Miyamura committed two errors, although a single from Nick Williams scored two.
“We were hitting the ball, but we just weren’t getting those clutch hits and we finally came through with a couple of clutch hits and made them make the play,” coach Williams said. “We put some pressure on them.”