Wildcats win, advance to finals
BRAWLEY — Brawley Union High senior Blake Zeleny was chasing his second no-hitter of the season at Ed Wiest Memorial Field here on Tuesday night.
The Wildcat lefty no-hit Palo Verde Valley earlier this year and was two-outs away from doing the same to Sage Creek in a CIFSan Diego Section Div. III semifinal game.
However, the Bobcats’ Scott Anderson spoiled Zeleny’s no-hit bid after he singled up the middle in the top of the seventh inning.
“I just told myself to keep pounding the zone and to be smart,” said Zeleny regarding the hit.
After a brief timeout and chat with head coach Pedro Carranza at the mound, Zeleny returned to the rubber to strikeout the side, sending the Wildcats to the championship game with a narrow 1-0 victory over the Bobcats.
“It’s amazing,” said Zeleny with a smile after the game. “This has been one of our goals from the beginning of the season.”
The senior hurler said he was pretty nervous before the game considering the Wildcats had faced Sage Creek before and knew the Bobcats were a good-hitting team.
“I just wanted to pound the zone and hit my spots,” he said.
The lone run of the game came in the bottom of the second inning with Casey Kline opening with a single.
Kline advanced to second on a Jacob Sapp sac bunt and made it to third on a Mark Cisneros hit to the right side.
Jude Littrell then stepped up and delivered a two-out RBI single that ultimately won the Wildcats the game.
“It’s very odd,” said Carranza with a laugh regarding the Wildcats still playing and practicing at this point in the year.
“By now travel ball has started. We’ve never played past Memorial Day before, so this is uncharted territory for us.”
The final will be played at the University of San Diego at 3:30 p.m. with the Wildcats facing either No. 1 Serra or No. 4 Canyon Crest.
Regardless of who the team plays on Friday, Carranza said he hoped at the end of the day his players were happy with their performance on the field.
“We still have the same goal we’ve had all year — we’re still in search of that perfect game, playing that perfect game,” he said. “We’re getting close.”