BASEBALL: Caracciola goes the distance
“I didn’t think of it as a big deal. It was just another game to me, and I didn’t lose any sleep over it,” said Caracciola, who struck out two and allowed only five hits. “The defense did a really great job backing me up today and I couldn’t have asked for a better game from them. It was a great feeling seeing that final out and knowing that I pitched a complete game in the championship. It was really awesome.”
The Grizzlies (22-9) did their only real damage in the top of the first when Caracciola surrendered a leadoff double and an one-out RBI single to fall behind 1-0.
After that, the game belonged to the Huskies.
Sutter took advantage of four walks and an error to score two unearned runs in the bottom of the first, and followed that up with a three-run second inning to open up a 5-1 lead.
They then put the game out of reach by scoring four times in the third. Caracciola drew a bases-loaded walk before Zachary McDaniel provided the big blow with a two-run single to give the Huskies a comfortable 9-1 lead.
Caracciola was on cruise control until the seventh, when he allowed a pair of bloop singles and walked two batters as Lassen scraped together two runs. He battled through the fatigue, however, getting the final out on a lazy flyball to Justin Cryer in left to finish off a 95-pitch complete game. He found himself at the bottom of a dogpile seconds later.
“I wasn’t letting anybody come in. This was my game, and I had to finish this one,” Caracciola said. “Heat was a component early on, but I just had to keep drinking water and get used to it. A big key was getting ahead in the count, and it was nice to have a curveball in my back pocket to throw whenever I needed it.”
Sutter recorded only six hits in the game, but took advantage of some wildness by the Grizzlies’ pitching staff to walk nine times. Erik Mitchell went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI, Michael Boomgaarden doubled and scored twice and McDaniel drove in three runs to lead the way offensively.
“We wanted to do everything on our terms and look for pitches we could drive,” said Sutter coach Stewart Peterson, who won his third straight title since taking over the program in 2015. “We didn’t want to get in a situation where we had to hit pitcher’s pitches, and we were patient at the plate. We made them come to us and tried not to do too much.”
Kyle Boomgaarden and Caracciola also scored two runs, and Cryer, Jack Enos, Todd Carr added an RBI each to help the cause in the victory. Cryer also had himself a heck of a day in the field, recording six putouts including a sensational diving catch to rob Lassen of a double in the fifth.
“We just try to do our best each season, and to win six in a row is outstanding,” said Michael Boomgaarden, one of nine seniors on Sutter’s roster. “Obviously, there have been different teams and we have had different strengths and weaknesses, but we try to maximize those strengths. It’s a great accomplishment for the coaches and the players coming through the program.”
Sutter and Hamilton both entered Saturday looking to become the first teams in Northern Section history to win six straight baseball titles. Hamilton had won it the previous five years in Div. V, but was moved up to Div. IV this season and lost to Winters, 204, in the title game just before the Huskies took the field.
“There is a little bit of pressure (to win a championship), but we all try to block it out and just take it one game at a time,” twin brother Kyle Boomgaarden said. “We just wanted to play our best, and we did that today. I’m at a loss for words. It’s the best feeling because this is my last year.”
Peterson also spoke of the pressure of winning the title year after year, and said his team has handled it well considering they usually get the best effort of every team they face.
“We didn’t really talk about winning it and continuing the streak, we just wanted to focus on this year and be the best version of ourselves that we could,” Peterson said. “There were some bumps in the road like there are every year, but these guys made the decision they wanted to be here and be the ones holding that trophy on the last day and this is their reward. I’m proud of them.”