Demons loosen up, split opener vs. Valencia
Something has been missing for the Santa Fe High Demons on the baseball diamond for the last several years.
Zach Russell think he knows what it is, thanks to new head coach Ian Farris.
“Coach tells us to play with swag,” said Russell, the Demons’ jack-of-alltrades utility player. “Sometimes in games, we get a little tensed up. Play with swag, just play loose, like the MLB.”
The Demons showed a little “swag” on Tuesday afternoon, especially in the second part of a nondistrict doubleheader against Valencia at Santa Fe High. After four errors helped the Jaguars to a 9-2 win in the opener, the host team battled its way to an 8-4 win in five innings to secure a split.
Game 2 was just another step in a learning process that the Demons (3-4) haven’t yet mastered — how to win. A year ago, Santa Fe High slumped its way to a 9-16 record after an 8-3 start. Farris, who was an assistant on last year’s team before taking over for Anthony Martinez after his dismissal, said it’s not a skill that comes quickly or easily.
Beating Valencia is just another step in the process.
“They’ve played in a program where they almost expect to lose,” Farris said. “This is the first time guys come to the park expecting to win. I think some of the pressure early in the season got to them a little, so this is a big-time win.”
It followed a typical Demons loss in the opener. Santa Fe High held a 2-0 lead heading into the fifth inning when the wheels fell off in the form of errors. Two came in the fifth inning, including one for starting pitcher Scott Laur, who couldn’t glove a popup for the second out of the inning. The error became crucial when first baseman Nathan Hield was hesitant in deciding which base to go for the force out and his throw to catcher Dominic Crawford pulled him off the plate to allow Bailey Frazier to score, trimming the deficit in half.
In the sixth, an error by third baseman Lawrence Mirabal led to a fourrun Valencia (4-5) outburst. The seventh saw a throwing error open the floodgates for another four-run frame and seal the win.
In the past, the Demons would have let the missed opportunity snowball into a sweep, and it appeared that
was in order after the Jaguars scored twice in the top of the first thanks to a throwing error by Manny Martinez and Hield’s mishandle of Valencia catcher Isaiah Garcia’s hard chopper to the third basemen.
Instead, the Demons responded with three runs on just one hit to take the lead. Izaiah Apodaca had an RBI single for Santa Fe High’s only hit of the frame, and moved to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball. He scored when Hield, who walked, tried to steal second but Garcia’s throw sailed into center field. Russell then scored Hield from third on a groundout for a 3-2 lead.
It was just the start of Russell’s performance. He relieved Dominic Crawford with one out in the second inning and the Jaguars holding a 4-3 lead, and immediately put his trust in the Demons’ defense. A 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded got Santa Fe High out of the inning without any more damage, and he allowed just one hit and no walks over the next three innings. Russell did hit two Valencia batters, including Benardo Montoya with one out in the fifth that ended his outing.
“I just pitched to [contact], and my team had my back,” Russell said. “They made some plays. It’s easy to get up on the bump and throw to [contact] and have your team have your back like that.”
Russell had not played baseball since he was a sophomore on the junior varsity coached by Farris, but Farris saw Russell’s leadership during an 0-9 season on the football field that moved the coach.
“I saw his resiliency,” Farris said. “I saw how much he was trying to win and trying to motivate his teammates. I texted him right after the game and said, ‘Hey Zach, I know I haven’t spoken to you in a while, but I was really impressed and I’d love for you to come out on to the baseball field.’ That’s kinda how it started.”
That was the case in the top of the third, when Montoya had a one-out double and Russell hit Robert Connolly with a pitch. Hield recorded a force out at third on a Frazier grounder hit right to him and he cleanly fielded Jeremy DiBartolomeo’s chopper threw to first to end the inning.
Meanwhile, the Demons’ scraped together a run in the second thanks to three straight singles, with Martinez’s base hit to left scoring Adrian Ortega to tie the score at 4-all. In the fourth, Crawford deliver the key hit in a four-run rally with the sunlight fading. He muscled a single up the middle to center field that scored Martinez and Hield for a 7-4 lead.
“I was looking first-pitch fastball over the plate because I was trying to hit it out,” Morgan said. “It was a ball, and then I said, ‘I just need to get on base to help the team.’ ”
And help he did. It might a little bit of swag into the Demons.