Palos Verdes falls to Etiwanda in 11 innings in semis
PALOS VERDES ESTATES >>
The Palos Verdes baseball team's run through the CIF Southern Section playoffs ended in another dramatic game Tuesday.
Etiwanda (24-8) defeated the Palos Verdes 5-0 in 11 innings to move on to the Division 2 final, where it will face Torrance.
Palos Verdes coach Alex Morales valued the experience for his players.
“I'm still processing it,” Morales said. “I'm proud of our guys, we played hard and it's weird to say, but I'm happy they got to experience all of this. The (playoff) run, but even this part of it, it's painful, but it's part of the game.”
Palos Verdes (21-11) had a career performance from Garren Rizzo, who pitched seven shutout innings, allowing three hits. He struck out 10 batters while walking three. Jack O'Connor pitched 3 1/3 third innings in relief, allowing three runs on five hits. He struck out five and intentionally walked one batter.
Jason Roah pitched the final 2/3 of an inning for the Sea Kings.
Etiwanda freshman Brady Ebel and senior Yahir Ramirez were the primary cause of Palos Verdes' offensive struggles.
Ebel started and pitched seven innings allowing no runs on six hits while striking out six and walking one. Ramirez pitched the final four innings earning the win. He allowed two hits, striking out one and walking two.
Alfredo Capacete went 2 for 5 at the plate, including the winning RBI single in the 11th inning.
“Their starter pitched fantastic, and our freshman Brady Ebel pitched just as well,” Etiwanda coach Don Furnald said. “It could have gone the other way in so many different situations. We made some mistakes on the bases; they had some chances to score, it was just a great baseball game and I'm glad we were able to come up on top.”
Both defenses complimented the game's dominant pitching performances.
PV twice picked runners off at first base. In the first inning Martoccia, at catcher, picked off Armando Briseno at first base. Rizzo picked off Tyler McEvoy in the fifth.
The Sea Kings had a chance to win in the bottom of the seventh inning. Govel, Martoccia and Owen Park hit consecutive one-out singles to load the bases. After a strikeout, Kendall Ward hit a deep fly ball that Etiwanda right fielder Tyler Shigenaka caught with an over-the-shoulder, diving catch to save the game for the Eagles.
“I was just trying to stay relaxed because there was a lot on the line,” Shigenaka said. “It was a tough catch to make but I ended up coming down with it.”
The Eagles' offense finally broke through in the 11th inning.
Austen Roellig doubled to start things off for Etiwanda. Two batters later, an intentional walk to Ebel and a Michael Harrison infield single loaded the bases. Capacete lined a one-out single to center field, scoring Roellig, Etiwanda's eventual winning run.
Capacete wasn't too confident before his winning hit.
“It was crazy,” Capacete said. “To be honest, I wasn't thinking I would be able to come up clutch because of my past at bats, but I just went up there and tried to make contact and put it in play.”
The Eagles added four more runs for good measure, thanks to three bases-loaded walks drawn by Shigenaka, Kaedon Mas and Roellig and a sacrifice fly by McEvoy.