Bridges pitches Harvard-Westlake to victory
Harvard-Westlake pitcher Tommy Bridges is all business.
The sophomore standout doesn't show much emotion on the mound. When he strikes out a batter, his swinging right leg leads him into a small circular walk behind the mound as the ball works its way around the infield and eventually back into his glove before he faces the next batter.
None of that changed Monday despite giving up no hits — and just two walks — through five innings against Chaminade.
“I started thinking about the no-hitter in the sixth inning,” Bridges said.
The sixth inning came and went.
Two more strikeouts, a walk and a pop out left Bridges needing just three more outs for a “nono.” Even after the third out in the bottom of the sixth inning, he was stoic.
In the bottom of the seventh, Bridges showed emotion for the first time when Chaminade's Degan Hensley hit a single up the middle to break up Bridges' no-hit bid. Bridges dropped to a crouch at the mound in disbelief. He was so close.
“It sucked,” Bridges said. “But I couldn't have asked for a better game. Today was easily some of my best stuff.”
Bridges finished the day having gone 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and three walks on 106 pitches to anchor Harvard-Westlake's 6-0 Mission League win over Chaminade.
The Wolverines scored all six of their runs in the sixth inning, highlighted by Alex Shane's twoRBI single that made it 3-0.
Bryce Rainer went 2 for 4. Andrew Citron, Will Gasparino, Niko Price and Owen Carlson each had an RBI.
The win moved HarvardWestlake (19-6-1, 13-2-1 Mission League) one game closer to clinching the outright Mission League title. The Wolverines need to sweep all three of their games against Chaminade this week to do so.
If Chaminade (11-14-1) wins one of the games this week, HarvardWestlake will have to settle for a tie for first with Notre Dame. If that happens, there will be a coin flip to decide which team gets the league's top seed for the playoffs, which can impact playoff placement.
Notre Dame (19-7-1, 14-3-1) has already finished its Mission League schedule.
“There's definitely a little bit of pressure there,” Bridges said about this week's series. “If you don't feel that pressure, you're not human. I'm not going to pretend like it's not there.”
Harvard-Westlake will host Game 2 of the series today and the third game will be back at Chaminade on Thursday. Both games start at 3 p.m.
League titles up for grabs
The Foothill League title will be decided this week when Hart and Valencia face off today and Thursday.
Hart, which is 10-0 in league play, needs just one win to clinch the title. But if Valencia wins both games this week, it will earn a share of the Foothill League crown.
Hart is at Valencia today and plays host to the Vikings on Thursday. Both games are at 3:30 p.m.
Hart is looking to repeat as league champion after winning last year's league title in the final week of the season with a win over West Ranch.
The last two weeks of baseball in the Valley Mission League is worth keeping an eye on. Sylmar and Kennedy are both 7-1. Van Nuys is 7-3. Sylmar and Kennedy have four league games left to play. Van Nuys has three, two of which are against Kennedy, on May 2 and 4.
El Camino Real's 2-0 win over Birmingham Charter last week, which split the two-game series, has created a bigger gap at the top of the league for Granada Hills Charter at 5-1. El Camino Real is second at 4-2 and Birmingham is third at 3-2.