Lopez, Tigers get dominating win
IMPERIAL — Imperial High junior Kobby Lopez couldn’t have picked a better time to have his best performance of his career than here Wednesday.
Lopez took the mound in the Tigers CIF-San Diego Section Division IV first round baseball playoff game and delivered an impressive complete game shutout win allowing only two hits while tallying 16 strikeouts in the 5-0 win over Mission Vista High.
“I was trying to dominate, attacking the strike zone to make them put the ball in play for my defense and I came out with some K’s,” the 17-year-old junior said. “It was my best game so far and it felt great to do it here at home with the home crowd cheering us on.”
The left-handed hurler not only pounded the strike zone but was able to pound at the plate as he notched a bases loaded RBI double that scored two runs early in the game.
The Tigers tallied two runs in both the third and fourth innings.
Then later pushed across their final run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“We felt we had to come out with energy, taking it one pitch at a time and that focus is what important today,” Imperial head coach Javier Bernal said. “We had our ace on the mound and so we knew we’d have a chance to be in this game but we had to be patient and we were today.”
With the win the Tigers advance to the second round of the CIF-SDS Div. IV playoffs were they will travel to play Classical Academy at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Orange Glen High in Escondido.
“We just have to have the same intensity, keep talking up and putting the ball in play and you never know what can happen,” Lopez said.