Both the SRJC and Sonoma State baseball teams had a pretty good day. It was when the day turned into evening that things turned sour.
Both teams needed two wins on Saturday just to get to a position of needing to get two wins on Sunday. They got the first one, but both seasons came to an end with a one run loss.
SRJC
This was a day similar to Sunday May 4th for SRJC. Facing elimination that day against Los Medanos and needing to win two games, they went extra innings and had a one run win to get the job done.
Again on Saturday it was that kind of high tension of a day. They got the one run win, but the extra-inning game went the other way.
In the first elimination game they edged Feather River 2-1. Jason Alexander pitched eight innings of three hit ball and raised his record to 8-1. Tyler Sanders came in his ninth save.
The game was scoreless through six. SRJC scored runs in the seventh and eighth. The first run when Stephen McElroy stole third and he came in when the throw went into left field. The second run on a single by Brent Gillespie.
That set up Elimination Game No. 2 with Fullerton, who is the No. 1 seed from the South. So it was No. 1 vs. No. 1 for survival and the two teams put on a show.
After giving up a run in the first, SRJC took a 2-1 lead on RBI single by Siosi Poti and Nico Filico in the fifth. Fullerton tied the game in the seventh and on we went. Just like on May 4th, SRJC was the visitor and went in the field twice knowing if they gave up a run the season was over.
Fullerton took its shots. In the seventh when they tied the game they left two men on. In the bottom of the eight they had runners at first and second with one out and left them on. In the ninth inning, they left the bases loaded. Add to that Matt Lococo, who was just put into the game as a defensive replacement, threw out the potential winning run at the plate.
The SRJC offense meanwhile wasn’t doing much. They didn’t have a runner reach second from the seventh inning on.
The bottom fell out in the tenth. Despite a base running error by Fresno which gave SRJC an out, they still had the bases loaded with two outs, when the game and the season ended on a single by Uriel Salinas.
So Fullerton moves on and needs to beat Cypress twice today for a state championship.
As for SRJC a super season ends at 34-9-1, a Co-Big 8 championship and a No. 1 ranking in the state most of the season.
SSU
The first game win was a breeze compared to the SRJC win. George Asmus pitched eight innings to raise his record to 8-2 in a 4-1 win over Cal St. Monterey. Sonoma State had great success in post season play against the No. 7 team in the country and the CCAA regular season champions, winning both games against them.
That set up a rematch with Grand Canyon, who 24 hours earlier had put SSU in this desperate position with a 6-2 win.
Grand Canyon never trailed, although a two run sixth by Sonoma State tied the game at 3-3. It was untied in the bottom of the inning and it looked like Grand Canyon would breeze after scoring four runs into the bottom of the eighth.
Sonoma State came this close to making the incredible ninth inning rally. Wesley Wallace hit his first homer of the season, a three run shot to cut the lead to 8-7. Sonoma State would get runners at first and second with two outs, when the season came to an end.
So Grand Canyon moves on and needs to beat Chico State twice to win the Regional.
Sonoma State season ends 36-22.
HIGH SCHOOL TAKES ITS TURN
Today the NCS playoffs will be announced for baseball and softball. They should start trickling in around 11 am. The first round will be on Tuesday and Wednesday. There will be two games a week before championship weekend on May 31st and June 1st.
TRACK AND FIELD SATURDAY
It was quite a day in Santa Rosa on Saturday. That was even without the annual Rose City Parade. There were quite a few people that couldn’t make the Parade, because they had another event on the schedule.
Santa Rosa and Montgomery High School were the place for the Track and Field version of the playoff, which is the NCS Redwood Empire Track Championships. The top seven in each event qualify for the North Coast Section or Tournament of Champion Finals at UC Berkeley next weekend. The next step is the State Finals.
Not to get to technical, the event at Santa Rosa was for the big schools, the one at Montgomery the small.
The team winners were local at the Santa Rosa event. The Boys champion is Maria Carrillo, which appears to be the first championship in the school’s history. The Girls went to Santa Rosa, which gives them two in three years.
The highest local team finishes for the Boys was Fort Bragg who was fifth. That ended quite a dynasty. Fort Bragg had won the championship every year since 2006. In the Girls the highest finisher was Sonoma Academy, who came in third.
There is a long list of results in the PD on page C6 of who qualified for the big event which begins Friday in Berkeley.
Here are the results for the Santa Rosa event.
http://cifncs.org/sports/track/files/RESULTS/2013/RedwoodResults.pdf
My email address is jacpasquini@comcast.net