Two Sunset League baseball teams played in the semifinal round of the CIF playoffs at Blair Field, the historic stadium in Long Beach that usually serves as the home of the Cal State Long Beach squad. Both teams played in one-run contests, but only one emerged victorious to advance to the final round.
On Tuesday, May 21, Marina High, the champion of the Sunset League, edged Loyola (Los Angeles) in a wild, 6-5 victory that earned the right to play at Dodger Stadium for the Division-I crown. Los Alamitos, on the other hand, suffered a 3-2 defeat to Harvard-Westlake, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, in the second half of the doubleheader.
Vikings second baseman Max Willingham delivered the heroics. With two outs, two strikes, and little hope in the bottom of the sixth, Willingham plated the tying and eventual winning runs with a groundball that rolled up the middle for a single. Marina then kept Loyola off the board in the top of the seventh thanks to relief pitcher Steven Gingery, who threw five innings of shutout ball with five strikeouts.
Marina (22-8) will face Harvard-Westlake (Studio City) in the championship round. That contest will take place at – yes, indeed – Dodger Stadium, with a start time of 8 p.m.
“It’s a dream to play at Dodgers Stadium,” Willingham said. “This whole thing has been a dream come true.”
The Vikings jumped in front first with a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. However, Loyola exploded on offense in the top of the second, scoring five runs off starter Jackson Westermeyer to grab a 5-2 advantage. The Vikings then added another run in the bottom of the third and one more in the sixth, trimming the deficit to 5-4, before Willingham’s game-winning hit.
In all, the Vikings finished with nine hits.
Marina has captured a pair of CIF titles, winning the most recent in 2003. It defeated Thousand Oaks, Agoura, and Norco in earlier rounds.
The program features a handful of players who will play at the collegiate level. This list includes team captain Jake Arledge (Cal Baptist), short stop Grant Mayeaux (Cypress College) and Justin Neece (College of the Siskyous). Additionally, Tyler Mildenberg signed a letter of intent to play at Oregon State, as did Jake Bauers with the University of Hawaii.
Los Al’s Cinderella story finally ended as the team finished the season with a 19-11 overall record. The program still has much to be proud of this year. For starters, squad advanced to the semifinal round for the first time since 2000. It also made a remarkable climb from the cellar of the league standings. After losing four of the opening five Sunset League games, it recovered produce a third-place finish.
The Griffins actually drew first blood, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Senior Cody Marshall knocked in James Stea with a force out at first base that marked the second out of the inning. Stea, who reached with a single, exemplified the scrappy style of baseball the Griffins have displayed this year, forcing a balk to take second and then advancing to third on a passed ball.
Harvard-Westlake responded in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs to take a 3-1 lead. Starting pitcher Darren McCaughan surrendered two earned runs during that stretch, but he then settled down to record six scoreless innings.
In the top of the fifth, the Griffins inched to within a run. Again, they relied on craftiness on the bases and a timely hit. Dallas Probert sparked the rally with two outs, drawing a walk. He then took advantage of a wild pitch and advanced to second. Stea then stepped to the dish, where he delivered an RBI single to cut the score to 3-2.
Stea would end with two hits. In all, the Griffins ended with just three.
Harvard-Westlake, which owns a 27-4 overall record, has not played Marina this season. It did face Loyola, twice, splitting the two-game series. Marina, on the other hand, faced Los Alamitos three times this year, winning twice.
The contest will likely be won by the school that adjusts to playing at Dodgers Stadium, where pregame jitters are common during the final round. The side that gets its nerves in check first almost always wins the CIF title, with few exceptions.
Though Harvard-Westlake has been described as an offensive juggernaut, which it proved by scoring 19 runs during its first two playoff games, its bats have cooled as of late and produced only seven runs during the last two games. Also, the team has not scored in its last six at-bats, which suggests the team has entered a slump.
