With West Valley trailing 6-1 through four-and-a-half innings, assistant coach Kim Karabatsos' voice echoed through a subdued Viking dugout. "There's a lot of baseball left," Karabatsos exclaimed. The Vikings took that sentence to heart as they rallied past Monterey Peninsula 9-6 in a CCCAA NorCal Play-in Round game thanks to some lusty power hitting and shutdown relief pitching.
The win sends the 15th-seeded Vikings (25-16) to Folsom Lake Friday for a best-of-three CCCAA NorCal Regional series against the #2 Falcons (32-6-1). While the prospect of that road-trip may have looked somewhat bleak in the fifth inning Tuesday, WVC Head Coach Rick Wiens was confident his charges would turn things around.
"We felt were in the right spot with regard to where we were with our lineup and where our pitching was," said Wiens. "It was just a matter of time until we got a big hit."
That big hit came from Curran Ozawa-Burns, as it has for much of the season. Ozawa-Burns made it 6-3 when he launched a two-out howitzer over the scoreboard in right-center that drove in Jacob Dressler, who had singled two batters earlier. The Vikings had punched out only four singles until Ozawa-Burns' NorCal-best 13th HR of the season ingnited a nine-hit outburst through the next four innings.
Ozawa-Burns is one of West Valley's "Super Sophomores", 15 Viking teammates who have played three seasons together, battling through COVID cancellations and unofficial "seasons". Every CCCAA team has them, but Wiens says WVC's are something special.
"They are an exceptional group of young men who love each other and play FOR each other," said Wiens. "They play nine innings every time out and are mature on the field and in the classroom. Their character is off the charts."
Another super-soph made it 6-6 an inning later. Henry Wright smashed his fifth round-tripper of 2022, a three-run bomb to the deepest part of center that knocked in Jaden Mazzaferro, who had doubled, and Weston Scoffone, who had drawn a walk.
After Aran Cox singled in Ozawa-Burns with what would prove to be the winning run in the sixth, Mazzaferro made it 9-6 with his own two-run blast to right.
Mazzaferro is a first-year catcher who has exceeded Wiens' already-high expectations. "He's been phenominal," Wiens said. "His game has been accelerated by him paying attention to and learning from the experienced players around him."
While the Viking offense exploded for the 9-6 lead, it was WVC's relief pitching that held the lead and shut down MPC (23-18).
Michael Dixson, another three-year Viking, entered in the top of the fifth for starter Ryan Sleeman and held the hot-hitting Lobos, who had seven hits through four innings, to a single run on three hits, along with four strikeouts, in four innings. Wiens went to Dixson earlier than he normally does.
"Dixson is our x-factor out of the bullpen and we usually go to him after the fifth. But we were down five," Wiens said. "He saved the day by holding the game where it was. He was absolutely nasty and actually gave momentum to our offense."
Closer Roman Connolly entered in the ninth and set the Lobos down in order, sandwiching a Cato Kleinman pop-out to Scoffone at short between a strikeout of Nathan Vierra and a game-ending K of Kein Iwata.
"Roman did what a closer is supposed to do," exclaimed Wiens." He was lights-out. His velocity was way up and his command was spot-on. He hit every spot."
Mazzaferro finished 3-4 with two RBI, Wright went 2-5 with three RBI, while Cole Murchison was 2-4 and Evan Meier 2-5 with an RBI. Ozawa-Burns, who didn't see many good pitches all day, had two RBI, two runs-scored and a pair of walks. Dixson earned the win and Connolly got the save.
Folsom Lake presents a tough matchup for West Valley, according to Wiens. "A team doesn't win the Big 8 without being really good," he said. "They have three very good starters, good relievers and a good mix of right and left-handed hitters throughout their lineup."
Game one of the series is Friday at 3:00pm, with game two slated for Saturday at 11:00am and an if-necessary game three at 3:00pm.