The Long Beach City College Vikings took down the LA Valley Monarchs 11-10 in a thrilling walk-off win on Thursday afternoon in the first game of the SoCal Challenge Tournament.
Freshman pitcher Marcellus Henry (1-0) took the win on the mound with only allowing the Monarchs to two runs on three hits while striking out two in the final two innings.
The Vikings were first on the board in the bottom of the first as freshman third baseman Justin Santoyo got hit by a pitch, which led to freshman first baseman Matthew Pinal walking in the first run of the game.
The Monarchs took over the second and third innings by adding three runs on the board, but the Vikings started to creep in the bottom of the third with an RBI triple from freshman shortstop Alex Seguine and brought in freshman designated hitter Ryan Guerero, and then freshman second baseman Kamau Neighbors hit an RBI single bring Seguine home.
In the fourth inning, Guerero and Sanders scored on a Monarchs error to take back the lead 5-4.
The Monarchs then scored off a single to right field in the top of the fifth to tie the game 5-5, but the Vikings were back for another rally in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman catcher Malik Clayton capitalized on another Monarch throwing error and scored, then Sanders was batted by an RBI ground out from Guerero. In the sixth inning, Neighbors hit another RBI single to score in freshman left fielder Raul Garcia to lead 8-5.
The Monarchs tied the game again 8-8 in the seventh inning with an RBI single and 2 RBI double.
In the bottom of the eighth, Guerero smashed a double to center field for 2 RBI to lead the Monarchs again 10-8, but LA Valley rallied one more time in the ninth inning with a 2 RBI triple to tie the Vikings 10-10.
As the light was starting to fade away, the Vikings had Garcia on base and freshman third baseman Evan Vazquez hit towards the Monarch third baseman, and Garcia ran all the way home as the LA Valley third baseman muffed the throw to the catcher, and the Vikings walked off with the 11-10 win.
The Long Beach City College Vikings will be back on the field tomorrow at 2 p.m. against Pierce College in the second game of the SoCal Challenge Tournament.