West Valley heads to state championship for rematch with Mt. San Antonio

Tournament Central

WALNUT – West Valley College lives to fight another day after the Vikings punched their ticket to the state finals with a 16-4 win over Cypress College in an elimination game of the 3C2A Baseball State Championships on Sunday evening at Mt. San Antonio College's Mazmanian Field.

With the win, the Vikings (40-12) will take on the host Mt. SAC Mounties (44-6) for all of the marbles on Monday, beginning at 11 a.m. West Valley will need to sweep a doubleheader over the Mounties to secure their first state championship, while Mt. SAC needs to win one game to secure its first state baseball championship since 1965.

The turning point of the game came in the top of the seventh inning. With the game tied at 4, the Chargers (39-12) became their own worst enemy. After Cypress retired the first two batters of the inning, a pair of singles and a hit batter loaded the bases. A grounder to shortstop looked to end the frame for Cypress without allowing a run. But the ball was misplayed, allowing two runs to score to put the Vikings up, 6-4.

A walk reloaded the bases before a throwing error to first unloaded the bases to make it 9-4; the Chargers' third miscue of the frame. A run-scoring double by Erik Altmark capped off the six-unearned-run frame and the Vikings never looked back.

A key figure to West Valley's success on Sunday came from lefty reliever Kyle Scritzky (3-0), who held the Chargers in check to allow his team to battle back from the early 3-0 deficit. Scritzky threw the final 4-2/3 innings and held the Chargers off the scoreboard. He gave up no runs on four hits with two walks and eight strikeouts, while also resting a taxed bullpen, giving head coach Bobby Hill most of his arsenal for what he hopes is a long day of baseball on Monday.

The big lead only got bigger as the Vikings poured it on in the ninth with six more runs to blow open the game, ending a streak of four consecutive Orange Empire Conference teams to win the state baseball title (Orange Coast in 2019, Riverside in 2022, Santa Ana in 2023 and Saddleback in 2024).

Kai Laxa went 3-for-6 with two runs, Andrew Bonfigli added two hits, two runs, and two RBI, and Erik Altmark went 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. Leadoff hitter David Estrada chipped in two hits, a run, and two RBI from the top of the lineup to complement WVC's 16-run, 14-hit attack.

Justin Tillar went 3-for-4 with an RBI, Ty Peters went 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI and Bradley Navarro added two hits and a run for the Chargers.

(Tony Altobelli, CCCSIA)