For the second straight game, Coast Union of Cambria sent a Santa Clarita Valley baseball team into a summer of what ifs.
Five days after slipping by Trinity Classical Academy by one, Coast Union exploited a handful of Albert Einstein Academy errors in the third inning to score six runs on its way to an 8-1 win Tuesday in Cambria in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 7 playoffs.
“We had one very bad inning that will haunt us the entire summer,” said Einstein coach Marcelo Imbert, whose team repeated as champion of the Omega League this season.
The Rockets’ undoing Tuesday was the unspectacular.
“We fell apart defensively,” Imbert said. “I don’t know how many errors we made, but it was simple ground balls or simple pop-ups on the infield. We threw the ball around and kicked the ball around. It was one really, really bad inning. It’s a forgettable inning that I’m not going to forget.”
Jason Russel drove in Einstein’s lone run with a hit in the fifth. It wasn’t enough in support of Ian Sockett’s solid outing.
“He actually pitched great,” Imbert said. “They couldn’t hit him hard.”
Einstein opened the playoffs with a 13-3 win over Shalhevet of Los Angeles at the Hart complex.
Even though it couldn’t recreate the magic Tuesday, Imbert said he was proud of his team for its resiliency.
“These kids overcame some obstacles outside of baseball,” Imbert said.
Redlands East Valley 5, Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks 4
Stevenson Ranch resident Hunter Greene’s high school career ended on the road Tuesday in a CIF-SS Division 1 loss.
