West Ranch High baseball lost to El Dorado High of Placentia 3-1 on Thursday in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 playoffs at El Dorado.
“I thought today was kind of similar to our previous week,” said coach Casey Burrill. “I think our last few games to finish the season, I thought we did a decent job offensively, just didn’t come up with the big hits.”
The Hawks (19-8-1) got on the scoreboard with a two-run second inning that featured a sacrifice fly and a Zack Taylor single.
They scored their final run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly.
Trailing 3-0, Evan Gellatly drove in the only Wildcat run of the afternoon in the seventh inning with an RBI single.
Timmy Josten pitched six innings, allowing six hits and recording six strikeouts.
“He battled,” Burrill said. “He gave us a chance to win. His best pitches were later in the game when we needed him to keep us in the game. His high school achievements speak for themselves, and he’ll go down as one of the better players to cruise through our valley.”
West Ranch finished the season 19-9.
Vista Murrieta 6, Hart 5
The Indians fought back from an early deficit in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs, but the Broncos (22-8) stomped out the Indians’ hopes of a win when Brandon Luna hit a two-run walk-off single to end the game.
“In Division 1, when you go on the road, you have to play,” said Hart coach Jim Ozella. “You can’t make mistakes like we did today and expect to come out on the winning side.”
Hart’s Brendan Henry hit an RBI double in the first inning, but Vista Murrieta scored twice in the bottom of the first to pull ahead.
Hart (20-11) tacked on another run in the second inning to tie the game with an RBI groundout by Cody Jefferis.
In the fifth inning, Henry had an RBI single, and in the sixth, the Indians scored on two errors to secure a 5-4 lead heading into the final frame.
“I loved the way we competed,” Ozella said. “We went on the road and we competed and we battled back.
“That’s the way we’re supposed to do it, but we also have to play clean games against quality competition. Division 1 is no cupcake, as everybody has learned.”
