Garrick Moss has been the coach of Santa Clarita Christian baseball since 2000.
In that time, he’s won a CIF title and he’s seen hundreds of pitchers.
Before Friday, though, he’d never seen a pitcher better than the one Pomona High rolled out in what proved to be Moss’ last game as coach of the Cardinals, a 3-0 loss on the road in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 playoffs.
Pomona junior Mason McGarvey, a 6-foot-3 left-hander, pitched a complete-game two-hitter, striking out eight.
“We played as well as we could have. I’m proud of the guys,” said Moss, who announced earlier this year he’d be taking a position at Legacy Christian Academy in Valencia next school year.
Lefty Noah Dent did his best to extend SCCS’s season. He went all six innings, striking out seven and allowing the three runs (two earned) on six hits.
But Pomona (17-7), co-champion of the Miramonte League, got to him for a run in the second, one in the fourth and an unearned run in the sixth.
“Noah pitched as well as I’ve seen him pitch, especially facing the lineup he did,” Moss said. “It’s as talented a hitting group as I’ve seen.”
Ryan Franchimone went 1-for-2 with a walk for SCCS (13-5), which finished second place in the Heritage League but knew it faced an uphill battle in Division 6.
“In Division 7 we’d be a contender,” Moss said. “That’s just a testament to these seniors. We start seven seniors in the field, and it’s a testament to what they did for three years to put us in Division 6.”
Moss praised Billy Latch for a running catch in the outfield and Garrett Huckabone for his defensive plays at third.
Pomona, though, proved to be too much.
