Roundup: West Ranch wins in extras to keep rolling, Golden Valley finishes sweep of Canyon
The Hart Hawks baseball team made sure head coach Brad Meza’s return to Valencia High School on Monday morning was a fun one.
Meza watched his team rack up 14 hits against a Valencia Vikings squad that he coached for three seasons before moving to Hart prior to this season to coach at his alma mater.
Monday’s game was meant to be played in early March during the first week of scheduled Foothill League games, but inclement weather moved both games of the two-game set to later dates.
Those 14 hits helped the Hawks to an 8-2 win on the road, while senior Tristan Purfoy allowed just two hits and one earned run over 4 1/3 innings pitched to get the win.
“It was really cool,” Meza said. “I mean, it’s just another day at the office, just trying to do your best, trying to compete. I remember a lot of these guys from last year. I have a lot of love for these guys, but it was good to come in here and come out with a win.”
Seniors Ryder Frithsmith and Michael Hogen each had three hits for Hart (9-7, 4-1). Frithsmith scored three times and had a double while senior Dominic Miraglia had a double and two runs scored.
Frithsmith and Miraglia were both hitting in the bottom third of the order against Valencia (5-10, 2-6), along with junior Devin Thompson, who drove in two runs, and provided some production for a Hart offense that Hogen said has been waiting to come alive.
The Hawks put up four runs in the second inning before adding two in the fifth and two more in the seventh, moving on quickly from last week’s loss to Saugus, Hart’s first in the league this season.
“We’ve been waiting for that to kind of happen,” Hogen said. “We’ve been working a lot at practice, and it’s really good to see a lot of improvement from the bottom of the lineup, because those are the role guys. And those guys are a huge contribution to the team, because the top guys aren’t always going to perform how they should, and that’s when the guys at the bottom are going to step up.”
Hart did put up a combined 33 runs a couple of weeks ago in two wins over a Golden Valley team that was winless in the Foothill League at that point, but has otherwise struggled through the first half of its season to consistently put runs on the board.
Purfoy didn’t allow a hit through the first two innings before junior Kyle Josing led off the bottom of the third with a double, one of two he had on the day. Sophomore Cole DeYoung drove in Josing both times he reached, once on a sacrifice fly and once on a single.
“DeYoung is special. He’s a 10th grader, you know, we have him for a couple more years,” said Valencia head coach Tim Pennell of his leadoff batter. “But his talent is extremely high for where he is right now as a 10th grader, and we’re excited to have him for the next couple years and get him going.”
Purfoy only struck out a couple of batters during his time on the mound but his defense helped him out whenever the Vikings put the ball in play. Hogen joked that he can typically expect the ball to not be hit his way at third base when Purfoy pitches due to his sidearm motion that sees the ball sneak up on right-handed batters.
“Every single time he pitches, it’s like almost 100% the ball is not going to come to me, because they get jammed every single time,” Hogen said. “It looks like it just sits in there, and they don’t have enough time to get their bat to the zone.”
Hart has the rest of its spring break off and is scheduled to play next on Tuesday, April 15, at Castaic.
Valencia has a road game Friday at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. The Hawks were scheduled to play Saugus a second time last week, but rain and lightning forced the game to be postponed, with no makeup date scheduled as of this story’s publication.
West Ranch 8, Valencia 5: The leaders of the Foothill League continued their impressive start on Friday as the West Ranch Wildcats (12-6, 7-1) beat the Vikings, 8-5, in nine innings.
West Ranch scored three in the second before Valencia answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame. The game was tied at 5-5 after four innings, and it remained that way until the Wildcats put up three runs in the top of the ninth.
Ty Diaz hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth, followed by an error and an Omar Gutierrez single to seal the game.
Mikey Murr hit a home run as part of a three-hit day for West Ranch. Hunter Manning also had three hits while Diaz drove in two runs. Murr and Nolan Stoll each scored twice.
DeYoung hit a double and had two hits on Friday against West Ranch.
Golden Valley 4, Canyon 1: The Golden Valley Grizzlies (7-8, 2-4) earned a season sweep over the Canyon Cowboys (2-14, 0-6) with a 4-1 win at home on Friday.
Ayden Renstrom went the distance on the mound for Golden Valley, striking out four while allowing just three hits. He also had a hit, a run scored and an RBI at the plate.
Henry Almaraz pitched all six innings for Canyon, giving up seven hits and two walks while striking out five.
The Grizzlies got seven hits from seven different batters en route to the win.
