Roundup: Castaic powers past Canyon, Valencia beats Golden Valley in extras to tighten playoff race
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect Hart’s loss to Saugus on Monday. The original version had Hart reentering the title race with West Ranch after Friday’s win
On a day that the West Ranch Wildcats could have clinched a share of the Foothill League baseball title, the Hart Hawks put a wrench in those plans.
Two days after losing to the Wildcats, the Hawks held them off on Friday at Hart High School, 6-5, behind senior Lincoln Daly’s clutch performances on the mound and at the plate.
“You know, being down one game,” Daly said, “knowing we just had to tie for league, I mean, we all knew those guys are good, so we just had to come out here, do our thing, do what we practice, execute. And we did that today.”
Daly picked up the save in what was his first pitching appearance since March 1. He struck out one and didn’t allow a hit in a scoreless seventh inning, though he had to work around some trouble after an error and a walk allowed the potential tying run to reach second base.
“He hasn’t been in a game situation like that, and that’s high pressure right there,” Meza said of Daly’s pitching performance. “And he handled it very well.”
At the plate, Daly drove in three runs on a couple of singles, both hits giving the Hawks a lead.
Friday’s win had put the Hawks back in contention for the league title, as both Hart and West Ranch had just two losses. However, Hart lost to Saugus on Monday, giving West Ranch the more direct path to its first title since 2016.
Both teams have just two league games left. West Ranch (16-9, 8-2) is set to play on Wednesday and Friday against Golden Valley, while Hart (12-10, 7-3) is slated to play Canyon on those days.
Saugus (15-11, 7-3) is now guaranteed a top-four finish in the league standings, and a playoff spot, in the Centurions’ first season under head coach Mike Miller.
“We’re looking at one game at a time, one pitch at a time, one inning at a time, whatever we can do to, you know, help the team be successful,” Meza said.
Daly got the Hawks out in front on Friday with a two-run single in the bottom of the first inning. He put Hart out in front for the second time with a bloop single to short right field to drive in senior Michael Hogen.
The Hawks took the lead for good in a three-run fourth inning. Senior Ryder Frithsmith had an RBI single, followed by Hogen driving in a run while reaching on an error. Frithsmith then scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-3.
The Wildcats put pressure on the Hawks with two runs in the top of the sixth. Senior Hunter Manning had his second RBI single of the game and senior Ryan Oh had a sacrifice fly.
A force at the plate on Friday with two hits and two RBIs, Manning was dominant on the mound in the first game of the series on Wednesday, allowing one unearned on four hits in a complete-game performance with 12 strikeouts.
Manning is one of the frontrunners for Foothill League Pitcher of the Year. He allowed no earned runs in three of four league games, striking out 45 batters in 26 1/3 Foothill League innings. He also set the West Ranch single-game strikeout record with 16 in a 12-0 win over Valencia earlier this season.
The Wildcats are still on pace to clinch their third-ever league title with a sweep of Golden Valley. They’ve finished in second place in the league standings in six of seven seasons since, taking third in 2022.
“Every time that he gets the ball on the mound, everybody feels like we can win,” said West Ranch head coach Ryan Lindgreen. “It doesn’t matter, you know, which team it is, or where they’re ranked, or who they are — we feel like he’s our best guy, and he’s going to give us our best chance. And he’s been doing that all year.”
Hart’s path to retaining the league title in Meza’s first year in charge got murkier after Monday’s loss. Daly had been confident that the Hawks could keep the momentum after taking down the league leaders on Friday.
Here’s what else happened in Friday’s Foothill League baseball action:
Valencia 9, Golden Valley 7: The Valencia Vikings (10-12, 6-6) took down the hosting Golden Valley Grizzlies (8-15, 2-8), 9-7, behind sophomore Cole DeYoung’s go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth inning.
DeYoung drove in the winning run followed by senior Noah Jaquez adding an insurance run with an RBI single.
The Grizzlies had scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to force extra innings.
Jaquez had two hits and two RBIs while junior Jack Yamamura had three hits and two RBIs for the Vikings. Junior Kyle Josing also had three hits and scored twice.
Senior Andrew Ahamuda had two hits, including a double, and drove in two runs for the Grizzlies. Senior Connor Anderson also had two hits while senior Bryce Gayles drove in two runs.
Valencia’s path to the playoffs is likely now only through an at-large bid, unless Saugus sweeps Castaic this week. At two games under .500 with five non-league games left, the Vikings need to win at least four of them for the CIF Southern Section to consider them for one of those spots.
Castaic 14, Canyon 1: The Castaic Coyotes (16-9, 6-4) made it a series sweep over the Canyon Cowboys (3-21, 0-10) with a 14-1 win at home.
Junior Jakob Kerr and senior Jr. Yera each doubled for Castaic. Kerr drove in three runs while Year drove in two and scored twice.
Senior Isaiah Avalos also drove in two runs and scored twice.
Junior Andrew Bond kept the Cowboys to just two hits while striking out 10 in a complete-game performance.
Castaic is playing Saugus in a two-game set this week to finish off its league campaign. The Coyotes need to win just one of those games to guarantee a top-four finish.
