With the Foothill League baseball season on hiatus during spring break, Valencia head coach Tim Pennell said the best way for his Vikings to stay hot was to schedule back-to-back non-league games against the St. Francis Golden Knights of La Cañada and Chaminade Eagles of West Hills.
Following a narrow 8-6 loss to St. Francis, the Vikings came out Thursday and battled back and forth against the visiting Eagles and took a one-run lead going into the bottom of the seventh.
But after an error by the Valencia infield that led to an Eagles’ run in the seventh, the Vikings lost the game in extra innings, 2-1, after Chaminade’s offense tagged another run in the eighth.
“It’s a tough loss for us right there. We felt like we were in the game the whole way. We felt like we could have won that game,” Pennell said. “Came down to two plays. Misplayed ball in the outfield, misplayed ball at first base. But when you play good baseball teams, you have to be tight all the way through seven innings.”
Throughout the game, sophomore Steve Genovese kept the Vikings (7-11-1, 2-3-1) in the game after Valencia’s offense was slow to begin.
After three innings of work, Genovese stuck out five Chaminade (11-7, 2-6) batters and kept the Eagles at bay.
In the fourth inning, the Vikings scored their lone run of the game off a Cole DeYoung sacrifice fly to drive in Justin Gaisford.
With the one-run lead, the Vikings looked poised to come away with the home win. But in the seventh, the Eagles rallied off Genovese and drove in a run to tie the game at one apiece.
Genovese ended the day having thrown seven innings, allowed four hits, and struck out eight.
Junior Tennysen Enneking relieved Genovese in the eighth inning and closed out the game.
After the game, Pennell said Genovese is only just a sophomore but handed himself with seniority on the mound against a Chaminade offense that’s scored 22 runs in its last three games.
“That’s a 10th grade arm for us,” he said. “There’s ton of promise in there and his work ethic is through the ceiling. And for us to see things like that out of him, it doesn’t surprise any of us.”
In the bottom of the seventh, the Vikings failed to score after Dylan Lapa got on base following an Eagles’ error. And in the eighth inning, they failed to score again after the Vikings retired in order – three up, three down.
The loss dropped the Vikings to 7-11-1 on the season and, after a week matching up against St. Francis and Chaminade, two teams that have a combined 20 wins, Pennell believes there can be positive takeaways from both defeats.
“Our goal this week was when we played these two tough teams in these baseball games was a chance to win them. We did that in both of these right here,” he said. “We just came up short towards the end of St. Francis, and we were a little short here today. But for us to be in these baseball games, against non-Foothill League teams, this is what we’re looking for going into West Ranch next week.”
The Vikings own a 2-3-1 record in league play and are in fifth place in the Foothill League standings.
The Vikings will look to bounce back in their next game at West Ranch High School against the Wildcats with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
