Trojans clinch third straight section title
California’s Casey Zajicek celebrates as he runs home to score the game-winning run Monday against Bentworth.
California’s Louden Conte dives back to first base Monday as Bentworth’s Robbie Schlutz awaits a pick-off attempt.
California’s Louden Conte steals second base as Bentworth’s Riley Nickerson awaits a throw Monday at California High School.
COAL CENTER – The wins haven’t always been pretty for California over the past three years. As with any high school baseball team, there are inevitable slumps on offense and miscues on defense. But the Trojans seem to find a way to win close games.
Sometimes those wins come down to making fewer mistakes than an opponent and though California is known for its high-powered offense, not swinging the bat is what helped the program clinch at least a share of its 26th section title and third in a row under head coach Nick Damico.
Junior right fielder Tyler Jacobs drew a bases-loaded walk to score senior left fielder Casey Zajicek for the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning, giving California a 5-4 victory over Section 1-A rival Bentworth Monday at Malden Yards.
Zajicek led off the eighth with a line drive single off the wrist of relief pitcher Hunter Neely, who left the game after throwing only two pitches. Alex Adams reached on an error and Josh Hughes intentionally walked Cal first baseman Enzo Mariscotti.
Jacobs, who went 2-for-4 with a run, drew a six-pitch walk to give the Trojans (8-1, 14-2) another section title.
“We don’t want to lose here ever, but the section title is on the line, rankings are on the line and there are a lot of things on the line,” Damico said. “Three times in a row – section champs. I’m proud of these kids and the work they’ve put in.”
This one wasn’t pretty on either side. Bentworth (7-3, 9-5) committed six errors and saw its three-run lead evaporate, including a run scored when a ball went through the netting above the backstop in the fifth inning.
The Trojans stranded 15 runners on base, including the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh innings. Senior pitcher Louden Conte tossed a complete game with two strikeouts, and though he wasn’t getting outs with overpowering velocity, his defense helped him out of jams.
He did not allow a Bentworth runner to reach second base over the final five innings.
Bentworth led 4-1 entering the bottom of the third when Cal junior shortstop Johnny DeFranco, who reached on an error, scored on a sacrifice fly. The Trojans got another run in the fourth after they loaded the bases and DeFranco’s groundout scored Jacobs to make it 4-3.
California got back-to-back singles to start the fifth and Brandon Powell grounded into a fielder’s choice, but a throwing error allowed a runner to advance to third.
Jacobs flied out to shallow center field for the second out, but the throw to home plate from center bounced in front of the plate and through a hole in the netting, allowing the tying run to score.
“Can you believe that? If the ball doesn’t go through that dang net, we’re at Dairy Queen right now celebrating, but it was one of those games where we didn’t get a lot of the close ones,” Bentworth interim head coach George Linck said with a laugh. “We had some timely hits and made some opportunities come through, but our defense wasn’t good enough to win the game.”
Bentworth took the early 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Hughes in the top of the second, but California quickly answered when Drake Johnson grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Powell.
The Bearcats seemed to break the game open in the third. They got back-to-back singles to start the inning before Conte got two quick outs. Bentworth senior first baseman Robbie Schultz, who went 2-for-4 with two runs, delivered an RBI single to left.
Six pitches later, Taylor Bunner hit a ground ball to short that hit a lump in the grass and hopped over DeFranco’s head, allowing two runs to score.
Conte and the Trojans rebounded, eventually tying the game and finally taking advantage of having the bases loaded.
“There’s bad blood between both of our teams,” Zajicek said. “It’s a big rivalry; it’s always been a big rivalry. For us, it’s huge because we replaced people this season and in the end, we didn’t want to come in here thinking about the last game. We wanted to think about what we needed to do to get the win and get that section title.”