Cats squeeze into regional finals

The Saddleback baseball team advanced to the 3C2A Southern California Regional Finals with a 7-6 victory over Los Angeles Valley College on Saturday in Valley Glen.  The Cats pulled off a squeeze bunt in the bottom half of the eighth inning for the game-winner to advance to a third straight appearance in the regional finals.

Saddleback entered the Super Regional as a slight underdog for the first time since 2017, having to go on the road for the first time since traveling to Long Beach City College seven years ago.  The Bobcats looked like the better team for three straight days, sweeping through the regional.  The last two wins came against LA Valley, who entered Friday's game with a 25-game winning streak. 

Saturday's win was much tighter than the win on Friday (15-4), as neither team ever led by more than two runs.  Saddleback scored first when they took advantage of a defensive miscue to take a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly from Bryson Hoier. 

Los Angeles Valley took its first lead against Saddleback in the top half of the third inning when Dorian Asher blasted a three-run homer to left field.  It was the first time the Monarchs had led Saddleback in the two games played between the two teams, and it would be the last.

Saddleback answered with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the third inning, and again got a little help from the LA Valley defense.   Ben Castelli led off the inning by reaching base on an error, and later came around to score when Jacob Beauchaine planted a ball over the left field wall for a three-run homer and a 4-3 lead.

The Bobcats added a run in the fifth inning before the Monarchs made a charge in the top half of the sixth.  LA Valley scored two runs to tie the game and were threatening to score more with runners on second and third and two outs in the inning.  Ryan Seymour then got Eddie Zapata to line out to left field as the score remained tied at 5-5. 

Saddleback grabbed back the lead in the bottom half of the sixth inning when J.C. Allen singled home Castelli for a 6-5 advantage.   The Monarchs again responded with a run of their own and the game was again tied at 6-6. 

Saddleback finally took the lead for good in the bottom half of the eighth inning and used some old-fashioned small ball to get the job done.  After Bryson Hoier doubled to lead off the inning, the Bobcats moved him to third base on a sacrifice bunt from Andrew Nykoluk.  Saddleback then pulled out a surprise with a squeeze bunt (sacrifice) from Castelli, as Hoier broke for the plate and scored the eventual winning run without a throw to the plate. 

Saddleback used a trio of pitchers in picking up the important win.  Damon Anderson Wolf started and pitched through the sixth inning before being lifted after 88 pitches.  Ryan Seymour (2-0) came in and pitched two innings to pick up his second win of the season.  Zachary Allegro pitched the final inning, getting LA Valley to hit into a 6-4-3, double-play to end the game.  It was Allegro's team-leading eighth save of the season.

Saddleback improved to 29-16 with the win.  The Bobcats will now play in the Regional Finals at Cerritos College in a best-of-three series with the Falcons, starting on Friday.  Cerritos entered the playoffs as the top seed in Southern California.