CIF Baseball Finals: Capo Valley Christian Falls in Extra Innings

By Jordan R. Anast

Capistrano Valley Christian Schools Eagles of San Juan Capistrano battled Desert Christian Knights of Lancaster in the CIF Division 6 finals at UC Riverside Satuday, losing 4-2 in eight innings.

On an ideal day for baseball, warm and sunny, CVCS (24-6)  was coming off its best season of the year. On a 13-game winning streak, the Eagles had senior Sam Eichler on the mound. Eichler entered the finals with a record of 11-2, and  a season ERA of 0.65 and 125 strikeouts. 

Here's the play-by-play

Inning 1: (1-1)

Designated as the home team, CVCS  shot out ready to fight. In the top of the first, Desert Christian (25-3) scored their first run, after the lead-off batter walked, followed by a steal of second base, to make it  home on a wild pitch.  CVCS roared back when lead-off hitter, senior Jacen Carpenter, hit the first pitch served, straight up the middle, followed by a steal of both second and third. Sophomore  Parker Coss, with one out, blasted  a bomb to centerfield, deep enough for Carpenter to tag up and come home, tying the game at 1-1.

Inning 3: (2-1)

The Knights got their first hit of the game to lead off the inning. The runner stole second base, and advanced to third on a groundout.

Inning 4: (2-2)

CVCS sophomore  Eric Fukuda had a nice hit to right field with one out. Next hitter, junior Aaron Anast (yes, related), got on base with a walk. The Eagles next executed a play, designed to manufacture a run.  With runners at first and third, Anast stole second, forcing a throw from the pitcher, which went through the infield, and Fukuda immediately bolted home safely.

Inning 5: (2-2)

With two outs, CVCS's Carpenter stroked a single to right field. The next batter, senior Kyle Pickell, smashed a shot over the head of Desert Christian's center fielder, and Carpenter took off for home from first base. As he rounded third, Desert Christian's center fielder, Kiel Alcaraz, bobbled the ball but still managed to hit his cuttoff, Chance Gusbeth, who threw to home. Carpenter, with a full head of steam, slid head-first for home as the balled arrived, and on a bang-bang play, the umpire called him out, keeping the score tied at 2.

Inning 6: (2-2)

CVCS junior Daniel French crushed a ground-rule double, bouncing over  the left-field fence, to lead off the inning but failed to come home, as the next three batters went down, 1-2-3.

Inning 7: (2-2)

Eagles Freshman Andre Anderson led off the inning with a single to left. Eichler was swapped with pinch-hitter freshman AJ Discenzo, who successfully executed a sacrifice bunt, advancing the runner to second. With two outs, Desert Christian walked Carpenter, positioning runners at first and second. The next batter was Pickell, who walked to load the bases and set the table for Coss, a power hitter. On a 2-2 pitch, Coss hit a bomb to right field, but it was caught, forcing extra innings in a still tied game.

Inning 8: (2-4)

Having given everything in him, 122 pitches in, Eichler was replaced, after giving up only two hits and striking out 12 batters. Coss replaced him. On the first pitch, Desert Christian's lead-off hitter crushed a triple to left centerfield.  Desperate for the win, and still fighting, Carpenter went in to relieve. Facing a 2-2 count, the next batter, Desert Christian's Justin Tilton, drove a single up the middle to break the tie, giving Desert Christian a 3-2 lead. Then, with two outs and a runner on second, Desert Christian hit a single to right, scoring their fourth and final run.

CVCS failed to score as Desert Christian shot them down,  1-2-3.

After the game that ran so close clear up to the eighth inning, CVCS head coach Clemente Bonilla said, "Coming into the game, I had a good feeling – it was going to be a low-scoring, pitcher's-duel kind of game. ... I thought that one mistake or one clutch moment would decide the game. I felt it could've gone either way."  

A tough fought game by both sides ended in disappointment for CVCS, and though they out-hit the Knights 8-5, it was not just the eight Eagles left on base, some base-running errors at critical points in the game also decided the outcome.  

They say that teams both win together and lose together, and that's exactly what CVCS did in this case. It was clearly not just one play, or one error that allowed it to slip away. There wasn't just one game-changing play, and perhaps, that is the one saving grace in this heart wrenching loss.  

As Bonilla said, "Today wasn't our day."

He added that the team is still destined for great things.

"After making the quarterfinals in 2010 and 2011, I started to get the feeling that Capistrano Valley Christian was the kind of program on its way to finding its name in the paper, moving on to finals," Bonilla said.  "It's our time now ... I think that CVC will make a name for itself in the future – as a small school with a real good baseball program."

— Professional photographer Jordan Anast has two sons on the Capo Valley Christian baseball team.