Grizzlies to play in championship game
The Northern Section California Interscholastic Federation Baseball Division III playoffs have seen quite the performance from the 2017 Lassen High School Grizzlies.
After a fantastic first round of playoffs against the Central Valley Falcons, the Grizzlies eagerly hosted round two against the Corning Cardinals on Friday, May 12.
The second round of playoffs consisted of a doubleheader against the Cardinals with two wins required to advance to the championship game. Had the teams split the games, a tiebreaker game would have taken place on Tuesday, May 16.
However, the mere mention of a third game was wholly unnecessary as the Grizzlies beat the Cardinals to a pulp with final scores of 2-0 and 6-3, respectively.
After the second game was announced to be another Grizzly victory, the boys sprinted to the middle of the diamond in a large celebratory huddle for their spot in the championship game that was held on
Miles Ormachea catches the ball at second and throws to first for a double play during game two against the Corning Cardinals. Photo by Ashley GroganSaturday, May 20.
“We’re going to the flippin’ championship,” said head coach Scott Foreman at the end of game two.
The first game was more nerve-wracking than the latter with the final score of 2-0 first initiated in inning one with Lassen’s single run.
The 1-0 score stayed consistent throughout the next four innings with the Cardinals continually trying and failing to surpass the slight lead the Grizzlies continued to carry.
After yet another inning filled with failed attempts, the Cardinals handed off the bat to Lassen for the bottom of inning six.
Lassen decided to drive the final nail in the coffin during the bottom of the sixth inning with one more run to finish the game.
The two Grizzly runs of the first game were made by Darrell Miller and Carson Chavez with the RBIs credited to Cole Dyer and Jagger Delgado.
The two best hits of the game were made by Jacob Bennett and Miller with a double by Bennet and a triple seen from Miller.
Miller was also the only Grizzly to steal a base during the game.
As for pitching, Bennett spent six innings on the mound before Hunter St. Andre climbed to finish off the game.
Bennett gave up only two hits and two walks throughout the game, and of the 23 batters faced, Bennett struck out two.
Darrell Miller slides home during the second round of playoff games on May 12. Photo by Ashley GroganSt. Andre gave up one hit in total and struck out one of four batters faced.
It didn’t take long for the Grizzlies to regroup and prepare for the second game against the Cardinals, as they were now fully aware that they were one game away from the championship match.
Lassen once again established dominance on the diamond with a run scored in the first inning.
The Grizzly offense grew in confidence and performance in the second game as inning two brought in two runs. However, the Corning Cardinals countered with their first run of not only the game, but also the day.
Though the Cardinals were expecting to shock the Grizzlies into submission with their run, Lassen was interested in no such response. In the third inning, Lassen negated the Cardinal success with yet another run.
With the score at a steady 4-1 favoring Lassen High, Corning put in a solid effort to land two additional runs in the fifth inning.
However, the Grizzlies were yet again unimpressed and decided to negate the Corning runs further with two runs scored in inning six. The lack of responding runs from the Cardinals solidified their fate: Lassen had won game two of two with a final score of 6-3.
Of the six runs scored, Zach George made two and Delgado, Miller, St. Andre and Spencer Lively each made one. Five RBIs were credited between Dyer, Josiah Snell, Bennett, Miller and Chavez.
Throughout the game, Bennett and Chavez each hit one double, and George stole one base.
Miller, St. Andre and Chavez split the seven innings on the mound with a combined total of three runs, two walks, one earned run and four strikeouts among them.
