Parent drives Hillers to Division I title

2018 EAST COUNTY PREP BASEBALL

 

By Ramon Scott

EastCountySports.com

 

SAN DIEGO – Grossmont High head baseball coach JORDAN ABRUZZO couldn’t have scripted Saturday’s San Diego CIF Division I baseball championship game much better.

Using deserving senior JOE WILLIAMS to get the Foothillers through the first three innings, the skipper went to ace JACK HYDE over the final four frames and senior TYLER PARENT crushed the biggest hit of his career – a three-run double in the last of the sixth –  as Grossmont won its second-straight Division I title by defeating the Madison Warhawks, 6-2.

Bases clearing Double by Tyler Parent gives Grossmont 5-2 lead. Bottom of the 6th pic.twitter.com/9jABHZzz9X

— Chase Karlo (@Chasekarloghs) June 2, 2018

Parent cleared the bases on a 3-2 pitch, sending the ball into right-center field to snap a 2-all tie, eventually lifting the Foothillers program to a record-setting 13th overall section baseball title.

Freshman ISAIAH GOMEZ was up next after the big hit and he laced a triple to right to bring in Parent, producing the final margin of victory.

Grossmont senior AUSTIN ODOM sliced a shot into the right-field corner for a triple to lead off the bottom of the first inning.

Sophomore GIO GIGANTE grounded an infield single up the middle to short, driving in Odom for a 1-0 lead.

Hyde struck out four over four innings, including two in the top of the seventh inning, to get the victory.

Second-seeded Grossmont (21-12-1) started Williams, a multi-sport athlete that has battled injuries late in his career.

The senior may have saved his best for last, completing three hard-fought innings against the experienced Warhawks.

Williams hit the first batter of the game but then retired seven straight before Madison’s Spencer Lass singled and then scored on a double by Devin Padua.

The Warhawks’ Izzy Tafolla singled home Padua to produce a 2-1 advantage.

Odom, who interrupted a Madison rally against Hyde in the fourth with an outfield assist after an errant pickoff throw which went down the right-field line, tied the game by lining a two-out RBI single to right in the last of the fifth, scoring Parent (single).

After the minor jam in the fourth, Hyde faced the minimum over the final three frames, aided by a tailor-made 4-6-3 double play in the fifth, and a wonderful over the shoulder catch by senior first baseman JESSE GARCIA down the right-field line on a game-ending pop-up.

Garcia maneuvered his hulking frame like the “Big Cat” Andres Galarraga, as he backpedaled and lunged away from the plate to avoid the backup slide by second baseman JASE RUSSELL to still come down with the tumbling grab.

For Garcia, he ended up catching a pop fly for the final out of both of the Foothillers’ back-to-back championship game wins.

Grossmont wins 6-2. Wins back to back D1 titles and their 13th Baseball title, most in CIF-SDS. pic.twitter.com/JJwto8Cp40

— Chase Karlo (@Chasekarloghs) June 2, 2018

Previous playoff scores
Open Division
1R– Carlsbad 4, Grossmont 1 (8 inn.)
1R – Cathedral Catholic 3, Helix 1
LB1 – at Grossmont 9, La Jolla Country Day 4
LB1 – at Eastlake 5, Helix 0
LB2 – at Grossmont 7, Westview 4
SF – Carlsbad 9, Grossmont 0
Division I
PI – Santana 7, at Vista 4
PI – at Granite Hills 6, Bonita Vista 2
PI – at Bonita Vista 1, Christian 1
1R – Santana 3, at Madison 2
1R – at Granite Hills 6, Bonita Vista 2
WSF – Santana 4, at Granite Hills 3
LBF – Madison 17, at Granite Hills 4
WBF – at Madison 7, Santana 6
WPB– at Madison 2, Santana 1
Division II
PI – at Ramona 6, Valhalla 2
PI – at Sage Creek 3, El Capitan 2
Division III
PI – Kearny 3, at Monte Vista 2
Division IV
SF – at Foothills Christian 5, Fallbrook 2
WBF – at San Pasqual 10, Foothills Christian 6
LBF – Fallbrook 2, Foothills Christian 0
Division V
1R – at Tri-City Chr. 10, El Cajon Valley 0
1R – at Calvin Christian 11, iberty Charter 1
1R – at Mountain Empire 15, Vincent Mem. 4
WBS – at Mountain Empirw 11, Calvary CV 8
WBF – at Mountian Empire 4, Calvin Chr. 3 (8)
Final – Tri-City Chr. 11, Mountain Empire 1

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