Sultans, Eagles impress; Cougars caught looking

RAMONA (5-15-2019) – Beauty remains

in the eye of the beholder. And for the

Santana Sultans, old-school baseball is

just fine when you come out on top.

On Tuesday (May 14), the Sultans

tallied twice in the top of the 7th

inning, then Ben Hart capped off a

complete-game, 4-hitter to stun host

Ramona, 4-3, in the CIF Division II
playoffs play-in game.

“I’m really proud of our guys and how
we competed today,” Hart said. “Lots of
teams will fold after giving up three in the
first inning but we showed some resiliency
today and battled back. Nobody on our team
looked panicked, and it showed in the 7th.

“Great team win, now we got a tough team
in Santa Fe Christian tomorrow but we’ll be ready.

Cole Contreras, who had batted 0-for-3

with a pair of strikeouts, right now

loves being called ugly. He worked a walk with

the bases loaded to force home the

game-tying run.

Moments later, Sean Iverson lifted a

fly ball to left field just deep enough

to score Hart on a sacrifice fly to

give Santana its first lead since the

first inning.

Hart, just steps away from the pitch

limit, did have East County saves

leader Riley Hamilton ready in the

bullpen. However, Hart ran his record

to 6-5 by retiring the Bulldogs in order

to advance his ballclub to the next

round.

“Our schedule was really tough this year
playing mostly D1 teams that really helped
us prepare for playoffs,” Hart said. “We knew
heading into the game that we’re facing a top
guy in the county but it’s wasn’t anything we
hadn’t seen before with the competition
we have in our league.”

Santana (13-14 overall) travels to

Solana Beach and play Santa Fe

Christian on its all-weather field on

Wednesday.

Ramona (16-12-1), champions of North

County’s Valley League, had won 15 of

its last 18 contests. However, the Dawgs

are eliminated after finishing third in

D-2 the past two seasons. However, the

school is just 3-11 in postseason games against Grossmont

Conference schools since 1998.

Santana got on the scoreboard quickly

in the first when Tyler Glowacki slammed

a two-out, solo home run to left field

after fouling off the two previous

pitches.

The Bulldogs answered with three tuns

in the home-half of the frame.

Derek Diamond tied the game with an RBI

double to left to score E.J. Edelman.

Both are seniors. Then a Sultans error

plated a pair of unearned runs.

Santana’s comeback started in the

fifith when Ramona issued a pair of

walks and hit a batter to load the

bases with no one out. However, the

Sultans could only manage one run on a

Hart single, as the Dawgs escaped with

on a double play and a strikeout.

Hart and Iverson each finished with two

of Santana’s six hits.

GRANITE HILLS 5, VISTA 3: At Granite

Hills, Eagles pitcher Noa Ponciano

recovered from a slow start to fire 5.1

innings of shutout ball, as Granite

Hills scored all of its runs in the 2nd

inning to plank the Panthers in a

play-in game in CIF Division I playoff

action Tuesday (May 14).

Nearing his pitch limit, Ponciano (5-5)

saw Eric Hogan register the final three

outs for his first save of the season.

“Today was mostly a fastball pitching
game during the seventh inning,” Hogan
said. “Having the closing role on the team
comes with a lot of pressure but once you
overcome the pressure, it becomes
like a normal game of baseball.”

Ponciano allowed two quick singles, but

a double play grounder almost got him

out of the inning. However, Vista

cleanup hitter Nate Daniels belted an

RBI double for a 1-0 lead.

Afterward, it was all Ponciano and the

Eagles, featuring several key hits in

the big rally in the second.

“I think Hogan being a closer will be a great
part of our pitching staff,” Ponciano said.
“He is a great part in our rotation and I
would love it if he keeps doing what he is doing.”

Setting the table with one-out hits

by Clay Fordham (single) and Max

Bodtke (double). Then the runs poured

in as Granite Hills posted seven consecutive base hits.

“It was a good overall game, very solid for us,”
Fordham said. “We showed our bats are alive
and well but we’d definitely like to put up more
hits and runs as the game progresses so we don’t
have any scary situations later on in the game.

“We never really had the concern of the game
even though it appeared so in the last inning.

“We love Hogan coming into the game shutting it
down for us. He’s just really good at doing his job.
He just had to come in and help Ponce he threw
one heck of a game to get us through this must win.

“Overall there’s not much more to be satisfied with
than what we showed in our first playoff game today.

Austin Smith singled in a pair for a 2-1 lead, then Alex Gibaud and Ryan Fenn singled to load the bases.

T.K. Parker lined a double to left to

push the margin to 4-1, followed by an

RBI single from Sean McGrew.

Fenn, the leadoff batter, went 3-for-4,

while seven other Eagles had hits as

part of a 10-hit attack.

Granite Hills (14-13) advances to the

main draw, traveling to meet 4th-seed

St. Augustine at Hickman Field in

Kearny Mesa.

Vista (11-18-1) saw  Daniel Ramirez

bat 2-for-3, while Daniels and Drake

Buffington adding doubles.

OLYMPIAN 10, STEELE CANYON 5: At Rancho San Diego, the Cougars’ hopes to gain a decisive third ballgame with Grossmont Valley League rival Valhalla became completely unraveled after the visiting Eagles ended their season in Tuesday’s (May 24) CIF Division II play-in contest.

Moments after Steele Canyon tied the game at 3-all, Olympian registered six runs in the 3rd inning to cement the triumph. The Eagles collected 15 hits, including a game-tying, leadoff home run by left fielder Ryan Rodrin in the 2nd inning.

Instead of setting the table, Eagles leadoff batter Hector Acosta drove in three runs, while No. 2 hitter Victor Zazueta had a pair of RBI.

In addition, Cody Roberto and Nevin Baclig knocked in a pair of runs in the 15-hit attack.

Steele Canyon saw center fielder Richard Pedrin bat 2-for-3 including a double to close the season on a 6-game hitting streak (8-for-21),

Eli Page and Jonathan Ramirez also doubled, but six total Cougars hits were far from enough against Eagles pitcher Bradley Mookini, who struck out six in his complete-game effort.

Steele Canyon (18-10) has won just a single CIF game since 2014. Senior first baseman Bill Tellous finishes the campaign with 10 home runs, the most by a member of the Cougars since Mark Bellatti hit 12 in 2008.

Olympian (17-10) continues its march through the East County with a meeting with another Grossmont Valley league opponent in Valhalla on Wednesday.

“Just a tough one to swallow,”

Steele Canyon senior starting pitcher Brad Barkley said. “Wish things could have went our way but a great season. We couldn’t seem to get in a groove and their hits went where our guys weren’t.”