Sultans, RedHawks enjoy Pacific breezes
- Updated: March 2, 2022
2022 EAST COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
ECS staff report
East County invaders to the seashore of the Pacific Ocean found success in the salt air after Santana and Mountain Empire high schools posted impressive victories.
Santana moved to 3-1 overall with a strong pitching performance by Koda Alto to halt Cathedral Catholic.
Meanwhile, an offensive slug-vest saw Mountain Empire to bury the Bruins of High Tech-San Diego, 14-6, in just five innings.
Santana 3, Cathedral Catholic 1
CARMEL HIGHLANDS — Santana senior Koda Alto was two outs away from a complete game in leading the Sultans to victory at Manchester Field.
Alto scattered seven hits and a walk, yet kept the Dons baserunners well-scattered throughout his effort in protecting a fast 3-0 lead in the first.
The slow-starting Dons allowed a pair of game-opening walks to Elijah Reber and Ethan Wright, but thought they avoided a major Santana outburst by inducing a grounder for a double play.
However, Caleb Harris answered with an RBI double for a 1-0 lead, the Caden Cordeman accepted the third walk of the inning.
Then with two outs, Jason Gonzalez (Sr) and Destin Allen-Fox stroked hard infield sngles — the first to third base, the next off the Cathedral pitcher — to hand Alto a lead he never surrendered.
“The thing that worked for me most was pitching more to my advantages rather than pitching to their advantages,” said Alto on protect the lead. “It’s way easier trusting myself to do what I’m most comfortable with compared to working around them.”
Cathedral Catholic registered its lone run in the second on a run-scoring basehit by senor Charlie Mirer.
“This has definitely been the best performance by me against Cathedral, but it still had its ups and downs,” Alto added. “We’re still early on in our season and seeing a team effort like this go in our favor is a real confidence booster.”
Harris paced the offense, going 2-for-4, scoring a run and driving in another.
The clubs own transposed records as Santana moves to 3-1 overall; the Dons are 1-3.
Mountain Empire 14, SD-High Tech 6 (5 inn., darkness)
LIBERTY STATION —The Mountain Empire RedHawks tallied all the runs eeded in just the first-half inning, scoring seven times to eventually bounce the Bruins of High Tech High-San Diego, 14-6, on Monday (Mar. 1). The ballgame was called after five innings due to darkness.
.Nine different players drove in runs for Mountain Empire, including a pair each by Davis Lothspeich and Frank Herman.
Angel Jimenez belted a pair of doubles in support of a 14 hit attack for Mountain Empire.
The RedHawks (1-1 overall) return to “civilization” on Thursday, traveling to meet El Cajon Valley at 3 p.m. in the Braves home opener.
