Cole Dimich, Tuesday's hero.
(Photos Ed Piper, Jr.)
By Ed Piper, Jr.
Centerfielder Cole Dimich made the throw that third baseman Sebastian Partida relayed to nail Olympian's Daniel Dorado at the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning with darkness falling, preserving La Jolla's 6-5 come-from-behind win Tues., March 7, in its season opener on the road.
"Was it worth the drive down?" Viking catcher Garrett Brown asked an observer in the top of the 10th, after he singled to lead off the inning, then scored the go-ahead run on Zach Sehgal's fly down the left field line, which the Eagles' Robert Cortez dived for and missed. The ball rolled down the line as Sehgal raced to third with a triple.
The shortstop then scored an insurance run on a wild pitch for a 6-4 lead.
It's fortunate that he did for Coach Gary Frank's Vikings. Dimich's throw from left-center was necessary after Olympian scored a run in the bottom of the 10th with two outs against right-hander Nick Ferenczy on Victor Zazueta's double to center, followed by Dorado's hit to left.
Dorado, whose last name means "the golden one", almost ended up one. He had hit the ball well in his previous four at-bats against La Jolla starter Nick Hammel, who went four innings, giving up three runs in the first, then newcomer Alex Monell, a 6'4" drink of water. Monell went three.
Olympian's Robert Cortez, following Dorado in the order in the sixth slot, slugged a hit to left-center. After Dimich and Monell, now playing left, scrambled for the ball, Dimich fired a peg to Partida, positioned inside the baseline to take the relay. Partida's accurate throw nestled in Brown's mitt to beat Dorado to the plate, ending the game in the gloaming.
Zach Sehgal, another
star Tuesday.
Coaches had conferred with the umpires as the three extra innings dragged on, the sun in the West descending. But Viking freshman Cooper McNally, playing his first varsity game, told Frank he could see the ball fine in right field, and Frank's two cents to the umps helped continue the game into the bottom of the 10th setting the stage for Dimich's heroics.
The game's final play at the South Bay school came at 5:50 p.m., two hours and 50 minutes after the opening pitch to leadoff hitter Dimich. Because clocks don't change until Saturday night for Daylight Saving Time, lighting was getting pretty sketchy by the end of the game. But the will seemed to be there in both dugouts to complete the 10th inning, if at all possible.
Sehgal, the shortstop starting his senior season, drove in two runs, then stole the Vikings another in the sixth to enable the red and black to forge ahead, 4-3, after trailing 3-1 since Hammel's "unlucky" bottom of the first (his catcher's word).
After Dane Hansen beat out a grounder to short, with one out Brown got aboard when Eagles first baseman Ian Spillane booted his grounder. But Spillane, in too much of a hurry, whirled to throw to first base. Starter Mathew Knueppel was nowhere in the area to cover the bag, and the throw rolled to the backstop.
Meanwhile, Hansen and Brown advanced to third and second, respectively. Sehgal brought both in with a single to left center. The score was tied, 4-4. Hammel was off the hook for the loss.
The 6'2" speedster, who only had one stolen base his entire junior campaign, then swiftly swiped second and third in short order. On the steal of third, Kevin Murphy, the catcher for Olympian, fell to the ground as he completed his throw down the line. Sehgal beat it to the bag in a cloud of dust.
Sebastian Partida, hitting in the seventh slot, then grounded out to second, scoring Sehgal for the 4-3 lead.
Olympian scored in the bottom of the inning, leading to the game continuing into extra innings.
Hammel, the senior ace of the staff, threw 66 pitches in his first outing of the season. Pitch count limits are now part of official CIF rules, dictating rest and how many more pitches hurlers can throw in a week. Mixing his repertoire of fastball, changeup and curve, he said after leaving the mound that he had felt good and that his pitches were working. Did he feel relaxed? "Yeah."
In a kind of humorous aside, though not unaccompanied by pain, Sehgal, before his two-RBI single in the sixth, hit Hansen, the runner on third, with a ground ball that was foul in two senses of the word. Dane took a shot in the right buttock by the hard-hit ball. The ball then ricocheted and hit him in the hand, as well. Hansen already had his left knee skinned in another play, so he was attending to both hurts in the dugout after scoring on Sehgal's hit.
In the third, the Vikes could have tallied a run on a disputed call at the plate. With one out, Dimich was a runner on third base. Ferenczy hit a ball to third. Dorado, in the thick of the action here also, threw home to nab the sprinting Dimich. He slid head-first, and was called out on the tag by Murphy.
"I touched the plate," said Dimich after the play. "Then he (Murphy) tagged me on the (left) shoulder."
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