LJ baseball: Frank says 'It is a one-game season'

LJ shortstop Corey Druse (9) plays behind

runner Khalil Graham of Mira Mesa in the top

of the fifth inning Fri., May 10.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

For La Jolla High coach Gary Frank, the Vikings' CIF Division 3 play-in game Tues., May 14 is the "focus"--planning the pitching should the Vikes win and turn around to play again the next day is "not even a consideration".

Frank, in his 21st year as La Jolla's head coach, said of the elimination home game against El Capitan Tuesday, "It is a one-game season, and all our energy is geared towards a very tough El Cap team."

Everything else rests on winning Tuesday.

La Jolla is seeded eighth, El Capitan ninth in the upper part of the D3 bracket. The winner wins the right to face Valhalla, the number-one seed, Wednesday on Valhalla's home field.

The challenge for the play-in winner is shuffling with pitchers in a short time, with back-to-back games in two days, to make a fight against the top team in the entire playoff setup. It's like Mesa College going up against the University of Connecticut in March Madness.

The Vikings got into this position by finishing third in the Eastern League, losing 5-4 to Mira Mesa on their home field Fri., May  10. There was a big crowd for Senior Day, and emotion and feeling were in the air as the team played its last regular season game with six seniors: shortstop Cory Druse, Declan Kelly (who started on the mound), Cole Roberts, leftfielder Andrew Cho, catcher Shane McMillan, and rightfielder Chris Monell.

Vike 2B Renner Smith (18) earns a walk

in the bottom of the second inning.

But it's not a horrible situation. La Jolla made the postseason playoffs, and that was the goal. We won't even talk about the disappointment of last year, when the Vikings failed to qualify.

"Our focus is on Tuesday, and Tuesday alone," said Frank Saturday afternoon after the CIF brackets were announced and he had a chance to chew on them during the day.

"If we win on Tuesday, we will then move onto focusing on our next opponent."

He spoke of his team's strength and readiness: "Our team is battle-tested. We have had multiple weeks with four games in a single week.

"If we are fortunate enough to still be playing on Wednesday, our boys have been there before and will be ready for the challenge."

The Vikings are 5-5 in the Eastern League, 16-12 overall. Scripps Ranch won the league title at 8-2, 13-15 overall. In second was Mira Mesa, 6-4 in league, 16-11 overall.