By Ed Piper
La Jolla head coach Anthony Sarain showed his calm nature and long years of seasoning from coaching his daughter, Katja, who starred for the Vikings as a pitcher in the 20-teens, and other La Jolla players in two particular instances Tuesday, May 27.
In the Vikings' 15-10 win over Crawford to clinch a spot in the Division 5 CIF Final Thursday, May 29, Sarain, who plays the saxophone professionally, remained cool as a cucumber when opposing coach John Martinez called time out in the top of the fourth and questioned the Vikings' batting order.
Martinez, thoroughly friendly and informative in a pregame chat about his team, was working off his scorebook. He stated to the home plate umpire that he thought that Viking second baseman Imelda Lopez, outfield sub Emily Hernandez, and outfielder Maddie Ehlert were batting out of order.
The Colt coach wasn't inappropriate, but the stakes were high in the CIF semifinal contest, and he wanted to get it right.
The conversation went back-and-forth near the La Jolla backstop, involving Viking player Jacey Taylor's mother, who was keeping the Vikings' order of play on the Gamechanger app on her phone, Sarain, and the umpire.
Nearby was Stephanie Alvarez, former Viking and co-coach with Sarain in 2023 and 2024. She, likewise, was a calm presence.
All the while, Anthony remained poised, not in a hurry, listening as Martinez questioned who was supposed to be batting after three hitters in the inning.
At the time, La Jolla was leading 13-4. But Crawford, with several good hitters, is no slouch and was capable of coming back from the deficit to make it a close ballgame.
Lopez, the second baseman, had lined out on soft contact to third baseman Katerin Ponce for the first out of the inning. Hernandez, subbing in the outfield for Maddie McConnell, then lined out to Crawford shortstop Kimberly Gomez.
Finally, Ehlert singled to right, and after Martinez's discussion, the inning ended on leadoff hitter Savannah Putnam's groundout to third. The matter got resolved, and no protest was lodged.
Then, of more consequence, with only one out in the top of the seventh, the game on the line, La Jolla in the lead 15-9, the Colts had fourth-slot hitter Ponce coming up. The opening batter, in the eighth slot, walked and scored. Itzel Carrillo, batting in the ninth spot, struck out.
Leadoff hitter Dariana Neria, who Coach Martinez said "sets the table for us", singled and advanced to third. Gomez, the shortstop who caught Hernandez's liner in the fourth, stepped in and walked.
Vike hurler Nat Alvarez hit Melissa Pineda, in the third slot, with a pitch to load up the bases.
This was the situation when Sarain, again, calculating and cool--considering possible outcomes--looked at prior innings and realized that Ponce, swinging a big bat, had driven in a run in the top of the first in her first at-bat. In her next at-bat, in the third, she drove in two more with a shot to right-centerfield.
Lastly, in the top of the fifth, the reliable Katerin had again lined a shot to right, but there was nobody on in front of her to drive in. Instead, she took second on a wild pitch, and scored on Wendy Vasquez's booming shot to right-center.
Sarain calmly decided to put the clean-up batter on base, and informed the home plate umpire for an intentional walk. That caused Neria to score from third, and move the score to 15-10.
The gamble worked out perfectly, as second baseman Analia Felix struck out, and Michelle Aduba grounded out to second. Game over. Win secured.
No comments:
Post a Comment