Vikings 8, Granite Hills 2 - American Legion - Game report

The Vikings' Noah Brown slides in head first to beat the tag
on a wild pitch in the top of the sixth. It was the third
of five La Jolla runs in the inning to take a 5-1 lead.
(Photo by Ed Piper)

  

By Ed Piper

Fighting for a place in the postseason American Legion playoffs with two games left, the Vikings exploded for five runs in the top of the sixth inning after trailing 1-0, then added three more in the seventh to clinch the outcome, 8-2, at Granite Hills High Mon., July 8.

After the first two batters got aboard after being hit by pitches to lead off the sixth, second baseman Noah Brown lashed a single up the middle, scoring Calvin "Kid Hyyte" Hyytinen for the first run.

Batting in the second spot in the order behind Brown, Jake Klimkiewicz followed with another basehit.

The big blow of the inning came when left fielder Johnny Meyerott clubbed a double, this after a bases on balls to Cooper McNally.

By then, the Prowlers' slim lead had been erased, and La Jolla's advantage was increasing. Jack Liebesman pounded another two-bagger after Meyerott's.

By the end of the inning, five runs had been plated and the Vikings' lead seemed secure at 5-1.

In the top of the seventh, after Granite Hills was blanked in the bottom half of the sixth, Coach Jake Grosz's young squad added three additional runs to seal the game.

The East County school has a beautiful facility that has been upgraded along with many of the campus's buildings and athletic fields in the last couple of years, to make over what had been an aging institution.

The varsity baseball field is set at the far back of the school, so it was a little hard to find and even harder to access via an unpaved route within the campus.