When Crespi (Encino, Calif.) coach Scott Muckey sent Scott Heineman home from third on a shallow fly ball in the bottom of the ninth inning of the championship game of the Diamond Sports National Classic, he had a very good reason — he had no choice.
Crespi celebrates their tournament championship.
Photo by Heston Quan
“I didn’t think we were going to get a better scoring opportunity,” said Muckey. “We would have liked the flyball to have been deeper, but we didn’t have a choice. We also didn’t have any more pitching so we had to go for it.”
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, the score tied at 1-1 and runners at first and third, Crespi’s Jack Colick lifted a fly ball to short centerfield. Heineman took off from third base on the catch and when the throw from centerfield went up the third-base line, he was able to slide home with the winning run.
The 2-1 victory at Cal State Fullerton’s Goodwin Field on Thursday over host El Dorado (Placentia, Calif.) gave Crespi its second National Classic championship in the past three years. Muckey hopes that the win will give the Celts momentum heading into league play.
“I told the kids that it’s going to be tough like this when we begin league play and it will be tough like this if we’re able to make the playoffs, so this was a good test for us,” said Muckey.
The Celts outlasted a group of 15 teams to win the National Classic, which used wooden bats for the first time. Tournament officials have said that the change to wooden bats could be a permanent one. That could mean a drop in home run production, but an increase in outstanding pitching and small-ball scoring tactics.
“I thought both teams were supposed to be out of pitching by the championship game,” said Muckey. “I thought it would be more of an 8-7 type game instead of 2-1. I thought maybe we had five good innings of pitching left, but we got nine.”
Last year’s tournament had games with multiple home runs while this year’s tournament had only three in the first three days of the tournament and another four on the final day. Compare that to last year when Norco’s Matt Hobgood had three home runs all by himself. The wooden bats resulted in the more prevalent use of the sacrifice bunt, which Crespi used to its advantage in the final inning with its top home run hitter. Ryon Healy, the No. 3 batter in the lineup, laid down a bunt, following Heineman’s inning-opening basehit, to put Heineman in scoring position.
“Ryon is a great bunter, maybe our best bunter,” said Muckey. “We gave him one strike to get a hit, so when he got a strike, we had him lay down the bunt.”
The Golden Hawks were unable to throw out Healy at first base on the play. That put runners at first and second with no outs. The next batter grounded the ball to first base and El Dorado just missed turning the double play, getting Healy at second base but narrowly missing the second out at first base. That missing out allowed Colick’s fly ball to centerfield to score Heineman with the winning run.
Ryan Brockett pitched four innings and gave up one run for Crespi while Josh Mason threw the final two frames and earned the win. Brockett was named the most valuable pitcher in the tournament while Mason was the most valuable player. El Dorado’s Brennan Fulkerson was named the tournament’s most valuable offensive player.
Crespi opened the scoring with a run in the second inning when Colick singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex Gonzalez. El Dorado, which finished second in the National Classic for the fourth time in school history, tied the score in the top of the sixth. Tyler Saiki was hit by a pitch to open the frame and moved to second on a sacrifice by Chris Rivera. A stolen base put Saiki on third base and he scored on Adam Velez’s single.
In other games, Lutheran (Orange, Calif.) throttled Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.) 12-1 in the third-place game, Palm Desert defeated Marin Catholic (Kentfield, Calif.) 3-1 for the consolation championship, Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.) knocked off Salpointe Catholic (Tucson, Ariz.) 9-5 for fifth place, Esperanza (Anaheim, Calif.) topped Palos Verdes Peninsula (Rolling Hills Estates, Calif.) 9-1 for seventh place, West Ranch (Valencia, Calif.) topped IMG Academies (Bradenton, Fla.) 8-3 for 11th place and South Hills (West Covina, Calif.) topped Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 4-3 for 13th place.
Lutheran 12, Edison 1
The Lancers bounced back from a semifinal loss to Crespi with one of the top offensive explosions of the tournament in a 12-1 win over Edison in the third place game at El Dorado High School.
Lutheran scored two runs in the second and third innings and then got a grand-slam home run from Andre Real as part of a five-run fourth inning. Zach Verlaan added a two-run home run in the sixth inning to climax the Lancer scoring attack.
Edison scored its only run when Henry Owens singled and a pinch-runner scored on Eric Snyder’s double.
Palm Desert 3, Marin Catholic 1
The Aztecs scored single runs in the first, third and fifth innings and got strong pitching from Jono Tellier to top Marin Catholic 3-1.
Ryan Garvey, son of former Los Angeles Dodger Steve Garvey, had a solo home run for Palm Desert in the fifth frame. Tellier gave up just one run on seven hits with two strikeouts.
Bishop Amat 9, Salpointe Catholic 5
When Bishop Amat fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning against Salpointe Catholic, Lancer coach Andy Nieto cautioned his team that they didn’t need to get it back all at once.
They didn’t listen.
Bishop Amat scored twice in the first inning, including a solo home run by Rio Ruiz, and six more times in the second frame to build an 8-2 lead and eventually gain the 9-5 win.
The Lancers took advantage of four walks in the second inning and got a double and a single from Dominique Davis and singles from Ryan Serrato, Jerry McClanahan and Joe Eusebio to spark the rally.
All-Tournament Team
Members of the all-tournament team included Dillon Moyer, IMG Academies; Nate Kristoff, Marin Catholic; Dan Slania, Salpointe Catholic; Jacob Hunter, Salpointe Catholic; Ryan Cooper, Esperanza; Brandon Johnson, Esperanza; Joey Luvisi, Notre Dame Prep; Andrew Thurman, Lutheran; Dillon Bryant, Lutheran; Jared Ortiz, West Ranch; JC Cloney, West Ranch; Tony Poncia, Palos Verdes Peninsula; Sammy Moore, Palos Verdes Peninsula; Derrick Pitts, Cottonwood; Rio Ruiz, Bishop Amat; Paul Paez, Bishop Amat; Henry Owens, Edison; AJ Libonau, Edison; Corey Hahn, Mater Dei; Adrian De Horta, South Hills; Jacob Shirley, South Hills; Scotty Burcham, Palm Desert; Ryan Garvey, Palm Desert; Brennan Fulkerson, El Dorado; Adam Velez, El Dorado; Cameron Yen, El Dorado; Michael Hubbard, Crespi; Ryan Brocket, Crespi; Josh Mason, Crespi.
