Fountain Valley PONY edges Cypress to reach regional semifinals

Fountain Valley saw a monstrous lead evaporate. It needed stability.

Cooper Rolish and Roman Goluboff stepped up just in time on Friday night.

Rolish scored late to stake the Fountain Valley All-Stars to a 7-6 victory over host Cypress at Oak Knoll Park, advancing to the Pinto Region semifinals of the PONY 8-and-under tournament.

Fountain Valley resumes action against Santa Ana on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. for a chance to go to the championship Sunday afternoon. Santa Ana routed West Garden Grove 8-0 to reach the semifinals.

Walk. Steal. Wild pitch. Score. Rinse and repeat. The Fountain Valley blue and gold followed this formula to sprint to an early lead.

Xavier Banderas catalyzed a four-run first inning avalanche. After a walk, he beat throws to second and third, and waltzed home after a wild pitch to open the scoring.

“We know how to manufacture runs,” Fountain Valley coach Dan Vance said. “We don’t slug it too often, but we get guys on base. Since we’re fast, we can be aggressive on the bases as well.”

Isaac Herrera singled, and then took advantage of two wild throws by the Cypress catcher to score another run. Rolish and Peyton Nguyen followed suit to stretch the lead to 4-0. Rolish baited the Cypress pitcher into a pickle, and he zipped past the catcher for the score.

After Cypress tacked on a run in the bottom of the first, the bottom of Fountain Valley’s order went to work. Gunner Mercado, Goluboff and Banderas loaded the bases, and a Herrera walk drove home a run. Goluboff beat the catcher’s glove after a wild pitch to bolster the lead to 6-1.

It seemed destined for a mercy rule. But the hometown team calmed down on defense and slugged itself back into it.

Herrera entered at pitcher, and Cypress promptly belted two singles off him. Sloppy infielding cut the deficit to four in the bottom of the second. After striking out the side, Cypress used two singles and a powerful double to tighten the score at 6-4.

“We had far too many defensive errors,” Vance said. “We knew that the middle innings were going to be rough. We have to switch pitchers a lot to keep people fresh and save our best stuff for the end.”

The defense continued to unravel in the bottom of the fourth, allowing two runners to steal home. The Fountain Valley dugout unsuccessfully protested the second run, stating Herrera had called time out just before.

Just like that, a blowout was now a 6-6 tie.

Enter Rolish. He forced a popup to close the inning, and then sliced a single to right field to open the fifth. He stole two bases, and then took advantage of a passed ball to reclaim the lead at 7-6.

Goluboff hit the rubber for the bottom half of the fifth, only to find himself with runners on the corners with only one out. Feeling the pressure, and the noise of the Cypress crowd, he struck out the next two batters to salvage the one-run margin.

“I didn’t hear the crowd,” Goluboff said. “I just thought about throwing strikes and getting outs.”

Cypress stymied Fountain Valley the next inning, and Vance called on James Lusignan for the save. He forced two grounders, with Herrera slinging two rockets to Lucas Vance at first for the outs. Lusignan caught Cypress swinging to clinch the win.

“Coach told me good job,” Lusignan said with a shy grin.

Two more wins means a regional championship, as well as a berth in the super regional next Thursday in Moreno Valley.

“Onwards!” said Lusignan’s proud family.

SAM DODGE is a contributor to Times Community News.