Huge first inning lifts Crescenta Valley Major All-Stars to baseball title
MONTROSE — It was the kind of inning that most baseball teams just dream about.
But for the Crescenta Valley Major All-Stars, it was a reality.
After falling behind in Wednesday evening’s District 16 Tournament championship game against Vaquero, Crescenta Valley stormed back in a big way.
Crescenta Valley pushed across 12 runs in the bottom of the first inning, building an insurmountable advantage that culminated with a 16-1 victory in three innings against Vaquero at Montrose Park.
Crescenta Valley ended the tournament undefeated, notching wins against Jewel City/Jewish War Veterans-Tujunga, 19-1, and Vaquero, 5-1, previously.
“Baseball is funny in that when one kid hits the ball and then everybody wants to hit the ball, and I think that’s what happened for us in that first inning,” Crescenta Valley coach Kevin Deitch said. “We had some good swings on some pitches, balls were flying around and unfortunately some of them weren’t played well. And we just kept it going.
“We have a lot of good baseball players and they all can hit. I say I have 13 starters on this team and only nine starting spots.”
Having fallen behind, 1-0, in the top of the first inning, Crescenta Valley flexed its muscle mightily in its portion of the opening frame. In sending 16 players to the plate, Crescenta Valley pushed across 12 runs on 13 hits — including a pair of two-run home runs — and took advantage of two errors, three wild pitches and three passed balls.
The first 10 Crescenta Valley batters reached base in the first before Vaquero could record the first out.
In the first inning, Holden Deitch had a two-run home run and a single for two runs batted in, Andrew Miller had a two-run blast and a base hit for two RBI, Andy Saryan had a triple and a single with two RBI and Jake Rendo had a double, a single and knocked in two runs.
“We have a lot of guys who can do certain different things like hit for power or players who can get on base,” Holden Deitch said. “We wanted to keep the pressure on them.”
Vaquero had a promising start by taking a 1-0 lead in its first at-bats. Crsecanta Valley starting pitcher Shade Schaefer got into some trouble early, hitting Christian Kunz and Brandon Guzman in consecutive at-bats and walking Matthew Romeo to load the bases. With two outs, Sebastien Villasenor roped a single to right field to score Kunz. Schaefer limited the damage by notching a strikeout to end the inning with the bases loaded.
“I didn’t expect anything to come easy for us today. They are a good team,” Vaquero coach David Piedra said. “You have to give CV props because they came out hitting and they came out ready for what we had.
:”Our kids have a lot of heart and I give them credit for being out there battling and not giving up.”
Crescenta Valley made it 16-1 with four runs in the second, highlighted by a run-scoring double by Saryan (three for three with a triple, double, two RBI and three runs scored) and RBI singles by Tyler Cofre, Luke Koukeyan and Rendo (two for three with a double and three RBI).
Crescenta Valley now advances to the Section 2 Tournament, which begins Saturday in Quartz Hill and will play the hosts from District 51 in an opening-round game at 4 p.m.
“This team has been more or less together for three or four years and it’s coming together at the right time and hopefully we can put something together this weekend,” Kevin Deitch said.
