Crescenta Valley 10-11 baseball completes comeback for District 16 title
TUJUNGA — Scoring runs in three of four innings, the Crescenta Valley 10-11 Little League baseball team completed its comeback in the Tri-Cities District 16 All-Star Tournament on Saturday morning at the expense of host Glendale Vaquero.
Crescenta Valley topped Vaquero for the second consecutive day in impressive fashion once again, 13-0, for a four-inning victory in the tournament championship at Tujunga Little League Ballfields.
With the win, Crescenta Valley finished a 3-1 tournament run and qualified to the Section 2 Tournament at Sierra Madre’s Heasley Field. First-round action takes place Wednesday, July 12.
Vaquero tallied a 1-2 mark.
The three-team district tournament boiled down to a three-game series between the squads, with Vaquero drawing first blood via a 2-1 victory over Crescenta Valley on June 28.
Crescenta Valley was dropped to the elimination bracket and beat Jewel City/Jewish War Veterans, 11-0, on Thursday before forcing a winner-take-all finale after a 22-0 rout of Vaquero on Friday.
“We had to go out and prove that we were the best team in this tournament,” Crescenta Valley coach Kevin Deitch said. “I felt confident about our squad. We had that rough start, but we battled back and we only allowed two runs in the entire tournament, which is quite an accomplishment.”
Crescenta Valley scored four runs in the first, five in the third and four in the fourth to seal the win.
Crescenta Valley led, 9-0, in the fourth inning with two outs and a runner on first when the visitors mounted their final assault.
Three straight hits produced two runs as Jake Rendo and Holden Deitch (two runs) singled in a run each, while Rendo scored on one of Vaqueros’ seven wild pitches. Deitch finished off the scoring when the shortstop crossed home plate after an infield error as Crescenta Valley led, 13-0, going to the bottom of the fourth.
It was a combination of hitting and errors that fueled Crescenta Valley’s attack throughout.
In the first, Crescenta Valley tallied four runs with two coming on a single from Callum Clark (two runs batted in) and on a double from Brody Ruyle. Crescenta Valley added two runs on a wild pitch and on an error to take a 4-0 advantage.
The biggest offensive inning was the third, as Crescenta Valley tacked on five runs to go up, 9-0.
In the third, Sean Sommer and Rendo (three for four with three runs and two runs batted in) drove in a run each on a single, while Andy Saryan added a run-scoring triple.
Though Crescenta Valley didn’t need great pitching, the squad received it from Tyler Cofre, who tossed a four-inning shutout and allowed only one hit, while striking out six.
“Even with the hitting, one of the things I like to stress is that defense wins championships,” Kevin Deitch said. “We had some great pitching today and being able to get outs is key.”
Vaquero finished with five errors, along with a few other gaffes that changed the complexity of the game.
Vaquero advanced leadoff batter Jason Martinez (walk) to second in the first inning, while Mathew Romero turned in his team’s lone hit with a single in the second inning.
“Maybe if we make some plays it’s a different game, but honestly, Crescenta Valley is a very good hitting team,” said Vaquero coach Mickey Moreno, a former skipper at Hoover High. “When we faced CV the first time, we received a great pitching effort and you need that again to advance against a good team. Overall, I’m happy my team made it to the final day.”
