St. Monica Academy baseball rolls to league championship
It was a bit anticlimactic, but the St. Monica Academy baseball team will take it.
Behind a solid pitching performance from Jack Golbranson, the Crusaders earned an 11-0 victory against La Verne Calvary Baptist at Scholl Canyon Ball Fields to earn their second straight International League championship.
The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
“It is a fantastic accomplishment for the guys to be able to win a league championship,” said St. Monica Coach Phil Gleason, whose squad improved to 10-2, 5-0 in league. “We only have one senior, so we are a young squad, but the team has really come together this season.
“I’m really proud of the kids and they deserve this. They have really battled this season.”
St. Monica has been nothing short of dominant this season during league play. In five games, the Crusaders have outscored their opponents, 110-5.
“We are lucky that we have a great nucleus of kids, just super, super kids,” Gleason said. “They have really worked hard and there really isn’t a lot of discipline on my part because they are just such good kids.
“They recognize that their goal this season is to grow as a program and they’ve done just that.”
The Crusaders received a fine effort from Golbranson, a junior who gave up just two hits and struck out six in four innings as a starter. His brother, Matt, a senior, closed out the game in the fifth inning.
The brothers also came through at the plate, as Jack had two hits and Matt drove in three runs. Junior Sam Gutierrez also had two hits.
St. Monica held just a 1-0 lead after two innings. However, the Crusaders scored six runs in the third, two in the fourth and five in the fifth.
The Crusaders will take on Dunn on Wednesday in a nonleague game and hope to finish out the season strong and make a good showing in the CIF Southern Section VII playoffs.
“We lost, 1-0, in the first round of the playoffs last year,” said Gleason, whose team fell to Academy of Excellence. “Hopefully we can play well this year and go a few rounds in the playoffs.”
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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com
Twitter: @jefftsports
