Flintridge Prep sees championship style used against it by Sage Hill
NEWPORT COAST — This time around, there was no magic rally or late-inning heroics for the Flintridge Prep baseball team.
Over the last two seasons, Flintridge Prep had advanced to two CIF Southern Section semifinals, won one Division VI championship and picked up playoff victories in almost every manner possible. But that was until Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to Sage Hill in the semifinals.
Last season, Flintridge Prep won four of five postseason games via late rallies.
This year, the Rebels blew out Joshua Springs, 28-0, in the first round, played from ahead in a 4-2 win over Providence in the second round and turned in another unbelievable rally for a 7-6 victory over Salesian in the quarterfinals.
It seemed that fourth-seeded Flintridge Prep (19-6) was ready for any scenario.
However, en route to defeating eight straight teams over two postseasons, the Rebels developed a game plan that hadn’t been successfully tried against them.
That was until the squad was defeated by top-seeded Sage Hill (27-1) in Newport Coast in Tuesday’s afternoon Division VI semifinals.
“Defensively, we weren’t on point,” Flintridge Prep Coach Guillermo Gonzalez said. “We had a couple of key errors and gave up some runs and we certainly didn’t have a good approach at the plate.
“You look at Sage Hill, they did everything right. They did everything we would have liked to have done. They pitched, they hit, they played defense, they were aggressive. They played like us.”
Flintridge Prep committed three errors Tuesday, gave away five walks, went its first postseason game over the last two seasons without a stolen base and struggled mightily at the plate.
On the flip side, Sage Hill swiped three bags, aggressively moved up on the bases, only struck out once and relied on some tough pitching.
Sage Hill fell behind, 1-0, going to the bottom of the second, but was given a gift in the form of a leadoff walk. The Lightning received three inning-opening free passes and scored two of them.
In the second inning, Sage Hill pushed across its first run when junior Jack Pelc beat out what appeared to be a routine out for an infield single that scored Conner Hatz and tied the game at 1 with two outs.
Pelc then swiped second base and scored when the next batter, Edward Pelc, singled to put the Lightning up, 2-1.
In the fourth inning, a walk followed by an infield error put runners on the corners with no outs.
Though Flintridge Prep pitcher Robbie Leslie coaxed a flyout to left that was too short to score Sage Hill’s Matt King from third, a throw into third allowed Jack Pelc to move up to second base from first.
Sage Hill senior Coltran Tait then laced a two-run single down the left-field line to suddenly put the Lightning ahead, 4-1, after four innings.
The hit was part of a three-for-11 effort for Sage Hill with runners in scoring position that resulted in four runs batted in. On the flip side, Flintridge Prep finished one for four in the same situation with one RBI.
“I think they got the big hits and stole bases because they created chances,” Flintridge Prep catcher Cole Pilar said. “It’s hard to be aggressive and steal bases and come up with RBIs when no one is on base.”
Leslie, who picked up four postseason wins last year, took the defeat Tuesday, allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits with five walks and one strikeout.
“I just couldn’t get ahead in the count and that’s why I struggled,” Leslie said. “I couldn’t locate and both their guys did.”
Perhaps the biggest impediment to the Rebels was the pitching duo of starter Ashwin Chona and Brett Super.
The duo allowed one run on four hits with eight strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter.
“Both guys were just really mixing in their pitches and hitting their spots,” Rebels senior Hamilton Evans said. “We’ve seen pitchers throw harder, but these guys hit their spots and really put us in tough situations.”
Despite the defeat, what wasn’t lost on Flintridge Prep’s seven seniors was the end of a special era.
A few of those seniors were four-year members who joined the program in 2013 along with Gonzalez, who has produced two league championships, three CIF semifinal appearances, one Division VI crown and an incredible 12-3 playoff record.
“It was a hell of journey — all those comebacks, all those wins, all those memories,” Rebels senior Richard Pan said. “Yeah, we lost today, but how can you be anything but grateful to be a part of this? I’ll never forget it.”
