Crescenta Valley 9-10 baseball eliminated after slugfest with Quartz Hill

A slugfest in the Section 2 9-10 Baseball Tournament was nothing new to the Crescenta Valley All-Stars.

Unfortunately, coming up on the short end of one wasn’t novel, either, as Crescenta Valley was eliminated by Quartz Hill, 23-20, on Sunday at Woodland Hills Sunrise Little League.

“Longest game I’ve ever been a part of,” said CV 9-10 Manager Kevin Deitch, who added that the game started on time at 9 a.m. and concluded sometime after 12:30 p.m. “I just think both teams could really hit the ball.

“While I’m disappointed [we lost], I’m proud of the guys. … We really fought and did what we could to get through to the next game, but we just couldn’t.”

Deitch was proudest of his team’s fortitude in charging back from a deficit that was at one point, 13-2. Crescenta Valley tied the game up with 11 runs in the bottom of the third.

CV was behind from the onset, giving up five first-inning runs before Kai Purdy-Burton cut the lead to 5-2 with a two-run home run.

“Our pitching’s really the strength of our team and we really didn’t have it today,” Deitch said.

Quinn Deitch, who also had a two-run double, pitched the final three innings of the game, including a scoreless sixth to keep Crescenta Valley within striking distance, but the locals couldn’t get anything across in the last inning, either, ending the game with the tying run at the plate.

In three Section 2 games, Crescenta Valley went 1-2 with the trio of contests decided by a combined five runs, as the locals lost to Northridge City, 11-10, in the tournament opener on Thursday, before rebounding to defeat Arcadia American, 5-4, on Saturday and then, lastly, Sunday’s loss.

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Follow Grant Gordon on Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon.