Crescenta Valley High baseball edges out Village Christian, 1-0
GLENDALE — Backed by some patience in a key at-bat in the late innings, Weston Walker responded in a big way for the Crescenta Valley High baseball team Wednesday.
Walker had a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth inning to lift Crescenta Valley to a 1-0 win against Village Christian in the third-place game of the 49th installment of the Babe Herman Tournament at Stengel Field.
“It definitely not the easiest thing to do batting against a left-hander,” said Walker, a left-handed batter. “I’ve seen a lot throughout the tournament the last few days and you try to stay patient.
“I saw some good pitches [from Village Christian starting pitcher David Barta] and I had to hang in there. I’m just glad we were able to come through there.”
Crescenta Valley (7-2) also received a fine effort from starting pitcher Brian Gadsby. The UCLA-bound Gadsby, the reigning All-Area Baseball Player of the Year, struck out eight and scattered three hits to go the distance for the shutout.
The Falcons, ranked 10th in CIF Southern Section Division II, finally broke through against Barta. With two outs and nobody on base, Jamie Blank singled and moved to second when Barta hit Brett Klein with a pitch. A wild pitch moved Blank and Klein up one base before Barta intentionally walked Jimmy Smiley to load the bases. Walker then laid off a high fastball on a 3-1 pitch to score Blank.
“He’s one of the more calmer guys in the lineup,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Phil Torres, who led the Falcons to a Pacific League championship and a trip to the quarterfinals last season en route to being named the All-Area Baseball Coach of the Year. “He came through in a tough situation and we got another great outing from Brian.”
In the seventh, Gadsby got a groundout and a pair of strikeouts to close out the Crusaders (4-5). Village Christian, ranked fourth in Division IV, reached the Division V championship contest against Santa Ynez last season.
Gadsby, who quarterbacked the school’s football team to a CIF Southern Section Southeast Division championship in the fall, induced Village Christian double plays in the first and fifth innings.
“They have a great team and there’s a reason why they got to the championship game last year,” said Gadsby, a right-hander who struck out three in the first and retired the final eight batters he faced. “They’ll probably get back to the championship game this year because they do so many things well.
“[Barta] threw a great game and I had to find a way to do the same thing. We got that big at-bat from Weston and I had to go out there and do the job in the seventh.”
Crescenta Valley finished with three hits, all against Barta.
