Baseball: Final thoughts on Crescenta Valley

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Right now, Crescenta Valley feels good about having outlasted Arcadia in eight innings. And Arcadia feels bad about having lost such a close game on a bases-loaded walk.

‘But years from now both teams will be able to look back and realized that they’ve been part of one of the best CV-Arcadia games,’ Crescenta Valley Coach Phill Torres said. ‘They can take that with them. No one can ever take that away.’

Wise words from a wise man.

This was a great game all around. It was hard-fought, hard-played and hard to watch for some, like Drew and Sean Elliot’s mother, who was sitting next to me behind home plate. Drew ended up scoring the game-ending run after Kris Kauppila was walked on nine pitches and Sean got the win after pitching the eighth inning.

Crescenta Valley had a chance to blow the game-wide open in the first two innings, but give credit to Arcadia and starting pitcher Bryce Rutherford for escaping from two bases-loaded jams without allowing a run.

As the game went on, and after Arcadia took a one-run lead, Torres began to think about those first two innings.

‘Especially because once Bryce settles in, he’s very tough,’ said Torres of Rutherford, who ended up with eight strikeouts in seven innings.

But the third time was the charm.

During an eighth inning in which nothing went right for Arcadia, Crescenta Valley loaded the bases again, this with no outs. An error by an infielder, a bunt and a walk put Arcadia in a near impossible situation.

With the crowd chanting ‘MVP, MVP,’ the stage was set for Kauppila to win the game. The senior was 2 for 2 and had been walked intentionally twice in the game already, but with the bases loaded there was no choice but to pitch to him this time.

Arcadia reliever A.J. Smouse had Kauppuila on the run early in the at-bat, but Kauppila kept fouling off Smouse’s pitches. On the ninth pitch, Smouse envision Kauppila swinging at high fastball, but it wasn’t to be. Kauppila didn’t chase and instead drew the game-ending walk.

It was an unbelievable game and the stadium was packed. Right now, the kids on the opposing teams don’t feel the same way about the game, but in a few years from they will.

This was one of the greatest CV-Arcadia games, and no one can take that away from them.

Not even the final score.

-- Jaime Cardenas