Late Canyons Rally Ends Season for Valley, 22-14 : Cougars: They remain tied for first place and will go to the state tournament as the WSC’s No. 2 representative.

Neither College of the Canyons nor Valley will compete in the Western State Conference’s Shaughnessy tournament, leaving Canyons relieved and Valley disappointed.

With a 22-14 victory at Valley on Saturday, Canyons (24-12, 15-5 in conference play) tied Cuesta and Moorpark for first place in the conference. The three-way tie has resulted in the cancellation of the Shaughnessy tournament, and Moorpark and Canyons will receive the conference’s automatic bids to the state tournament with Cuesta hoping for a wild-card berth.

Valley (16-20-2, 10-10), which had qualified for the Shaughnessy and was looking to use it as an opportunity to sneak into the state tournament, instead ended its season in a three-way tie for fourth.

Canyons, with a 2-2 record against Cuesta and Moorpark, will be the second-seeded team behind Moorpark of the Western State Conference’s entries in the Southern California regional of the state playoffs, but the Cougars had to come from behind to win a share of their 10th consecutive title.

Call this one the “Driving-Miss-Daisy” game--because by the time it was over, everyone had aged considerably. Not only did the game take more than four hours, it also had one of the biggest lead changes since Michael Crawford decided to leave “Phantom of the Opera.”

Valley led, 8-3, after six innings, but Canyons scored 19 runs in its final three turns at bat.

Valley starter Dan Carroll, a right-handed sidearmer who played his freshman season at Canyons, had his former team in check when he was lifted with two on and one out in the seventh inning. The situation had become rocky for a tiring Carroll, but it was nothing compared to the avalanche that followed.

Carroll’s replacement, Steve Trainor, failed to record an out and was charged with six runs.

Trainor walked the first man he faced, then walked in a run and gave up a two-run double to Mike Kerber. J. R. Trujillo followed with a walk and Chris Vasquez beat out a chopper behind first base for an RBI single. Trainor, who fell to 2-3, walked in another run and was lifted in favor of Mitch Cizek.

Trainor’s actions spoke nearly as loudly as the sharp words Canyons Coach Len Mohney had for his team in a quick pep talk before its turnaround seventh.

“I told them, ‘Hey, you’re starting to go in the tank; you’re starting to embarrass me,’ ” said Mohney, whose team had lost its first two games of the week to fall into a tie for first. “They pulled through, pulled one out for me.”

Canyons sent 12 men to the plate in the seventh, scoring nine runs on three hits to pull ahead, 12-8.

The Cougars batted around again in the eighth and scored six more runs to build an 18-8 lead.

Ron Robart hit a three-run home run, and Jon Beauchemin doubled in two runs in Canyons’ eighth.

Canyons had struggled in its previous two games, scoring an uncharacteristically low total of 10 runs. However, several players had a week’s worth of offensive production Saturday.

Robart finished four for six with five RBIs and three runs scored. Kerber was four for six and drove in three runs. Beauchemin had six RBIs after he hit a three-run home run in the ninth.

In the fourth inning, Vasquez and Mike Stephenson had back-to-back home runs to eerily similar spots, and Vasquez finished with three hits. Gary Morgan also had three hits.

Trainor was not the only Valley pitcher sustaining punishment. Cizek was charged with one run in two-thirds of an inning, and Colin Hines and Dean Money were touched for multiple runs in their relief stints.

Jeff Adams (4-2) earned the win for Canyons despite being nicked for six runs in the bottom of the ninth. Kevin Thomas tripled in three runs in the Valley rally.