Make No Mistake, Unheralded Taft Continues Its Advance, 8-3

It’s a fine line between opportunism and luck--and Taft High keeps blurring the boundary.

On the surface, the Toreadors’ 8-3 victory over Granada Hills in a City Section 4-A Division baseball quarterfinal Wednesday appeared to be a gift-wrapped triumph replete with ugly plays, poor decisions and even worse execution.

After all, the Toreadors’ seven-run sixth inning featured five Granada Hills errors and botches of both a suicide squeeze and a double steal that worked anyway.

But the eye of the beholder is a powerful perspective. Taft players saw it as a natural outcome of an aggressive offense, and even Granada Hills Coach Darryl Stroh saw a beautiful strategy by the Toreadors amid the torrent of Highlander mistakes.

“That’s the way to play those close pressure games,” Stroh said. “Put a lot of pressure on the other kids--that’s the whole idea, and they did it very well. I really appreciate that type of game.”

So does Taft (16-15), seeded 13th entering the playoffs, now that it has advanced to the semifinals against Chatsworth after springing two consecutive upsets. The Toreadors defeated Poly, seeded fourth, in the first round.

In fact, Taft won that game by parlaying four errors and a balk by Poly into six runs in the seventh.

“As long as we keep hitting the ball and putting it in play, we force them to make errors,” catcher Nick Andrisano said. “And the last two games have proved that.”

This game also illustrated the power of the bunt.

With the score tied, 1-1, Taft’s Greg Venger led off the sixth with a single and advanced to second on Jimmy Landress’ throwing error. Nick Andrisano followed with a sacrifice and Granada Hills pitcher Josh Goldberg tried to throw out Venger at third, but too late.

Then things unraveled. Andrisano intentionally got picked off first to get in a rundown, hoping that Venger would score from third while the defense was preoccupied, the play on which Taft scored its first run.

But Granada Hills (16-8) read the play, threw instead to third and got Venger in a rundown. Third baseman Eddie Kinsler chased Venger toward home plate, but held the ball too long and his throw arrived at the plate the same time Venger did. The ball popped free of Jarrett Gold’s glove and Taft led, 2-1.

Two batters later, Mike Andrisano laid down a sacrifice bunt that Goldberg fielded and threw into left field, and two more runs scored.

Even missed bunts turned out well. Andrisano scored when Granada Hills’ Gold dropped the ball after batter Mike Rolbin missed making contact on a suicide squeeze.

“We’re going to keep scrapping,” Taft’s Venger said, “until we get even further.”