Capistrano Valley Gets Good Bounce, Beats Fountain Valley

Capistrano Valley has benefited from strong pitching all season. Over the last several weeks, the Cougars’ bats came alive.

Tuesday, Capistrano Valley got some help from the Fountain Valley infield.

That’s the way the ball has bounced for the Cougars lately.

P.J. Mitchell’s sixth-inning sacrifice bunt, heading foul down the first-base line, hit the lip of the infield grass and stayed fair to help set up Capistrano Valley’s winning run in a 2-1 victory over host Fountain Valley in the second round of the Southern Section Division I playoffs.

Mitchell’s bunt allowed Mike Davis, who had singled to open the sixth, to take second base. Pinch-runner Adam Sorgi then moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch in the dirt to provide the winning margin.

Had Mitchell’s bunt rolled foul on the two-strike pitch, he would have been out.

“Those are the breaks in a tightly played game like that,” Fountain Valley Coach Ron LaRuffa said.

Capistrano Valley (20-8), which has won nine in a row, plays top-seeded Arcadia (23-4) Friday in a quarterfinal game.

The Cougars should be in good shape if they get another pitching effort like the one they got Tuesday, when starter Brennan Jackson (2-2) and closer Kellan McConnell combined on a three-hitter.

“I just tried to throw strikes and keep the ball low,” said Jackson, who struck out six and walked two. “I knew I wasn’t throwing that hard.”

Jackson’s best work may have come in the first, when he escaped the inning with only one scoring after Fountain Valley (19-10) opened with a walk and a double. Jackson struck out Bryan Daguio and Josh Bartusick. Then, after walking Casey Janssen, Jackson got Jimmy Goetz to fly to center.

“The first inning was crucial,” LaRuffa said. “We could have gone for three or four runs.”

Capistrano Valley also scored a run in the first. Jeff Scuderi drew a leadoff walk and was caught venturing from first base on a pick-off play, but the throw from first baseman Goetz to second sailed into the outfield, allowing Scuderi to take third. He came home on Justin Demere’s RBI sacrifice fly to left.

“They’ve got a sound club,” LaRuffa said. “Good defense. Good speed. And they’ve got a good closer in [McConnell]. They may be peaking at the right time.”

LaRuffa, who returned to coach the Barons this season after a year as Cypress College’s pitching coach, said “it was fun coming back” and that he anticipates staying for the foreseeable future.

Fountain Valley began the year as the top-ranked team in Orange County but was beset by the loss of two key pitchers who left the team early in the season.

Still, few, if any, county players had as productive a season as Janssen. The senior pitcher/third baseman finished 7-2 on the mound and set school single-season records for home runs with 12 and RBIs with 44.

In another Division I game:

Los Alamitos 8, Bell Gardens 4--Bryan Desena pitched a five-hitter, allowing only two earned runs, for host Los Alamitos (18-10).

The Griffins overcame an early 2-0 deficit with a three-run third inning, scoring two runs on a throwing error and another on a wild pitch.

Leading 4-3, Los Alamitos scored three times in the fifth.

John Hartford had a double, two singles, scored three runs and drove in a run for the Griffins, who face Lakewood on Friday in a quarterfinal game.