These Teams’ Seasons Are in Turnaround

Five weeks ago, Los Alamitos and Capistrano Valley were in danger of missing the playoffs.

The Griffins, coming off three consecutive losses in the Big West Invitational, were 10-10 and clinging to third place in the Sunset League. The Cougars were 12-8 and stuck in a three-way tie for second place in the South Coast League.

It looked like both teams would have to get hot just to make the playoffs.

Now, they’re on the brink of winning them.

Capistrano Valley and Los Alamitos will meet in a Southern Section Division I semifinal at 4 p.m. today at Blair Field in Long Beach. The winner plays the winner of the other semifinal, between Long Beach Wilson and second-seeded Temecula Valley, for the championship Saturday at Dodger stadium.

The Cougars (21-8) and Griffins (19-10) wouldn’t be here without quite a bit of late-season magic. Capistrano Valley Coach Bob Zamora said his team’s turnaround could be attributed to the reemergence of several bats that had gone quiet. Los Alamitos Coach Rob Wigod said his team is simply following through on its philosophy, which is to play its best baseball down the stretch.

“The first part of the season is a learning process to identify a lineup to put our best team out there,” said Wigod, whose Griffins have won nine consecutive games. “We don’t want to take lumps in the preseason, but we also know there’s a bigger picture out there. We want to make sure we’re in contention for the playoffs after the first round [of league play] and that we want to make our push after spring break.”

Los Alamitos certainly did, riding the momentum from a two-game sweep of Fountain Valley after spring break all the way into the playoffs.

The Griffins came back to win their league on the final day of the regular season thanks to a balanced diet of hitting and pitching. Eight players hit .322 or better, led by first baseman Nick Fitzgerald’s .444 average, and starting pitchers Adam Sargeant (8-3) and Bryan Desena (6-2) finished strong. Desena, who pitched a complete game against Bell Gardens in the second round, is expected to get the start today against Capistrano Valley’s Brennan Jackson (2-2).

“Our team has overcome a lot of things to get to where we are,” Wigod said. “We were able to stay on the master plan even though we had some rocky moments.”

Capistrano Valley, which has won 10 straight, can trace its late-season charge to the resurgence of several hitters.

“We had about two or three guys that, early in the season, weren’t having the years they had previously,” Zamora said. “We were winning games by getting production from our No. 8 and No. 9 hitters. When the other guys got hot, so did the team.”

Leadoff hitter Jeff Scuderi is the best example. He’s batting only around .250, but it’s a far cry from the .138 average he had two-thirds of the way through the season. Last season, Scuderi set a school record with a .481 average.

Capistrano Valley’s pitching staff, strong all season, was never more effective than it was over the last few weeks, when the Cougars rallied to win their first league title since 1992. Derek Acosta, called up from the junior varsity, went 3-0 as a starter. Frank McLaughlin (6-0) returned to form after missing three weeks with tendinitis in his pitching elbow. Mike Davis (6-1) and Jackson also stepped up their games. And closer Kellan McConnell has been virtually unhittable.

Indeed, this is a far different team than the one that took the field five weeks ago.

“I had to keep up the moral boosting early in the season,” Zamora said. “But with each crucial game we won, we reinforced the things they did right to win those games. It was tough to get out of that slump, but once the worm turned, you looked for any detail to win a ballgame and you just built on it. Winning is contagious.”

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