Champion faces Mission Sharyland in third round of 5A baseball playoffs
One shutout deserves another ... and then another.
After the Chargers were shutout by MacArthur in Game 1 of their series, 1-0, the Champion baseball team responded with two straight shutouts to take their second- round series over the Brahmas.
Mac took the first game, 1-0, last Thursday, but Champion answered with a 6-0 victory last Friday and a 10-0 run-rule win on Saturday to close it out.
Champion ( 27- 8) advances to the third round or regional semifinals in a best-of-three series against Mission Sharyland this weekend in Corpus Christi.
Game 1 is Thursday, 7 p.m., and Game 2 is Friday, 5 p.m. A third game if needed, will be Saturday, 1 p.m., with all games at the Cabaniss Athletic Complex.
Chargers coach Ben Woodchick said he was proud of how the team responded after dropping their opener and winning two straight elimination games via the shutout.
“Sometimes we’re not at our best, but they’re not going to be not at their best two in a row,” he said. “They play for each other and that’s a big deal. I’m proud of how they responded.”
Game 3 Champion 10, MacArthur 0
While the Brahmas struggled to find a steady Game 3 pitcher and went through four different arms, that wasn’t the case for the Chargers team which only needed one pitcher, Pearce Kelly, to get the job done.
Kelly pitched a five-inning, three hitter and helped to shutout the Brahmas, 10-0. Kelly struck out 5, while only walking 3.
Woodchick said he would have been comfortable with any number of guys on the hill in the game because he has pitching depth.
“We had three other guys that could have been out there too, we have a lot of quality arms. We’re blessed with that, and our kids know that and they’re ready to go,” he said. “We’ll have guys in the bullpen sometimes that don’t get out there because our starters are phenomenal.”
Kelly had a perfect game through two innings before he gave up a single and a walk in the third. With runners at first and third, the Brahmas had the runner at first attempt a steal.
The throw to second from catcher Sam Miller went into the outfield and the runner from third scored, but the home plate umpire ruled interference on the batter to negate the run, and the shutout stayed intact.
Mac accounted for its two other hits in the fourth frame and again had runners on the corners. The Brahmas sent the runner at first again, but this time, Miller threw him out and the runner at third held.
Pearce then struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Champion scored 2 of its runs in the first inning after Owen Kuhl walked and Jaedyn Yamaguchi doubled him in. Yamaguchi later scored on an Aidan Smith sharply hit liner to the first baseman that he bobbled, giving Yamaguchi enough time to cross home plate.
Mac’s pitching woes started in the third as they used three different hurlers in the inning, who combined to walk 5 batters.
Champion took advantage and scored 4 runs to bust it open, however they only had one hit, a single from Cal Isley as the 5 walks issued by Mac proved lethal to the Brahmas.
When the inning was over, the Chargers batted nine and took a 6-0 lead into the fourth.
In that fourth frame, triples from Isley and Aidan Smith, along with singles from Yamaguchi and Sawyer Smith, helped Champion open a 9-0 lead.
At that point, the only question was could the Chargers run rule the Brahmas by the fifth inning to end the game ahead of the threatening weather?
The answer was yes as Champion ended it in the bottom of the fifth. By that time, the Brahmas had reinserted Game 1 starting pitcher Korey Alston, but Kuhl welcomed him to the game by smacking a triple to start the fifth and put the game-ending run at third.
After a walk to Isley, Yamaguchi ended it with a double to bring in Kuhl to wrap up the series.
Champion had 9 hits and 6 went for extra bases. Aidan Smith, Isley and Kuhl all tripled, while Yamaguchi had 2 doubles and Austin Garritano added a double.
Kuhl also scored 3 runs, while Isley, Yamaguchi and Aidan Smith all crossed home plate 2 times. Yamaguchi finished with 3 RBI and Sawyer Smith drove in 2 runs.
Game 2 Champion 6, MacArthur 0
Aidan Smith had the hit of the series after he cleared the bases in the third inning to bring in 3 runs and help the Chargers take a 4-0 lead.
At that point, Champion had only scored one run through 9 innings in the series. They were shutout in Game 1 and hadn’t scored through the first two innings of Game 2.
In the third inning, they were up 1-0 and then loaded the bases. Smith emptied them with a sharply hit ball between center and right field.
Smith said the Mac pitcher threw him a fastball.
“It was sitting outside, and it came in and I was on it,” he said. “It felt good.”
After Smith’s hit, the Chargers finished the series by scoring 12 more runs, including 2 more in Game 2 that came in the seventh inning, so his hit was kind of the icebreaker.
“It was a big weight off the shoulders for everybody,” Smith said. “Just getting that first run across the board was good.”
Woodchick said Smith was clutch.
“In playoff baseball you have to have the big hits and Aidan had a huge hit, that was big by him,” the coach said.
Champion added 2 insurance runs in the top of the seventh after Owen Kuhl walked and Cal Isley singled. A bad throw pushed in a run and then Jaedyn Yamaguchi singled to bring in another run and make it 6-0.
Austin Garritano tripled, while Aidan Smith and Yamaguchi both doubled. Yamaguchi also singled to finish with 2 hits, while Smith picked up 3 RBI in one swing.
AJ Grizzaffi went all seven innings on the hill for the Chargers and tossed 102 pitches. He scattered 3 hits and walked 2, while striking out 9.
Game 1 MacArthur 1, Champion 0
Runs were at a premium during Thursday’s second- round playoff game between Boerne Champion and MacArthur.
In fact, there was only one scored in Game 1 between the Chargers and Brahmas at the SAISD Baseball Complex.
After five scoreless innings, MacArthur pushed in the only run of the game in the sixth and it held until the end as the Brahmas won 1-0, but that would be their only run of the series.
Starting pitchers Sawyer Smith from Champion and MacArthur’s Korey Alston were sharp and each hurler had only given up four hits through the first five innings that barely took an hour to complete, but the game changed in the sixth frame.
Mac’s J.T. Gray walked (the only walk of the game issued by Smith) and then Alston singled to move Gray to third with no outs.
At that point, the Brahmas tried the “skunk in the outfield” play. Alston took a big lead and was basically on the grass in shallow right field between first and second, hoping to get into a run down to free up Gray at third.
The Chargers handled the situation well as shortstop Garland Whitehead stood between first and second and held the ball for the majority of the time. Whitehead would walk Alston back towards first, while always keeping an eye on Gray.
After about five minutes of this, Whitehead threw to third baseman Austin Garritano to push Gray back to the bag. When the throw went to third, Alston broke for second, but Garritano threw to second baseman Andrew Harrison who tagged Alston out to end that wild sequence.
While the Chargers did record the out, it was only the first of the inning at that point, and two batters later, Ivan Castillo singled to bring in Gray for the 1-0 lead.
Champion centerfielder Cal Isley almost came up with a spectacular catch on the Castillo hit. Isley laid out on the play and appeared to have the ball in his glove, but it popped out of the mitt when Isley hit the ground, and Gray made it safely home for the only run of the game.
Champion never advanced a runner past second base in the game. In the fourth, Whitehead made it to second but was stranded, and in the seventh, Smith helped his cause with a double to start the inning.
But Alston induced the next two Chargers to pop up for two quick outs. Sawyer’s courtesy runner, Mark Thompson, broke for third while Harrison was at the plate and Thompson was tagged out to end it there.
Mac finished with 6 hits and Champion tallied 5 hits. Whitehead, Jaedyn Yamaguchi, Aidan Smith and Owen Kuhl all singled, while Sawyer Smith doubled in the seventh with a hit that sailed over the leftfielder’s head.
Smith only walked one batter and struck out 3, while Alston only walked one as well and fanned 6.
NOTES: The home team dropped the first two games in the series, but that changed in Game 3 when the Chargers closed it out for the only win by the home team in the series. ... The Chargers wore three different uniforms, one on each day. They wore the white with blue trim on Day 1, sported the Carolina blue colors in Game 2 and closed it out with their creamsicle uniforms on Saturday. ... In a classy move, both coaches agreed to allow MacArthur player Ben Salazar to catch for one play in Game 3. Salazar had his playing career cut short after he underwent brain surgery after doctors discovered a cyst on his brain. After he caught the one pitch, Salazar left the field to a standing ovation from both dugouts and the entire stadium.
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