SAN ANTONIO – Champion prevailed in extra innings Thursday over Southwest in Game 1 of their best-of-three, second-round series at NS Field 3 or Sotomayor HS.
A couple of fortunate bounces in the eighth inning allowed the Chargers to pull ahead and defeat the Dragons, 2-1, for the 1-0 series lead.
Even though Champion emerged victorious, Chargers coach Ben Woodchick said they needed to play better in the series that continued Friday. A third game, if needed, will be Saturday at noon, all at NS Field 3.
“Southwest played well and we weren’t at our best tonight, but we found a way to win,” he said. “Offensively it was not our best night but a lot of it had to do with their pitching. They did a good job of using three guys to mix it up, but we knew what we were getting into.”
After SW took a 1-0 lead in the fourth, the Chargers tied it in the fifth with an unearned run and it stayed knotted at 1-1 until the eighth.
In that top of the eighth with two outs, Zak Al-Arashi hit a shallow pop up between home and third, near the foul line. Dragons’ pitcher Raul Zuniga dove for the ball in fair territory and didn’t catch it, and the ball rolled into foul territory, but the umpire ruled Zuniga touched the ball, making it fair.
The Southwest coach argued that the pitcher never touched the ball, and it should have been ruled a foul ball.
After a delay and an umpire conference, the call stood and Al-Arashi was safe at first and that hit ended up being a difference maker. Jaxson Denman came in to run and stole second to put the winning run in scoring position.
Blake Ott came up to bat and he hit another blooper, this one towards first base that just cleared the outstretched glove of the Dragons’ first baseman as he ran towards the outfield to try and make an over-the-shoulder grab. The ball dropped in fair territory to allow Denman to score for the 2-1 lead.
Woodchick said he never saw if Zuniga touched the ball to start Champion’s twoout rally.
“It was a weird play and nobody wants that in that situation,” he said. “In the playoffs, you don’t want to have calls like that, right or wrong.”
The call the Chargers received in the eighth seems kind of like poetic justice since they were robbed of a run in the top of the third inning. With Cal Isley at first, Austin Garritano smacked a ball down the left-field line with two outs.
Isley would have easily scored and was basically at home, but the Garritano hit bounced over the wall in left, which meant Isley had to go back to third and Garritano had to stay at second on the ground-rule double.
After that, the next Charger batter was retired to end the inning. Woodchick said if the ball stays in the park, it may have sparked the team.
“We probably could have scratched for two or three more,” he said.
Regardless, the Chargers got the plays they needed in the eighth on offense and defense. With a 2-1 lead, Champion’s infield turned a double play, their second of the game to limit the Dragons to one run.
The other double play came in the sixth when SW had runners at first and second with one out. Garritano fielded a grounder at third and stepped on the bag and then tossed to first baseman Brody Bendele to end the inning.
Champion’s defense also came up big in the fifth frame when the Dragons attempted to squeeze in a runner from third, but the batter didn’t put the bat on the ball and the runner at third was caught in a run down and eventually tagged out by Chargers pitcher Ethan Coleman to end the inning.
Coleman went for seven innings and tossed 105 pitches before leaving. Since he was still the pitcher of record when the Chargers were batting in the top of the eighth, he was credited with the win. Coleman scattered 3 hits, gave up 1 run, 5 walks and struck out 4.
Cal Isley entered in the eighth and picked up the save on 19 pitches. He yielded a hit, no runs, 1 walk and fanned 1.
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