Arroyo Grande baseball falls, Mission Prep softball wins in CIF title games
Arroyo Grande High baseball attempted a feat never accomplished in school history before Friday — winning a California Interscholastic Federation title game.
But after a dominant season, in which the Eagles finished 26-4, they lost 9-1 to Madera High in the Division 2 CIF-Central Section final.
After posting stellar offensive numbers throughout the season, the Eagles’ bats were quieted at their home field by hard-throwing Coyotes (17-16) right-hander Nate Palacioz, who pitched a complete game and took a no-hitter into the sixth.
Arroyo Grande third baseman Tyler Hamilton punched a single to right field for the Eagles first hit, followed by a walk to Drew Baskin, in the sixth.
Then Arroyo Grande’s Ethan Royal drove in the team’s only run on its second hit of the game on a ground ball through the hole to left.
But that’s all the Eagles could muster against Palacioz, who threw his glove in the air before being mobbed by teammates in celebration after the last out of the game in the seventh.
“I’m getting goosebumps,” Palacioz said after the victory. “I’m going to remember this forever.”
Madera finishes strong
Palacioz said he used his sharp-breaking curveball as his punch-out pitch throughout the game, and his fastball to get ahead, pounding strikes throughout the game.
“The last time (Madera) was in the title game was in 2013,” Palacioz said. “We came in confident knowing we were going to fight until the end.”
Another Coyotes key player in the game, centerfielder David Zavala, was left with a welt on his forehead from running into the fence full speed to catch a hard-hit ball by Hamilton in the third inning.
Zavala slammed against the wall in left-center, staying down for several seconds as his coach and teammates came out to check on him.
Zavala was 2-for-5 in the game in which Madera steadily mounted rallies before scoring six in the fifth inning to break the game open.
“I honestly thought that hit was going to leave the yard but I didn’t and it just kept tracking and he made a great play,” Hamilton said. “There’s nothing you can really do besides tip your cap.”
Zavala said he thought it was a key moment in the game with Madera up 1-0.
“If I would have dropped it, he’s probably on second with a double and in scoring position to start that inning,” Zavala said. “I went all out. It feels good to win the title. We put in a lot of work in the offseason when it was COVID and we didn’t know if we were going to get to play. Most teams slept on us because of our record, but we made it happen.”
Arroyo Grande has ‘great season’
Arroyo Grande’s coach, Steve Tolley, said his squad didn’t play its best Friday, but the players will learn from it and he’s proud of their season, which isn’t over yet.
Arroyo Grande will move on to the CIF state tournament, with their next game likely to be held sometime next week at home, according to coaches. The schedule hasn’t been announced yet.
“For us to win (Mountain League), and make it to the finals of CIF,” Tolley said. “No AG team had ever done that before. That’s a great season. These boys will learn from it, the ones that are leaving to play in college and doing other things, and the ones coming back next year, they’ll learn from it.”
Tolley said the team has come back before when down, but added “it’s a tough game and hats off to Madera.”
“We struggled a little bit at the beginning and they played well,” Tolley said. “They played well and they’re coached well. They were better than us today.”
AG players reflect on game, season
Hamilton said his shoulder popped out of its socket in the third inning on a diving stop of a ground ball that led to Madera’s first run when he tried to throw home from his back.
“It popped out and then it popped back in when I came back up to throw the ball,” Hamilton said. “You can’t really worry too much about the winning or losing. You got to just play the game and trust the process and whatever the outcome is,that’s what’s meant to be.”
The Eagles started 6-foot-4 senior right-hander Justin Trimble on the mound, a UCSB baseball commit.
Trimble limited the Madera offense to three runs in the first four innings, before a string of relievers came on (Aiden Ostrov, Drake Montgomery, and Carson Gomes) finished the game. Gomes kept the Coyotes from scoring in the final two innings.
Trimble, who was recruited as an offensive player by the Gauchos, posted a .397 average in his 22 games played thus far this season with eight home runs and 29 RBI.
“I’m obviously disappointed (about the loss), but I just want I couldn’t be prouder of the team,” Trimble said. “I think we fought and give it our all and it didn’t go our way. That’s just baseball...down the road, if we match up again against them, we’ll still have confidence.”
To get to the section final, Arroyo Grande beat Sanger High 6-4 on June 11 and then Mountain League rival Paso Robles 9-2 on Wednesday.
The Eagles only lost to Paso Robles (once) and San Luis Obispo High (twice) this season before falling to Madera.
Arroyo Grande came into the game with a .355 batting average, which made Madera’s defensive performance even more impressive.
Other SLO County teams cap off CIF runs
Templeton High baseball also ended their CIF-Central Section postseason in a final loss, falling 1-0 to Ridgeview in Division 3 on Thursday.
Templeton (19-8 overall), which placed third in the Mountain League, was led by senior Merek Hall, who posted a .398 batting average with 2 home runes and 21 RBIs on the season, according to MaxPreps. Senior Ryan Domingos finished 9-1 on the mound with a 0.86 earned run average.
Mission Prep’s softball team won its CIF-Central Section title, however, posting a 4-0 win Thursday against Lone Pine.
The Royals (15-14) beat Parlier 12-2 and Fresno Christian 11-0 to advance to the title win.
Roxanne Guera, a freshman pitcher, led the team on offense with a .420 average and nine home runs and 32 RBIs, and Rylinn McDonald, another freshman pitcher, posted a .366 batting average at the plate on the season with 20 RBIs.
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 9:01 PM.
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