SANTA CLARITA – The Golden Valley baseball team struggled to score runs and lost to South El Monte 5-2 on Friday in the CIF Southern Section Division 7 quarterfinals.
The game was a pitchers’ duel until the Eagles (17-12) broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the fourth inning against Golden Valley (15-13).
South El Monte will be home Tuesday for the semifinals against Norwalk.
Golden Valley’s Charlie Butts and South El Monte’s Jesse Zavala started on the mound and the game was scoreless through three innings as both pitchers had their command.
South El Monte was able to string together run support for Zavala in the fourth inning. After back-to-back walks by Bobby Rojas and Alijah Benavidez, Emiliano Gonzalez reached when his attempted sacrifice turned into a bunt single to load the bases.
With the bases loaded, Riley Leon struck out but then Rojas scored on a wild pitch to make it 1-0.
Zavala helped his own cause with a sacrifice fly, Maximo Pineda hit a sharp single to center to drive in a run and Gabriel Canchola knocked in a run with a single to give the Eagles a 4-0 lead.
Zavala kept Golden Valley’s lineup in check most of the afternoon. He had a one-hit shutout going into the bottom of the seventh and his team leading 5-0 after Gonzalez drove in a run with a hit.
Tyler Do broke up the shutout with a double that drove in a run and Golden Valley added a run after an error.
Zavala got a lineout to end the game and finish Golden Valley’s season.
“Filling up the count, letting my defense work, make sure I hit my spots, and being positive up in there,” Zavala said of his outing on the mound.
South El Monte head coach Michael Gonzalez praised his young starter for the way he pitched in such a big game.
“He’s been asking for moments like this…,” Gonzalez said. “And I knew Jesse getting into that game was gonna compete because he’s just a competitor, man.”
“You wish you have 15 guys like him on the team,” he added. “Just an absolute competitor on the mound, no moment was too big, and I look forward to his future.”
Golden Valley’s season ended with a defeat after it had earned their first two playoff wins in program history.
“This is a very, very special group of young men,” Golden Valley head coach Marc Kennedy said. “This program, the history behind it and the hurdles that were in front of them, the level of selflessness and discipline and commitment to just get us to this point is nothing short of exceptional.”
“I’m honored and absolutely just privileged to have been their coach and been a part of it,” he added.
Kennedy noted the “hurdles” that his team had to overcome and discussed trying to improve the program’s reputation in the Santa Clarita Valley.
“History, overall image in the baseball community, just the constant daily expectation that they’re gonna lose,” he said. “Fuel for their fire this year was knowing every time they went out, because of where they played, some would’ve expected them to lose, to give up, and throw in the towel. So they made kind of a personal vendetta this year to go and prove a bunch of people wrong. … To just be in the situation, to have an opportunity to keep going, I think they made their point.”
Kennedy said the playoff run has laid the foundation for future success at Golden Valley.
“Absolutely,” he said when asked about that.
“That was the goal, is to change the entire culture from the inside out, and the success we had on the field was just a reflection of that culture. That paradigm shift of believing in ourselves and each other, not being victims any longer, and really wanting to be a part of something that’s bigger than yourself.”
“There’s no going back now,” he concluded. “Once you go through that door you can’t go back, and these guys are excited to keep carrying this torch forward.”