Mirjam Swanson
GLENDORA -- With two outs, the bases loaded and the winning run up in
the bottom of the ninth, you better believe they were bouncing up and
down like a rowdy college basketball crowd in the Glendale Community
College baseball team's dugout.
At the plate stood Steve Rassmussen, an imposing pinch hitter at 6
feet 1, 210 pounds, built, it seemed, to play the role of hired assassin.
But Jon Felfoldi, the Vaquero pitching ace who's been getting the job
done so effectively and impressively all season, dug yet a bit deeper
with a title on the line, reared back and got Rassmussen to pop up to
left field so his GCC teammates could mob one another on the infield in
celebration of their outright Western State Conference Southern Division
title.
The Vaqueros beat Citrus College, 3-0, on Thursday at Citrus to settle
it.
The Owls were the last team that could have overtaken GCC in the
standings by beating the Vaqueros on Thursday and again Saturday at
Stengle Field.
Now, with Citrus out of the way of its conference title aspirations,
GCC now turns its attention to Saturday's contest.
The importance of that: A win means the Vaqueros -- currently the No.
3-ranked team in Southern California -- will be more likely to be one of
the four teams to host a regional when the playoffs begin next week. If
so, it will be the first time in program history that GCC has hosted.
But first, it had to get past a strong, definitely hungry Owl unit.
"This was a well-played game by both teams," GCC Coach Jon Strauss
said. "But with some good execution, we got by."
Execution to the tune of Anthony Stabile doubling in Al Quintana, who
had led off the third inning with an infield single. And then Fernando
Valenzuela Jr. nudging Stabile to third base with a groundout, setting up
Evan Shahak's run-scoring single.
And, to cushion those pair of runs, there was Keith Bowman reaching on
a hit-by-pitch, stealing second, moving to third on Richard Welles'
grounder to second and scoring on a single from Andrew Petersen.
Those three runs, while not ideal, considering the worst-case walk-off
grand slam scenario GCC faced in the bottom of the ninth, were more than
enough for Felfoldi and his error-free defense.
"I've got to hand it to Felfoldi, he's one of the best pitchers in the
state," said Strauss of the left-hander, who improved to 10-1 and struck
out 11 because he was able to hold up so well despite throwing 128
pitches.
"We needed every bit of the effort."
Since losing twice to Citrus in late March, GCC has won 17 of its 19
contests entering the 1 p.m. affair Saturday.
BOX SCORE
GCC*0*0*2*1*0*0*0*0*0*--3*11*0
Citrus*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*--*0*9*0
GCC*IP*R*ER*H*BB*K
Felfoldo*9*0*0*9*2*11
Citrus*IP*R*ER*H*BB*K
Stelzride*5.1*3*3*8*1*1
Cano*2.1*0*0*3*1*2
Schmidt*1.1*0*0*0*0*0
Totals*9*3*3*11*2*3
WP-Felfoldi (10-1).
LP-Stelzride (n/a).
2B: G-Welles, Stabille.
SB: G-Bowman.
