Crescenta Valley baseball loses first-round nailbiter to Yucaipa

Baseball: Falcons load bases in eighth inning, but double play ends season with 1-0 loss.

May 17, 2013|By Andrew Shortall, andrew.shortall@latimes.com

Crescenta Valley High pitcher Brian Gadsby threw all… (Cheryl A. Guerrero/Staff…)

GLENDALE — Just when it seemed like its playoff woes were bound to be lifted, the Crescenta Valley High baseball team suffered another first-round heartbreak at the hands of a double play.

The 1-0 loss to Yucaipa at Stengel Field in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division II tournament Friday night marked the Falcons' sixth in a row in the playoffs, with the past three all at home in the first round. Last season, the Falcons fell to Tustin, 7-4. Their last playoff victory came in a 2009 wild-card game and they haven't advanced to the second round of CIF since 2008.

PHOTOS: Crescenta Valley vs. Yucaipa baseball

“It's a tough, tough loss,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Phil Torres, whose team finished 20-8. “The big difference is last year we just rolled over. We didn't roll over and we had a chance to win it there in the end. We probably hit it the only place we could have to get a double play.”

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the eighth against Yucaipa, Crescenta Valley sent a slow chopper right over the mound and straight to second base.

Thunderbirds shortstop Dillon Rezendes caught the ball already standing on the base and then fired to first for the double play, which allowed the visitors to erupt in celebration.

From that final play to Yucaipa's game-winning hit and a host of other examples, Friday night's game lived up to the saying, “baseball is a game of inches.”

“If it's put a little bit more into the second-base hole, that's a two-RBI hit and we're walking off victorious and celebrating like they are,” said Crescenta Valley pitcher Brian Gadsby, who was nearly dominant in a complete-game effort, of the final play of the night.

Nothing had gone the way of Crescenta Valley's offense Friday, but it appeared change was in the air in the bottom of eighth. Faced with a one-run deficit, CV's Brett Klein put the tying run on first when he worked his way out of a 1-2 count and into a walk.

Things got even better on another 3-2 count when the Falcons' Joe Torres hit a slow grounder and possible double play to third. The ball was bobbled to put runners at second and first with one out and bring up CV's Ted Boeke, who hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning against Arcadia on May 11 to capture a share of the Pacific League title for the Falcons.

A wild pitch then gave Crescenta Valley runners at second and third with one out.

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