Gabe Diaz changed his plan and plotted a path to the Santa Paula High baseball team’s first sectional semifinal in 17 years.
The Santa Paula coach had been planning on using sophomore ace Isaak Medina to close out the CIF-Southern Section Division 7 quarterfinals on Friday, May 22, at Jurupa Hills-Patriot.
But the plan shifted once the Cardinals arrived in Riverside County.
“I thought, ‘If we don’t ever give him a lead, what’s he going to hold down?’ ” Diaz said.
So Medina started and pitched four strong innings in the Cardinals’ 7-1 road win.
“I said, ‘Let’s see if we can score some runs for our other pitchers,’ ” Diaz said. “Sure enough, that’s what happened.”
Jack Wadkowski went 3 for 3 with a triple, two RBIs and two runs scored, David Delgado was 3 for 4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored, and Steven Sanchez was 2 for 4 with a triple and three RBIs as Santa Paula piled up seven runs on 13 hits to earn the second semifinal berth in program history.
Santa Paula (15-16) will host North Torrance (14-16) at Jim Colborn Field in Tuesday’s semifinals. North Torrance routed Carpinteria, 10-0.
The Cardinals last reached the semifinals in 2009, when they beat Rio Hondo Prep, Capistrano Valley Christian and Crossroads in Division 6 before falling to eventual champion Oxford Academy.
“My first year,” Diaz recalled.
After pitching six shutout innings in the 11-1 win over Fontana on May 19, Medina was limited to 12 outs of work Friday.
“He said he wanted it,” said Diaz.
After allowing one hit and one unearned run in four innings while striking out four, Medina handed reliever Joe Reyes a 5-1 lead.
The sophomore pitched three shutout innings of relief, allowing just two hits.
Medina gave himself a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the top of the first. Delgado’s RBI double make it 2-0 in the second. Sanchez’s RBI single pushed it to 3-0 in the third.
After Patriot pulled within 3-1 on an RBI groundout in the bottom of the third, Medina stranded two runners in scoring position to protect the lead.
Sanchez’s two-run triple to centerfield in the fifth and Wadkowski’s two-run single up the middle in the sixth put the game away.
“We had a couple big at-bats with two outs,” Diaz said. “Wadkowski broke out a little bit.”
Division 3
Agoura 4, Fullerton 1: Donovan Anthony extended the Chargers’ postseason shutout streak to 20.1 innings, until Calin Williams’ RBI groundout with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning.
But it was enough to pitch the host Chargers to their first CIF-SS semifinal since 2006.
“The boys are playing well,” said Agoura coach Adam Goldstein.
Anthony pitched a complete game, allowing three hits, three walks and one earned run. He struck out three.
Agoura (18-13) will host Long Beach-Millikan (23-7) in Tuesday’s CIF-SS Division 3 semifinals. Millikan beat Summit, 1-0.
Agoura produced all the offense it would need in the bottom of the first, when Kaden Graves was hit by a pitch, stole second and third and scored on an overthrow.
“Our game plan was pressure,” Goldstein said. “We wanted to get on base any way we could. We were going to steal bases.”
The Chargers doubled their lead in the bottom of the third, when Jordan Tagawa hit a leadoff single, stole second and scored on a Graves sacrifice fly. Cooper Stutler’s RBI single to center with two outs in the bottom of the fourth plated Zack Greene to make it 3-0. Greene, Stutler and Tagawa strung hits together to make it 4-0 in the home half of the sixth.
Six of the Chargers’ eight hits came from the No. 6, 7, 8 and slots in their order.
Greene was 2 for 3 with a double two runs scored, Stutler went 2 for 3 with a double an RBI and Tagawa was 2 for 3 with an RBI and run scored.
Division 4
Laguna Beach 6, Moorpark 4: Laguna Beach scored two runs in the top of the fifth and the top of the sixth to come from behind and end the host Musketeers’ season.
“It was a heartbreaker,” said Moorpark coach Aaron Garcia. “We had a plan. We were able to execute most of it. … It really did come down to a couple key plays that a good team ends up making you pay for.”
Logan Stotts was 3 for 3 with an RBI double and a run scored to lead Moorpark (21-10), which scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead.
Moorpark was down 2-0 when Stotts drove an RBI double down the left-field line and scored on an infield error to tie the game.
Austin Nickels, who reached on the error, stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch. Carson Cerny followed with an RBI double to left field.
Division 6
Brentwood School 9, Foothill Tech 7: Host Brentwood brought 10 hitters to the plate during the bottom of the sixth, scoring six runs on five hits and two walks to end the Dragons’ season.
“The hits fell,” said Foothill Tech coach Mike Haas. “They didn’t hit it hard, they just found spots. That’s baseball.”
All the damage came with two outs, when six straight reached.
“You look at it and it’s a ball of yarn that’s just unraveling,” Haas said. “You do everything you can that you’ve done in the past to stop it, like change pitchers. Baseball did baseball today.”
Davin Arth reached base four times for Foothill Tech, going 2 for 2 with a two-run home run in the top of the first and walking twice.
Cain Ebrahim was 2 for 3 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored, Ascher Conaway went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI and Jacory Smith was 2 for 4 with a run scored.
“It hurts the kids now,” said Haas. “But if it hurts, it means you cared.”
Down 3-2, Foothill Tech took control with a five-run top of the third.
Arth singled, Cooper Casey walked and Robert Juker singled to set the table. Shane White delivered a two-run single through the right side and Ebrahim hit a two-run double to right field to chase the Brentwood starting pitcher.
Ascher Conaway’s RBI double gave the Dragons a 7-3 lead.
Division 9
Webb Schools 14, Ojai Valley 4: Archie Moller was responsible for all four Ojai Valley runs, going 1 for 2 with a two-run home run, two runs scored and two walks.
But Webb scored seven runs in the bottom of the second inning and eliminated the visiting Spuds (10-5).
Joe Curley covers baseball for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads, Facebook, Bluesky and TikTok.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Santa Paula, Agoura advance to CIF-SS baseball semifinals
Reporting by Joe Curley, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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