Gunner Church was recently named the Northern Athletic League MVP.
He showed why Tuesday.
The West Valley junior slashed .377/.500/.574 this season with nine extra base hits, 17 RBIs and 18 runs scored. He posted a 0.00 ERA with 24 strikeouts in just 9.1 innings as a pitcher. The one thing he didn’t have was a home run.
That changed on Tuesday, June 2 when the No. 4 Eagles (23-5) faced off against No. 5 Amador in the first round of the CIF Division IV NorCal regional baseball playoffs.
Gunner stepped up to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning with the bases loaded and the Eagles holding a 4-1 lead. He took a rip at the first pitch but missed the barrel and sent the ball flying in foul territory.
He didn’t miss the second pitch.
Gunner saw a hanging breaking ball in the bottom of the zone, took the bat off his shoulder, and sent the ball flying deep over the left-center field wall. Grand slam.
“I missed that first (pitch), which I probably put a better swing on than my second hit,” Gunner admitted. “I just saw the curveball good. It was low in the zone, I read it out of the hand and put a good barrel on it.”
West Valley manager and Gunner’s father, Willie Church, could tell Gunner was swinging the bat well, but he didn’t anticipate a grand slam swing.
“He’s a great hitter; He hit some balls this year that, if we were here, they probably would have gone out,” Willie said. “I could tell by the swing before that he was on time, he just needed his pitch.”
Gunner finally got his pitch, and it came at perfect time for an Eagles squad needing a big swing.
The Eagles, seemingly feeding off Gunner’s grand slam, added four more runs in the inning to take a 12-1 lead over the Buffaloes (25-6-1). That lead would stand, and West Valley walked away with a dominant win in the first round of the regional playoffs.
“I knew I could do it throughout the season because I hit some deep balls in the summer, which would be out on this field,” Gunner said. “I knew I had it in my bag, so I just kept swinging.”
While the final score is lopsided, the Eagles didn’t gain that much separation until Gunner’s grand slam.
“At that time, it was a fairly close game,” Willie said. “You put that grand slam up there, and I think that was kind of the dagger. It really got our dugout going.”
Amador was forced to empty the bullpen, using four pitchers in five innings, and the West Valley sluggers went to work.
Just like they did in their section championship win over Orland on May 23, the Eagles fed off one another. The offense put together a 12-run performance, but the defense, led by sophomore pitcher Aiden Sweet, limited the Buffaloes to only one run.
Sweet only gave up four hits and no walks while striking out three batters in his five innings of work. It was the third time Sweet has pitched in the postseason, and he’s brough his best stuff each time.
“This dude is ready for anything,” Willie said. “He just gets up there, ice water running through his veins, and puts his head down and just throws strikes, knowing he’s got a really good defense behind him.”
The West Valley defense supported their young pitcher when balls were put in play. One error in the first inning helped the Buffaloes put one run on the board, but the Eagles played clean defense from there.
“Coming in, I was checking all their stats, and I thought (Amador) looked legit and I was like ‘man, this could be a tough one,’” Gunner said. “Then we come out here and just played probably one of our best games all year, and I’m just super proud of these guys, all the way down the lineup.”
Willie shared the sentiment.
“I’m just super proud of this team. They’re young, they’re gritty and they just play their butts off every day,” Willie said.
West Valley will next play at No. 1 Half Moon Bay in the regional semifinals at noon Thursday, June 4. The Cougars (21-9) are coming off a 3-0 win over No. 8 Sonoma. The winner of that matchup will advance to the Division IV NorCal title game on Saturday.
Regardless of how long West Valley can stretch out its postseason run, Willie is satisfied with how the Eagles performed throughout the 2026 season.
They won games. They won a section title for the second year in a row. But, what’s even more important for Willie is the effort he saw from his squad day in and day out.
“This is icing on the cake right now,” Willie said. “These kids went out and did what their goal was this year, and they never let me down. They step on the field and they play hard.”
Brett Abrams is a sports reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. He covers high school and local sports in the Redding area. Reach out to Brett with any sports tips or news on X (formerly Twitter) @brabrams_ or by email at Brett.Abrams@Redding.com. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Gunner Church hits grand slam in playoff victory
Reporting by Brett Abrams, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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