A pair of local scholastic baseball teams hit the end of the road last week after very strong seasons.
At La Jolla Country Day School, the Torreys went 18-15 on the season after being eliminated in the CIF playoffs.
“We won more games this year than in any year in at least the last decade,” LJCD head coach John Edman remarked. “We also advanced to the final four for the first time in that time period.”
In action last week, LJCD got the week off to a good start w0ith a 12-3 win over Horizon, behind strong pitching from Greg Wisenberg (23rd career victory) and Ben Cohn. Wisenberg and Mike McKenna each hit their 18th career home runs. Kyle Reese also homered and drove in three runs.
A day later, the Torreys’ season ended with a 7-6 loss to top-seeded Coronado.
LJCD went up 1-0 on a double by Wisenberg, who eventually scored on an RBI ground-out by Zack Campbell. Coronado tied the score 1-1, and in the fourth scored three more to go up 4-1.
The Torreys came back to tie the game 4-4 in the fifth on a single by Ben Sweeney, a catcher’s interference for JT Kelley, a walk by John Hansbrough and singles by Derek Hatfield and Reese.
Down 5-4 in the top of the sixth, LJCD’s Jason Gilberg walked, Kelley reached on an error (Gilberg scored), Tommy Morris singled, and Hatfield singled once more to drive in the second run of the inning (making the score 6-5 LJCD).
Coronado came back to score two in the bottom of the sixth and LJCD was unable to rally from behind a third time.
“It was a fantastic ballgame “¦ our Torrey baseball players made us all proud,” Edman added. “Kyle Reese pitched an outstanding ballgame, and all of the boys really played well.”
Elsewhere, La Jolla High had its season end with a 13-12 loss to top-seeded El Capitan in 10 innings.
La Jolla got off to a 1-0 lead on consecutive singles by Trent Jemmett, Robbie Beathard and Jimmy Filter.
Later down 5-1, La Jolla rallied for six runs in the fourth. Jemmett and Beathard doubled, Peter Sefton singled, Zach Tonks knocked in two runs, Zac Smith had a pinch-hit RBI single and Jemmett added an RBI double.
La Jolla went into the final inning trailing 11-10, but there was still a lot of fight left in the Vikings.
Jemmett once again ignited the offense, leading off the inning with a triple to right center, his fifth hit of the game. Jemmett then scored the tying run on a wild pitch and Beathard followed with a single, but was doubled off on a line out to the second baseman. Sefton (all-time single season home run [eight] and RBI leader [38] at La Jolla) then homered to make it 12-11 in favor of the Vikings.
El Capitain tied it in its half of the inning and won the game in the bottom of the 10th on an Andy Hale fly ball.
Jemmett (four La Jolla records for most hits in a season, most hits in a career, most total bases in a season, most runs scored in a season) finished 5-for-6 with two doubles and a triple, Beathard was 3-for-6 with a double, Wyatt Hoff, Julian Velazco, Sefton and Zac Zlatic all had two hits each.
“This was one of the most exciting games that I’ve ever been a part of,” La Jolla High head coach Gary Frank said. “It had everything you can ask for in a game; good pitching, good defense and a lot of clutch hitting. Both teams showed a lot of heart and determination to keep coming back from deficits. To do it in an elmination playoff game when the pressure is on is truly remarkable.
"It was a true team effort; we received positive contributions from everyone on our roster today. You never like to lose, but I couldn’t be more proud of our team. We gave everything we had and left it all out on the field. It’s a great way to end a great season.”
La Jolla finished the season with a record of 20-10-1; achieving 20 wins for the second consecutive year for only the second time in school history.