After what could be termed a frustrating season, Point Loma’s Pointer baseball team missed an opportunity to enter the CIF Div. I playoffs.
With a season record of 9-16-1 overall, the No. 10 Pointers’ only opportunity to enter the double-elimination tournament was to defeat No. 7 seed Carlsbad on May 16 in what CIF officials term a “play-in game.”
But after making the trip to North County to face the Lancers, the Pointers’ season came to an abrupt end when a three-run home run in the sixth inning propelled the hosts to a 7-3 victory and entry into the first round of playoffs.
The Pointers are left licking their wounds after a season that saw them drop from the Western League penthouse and CIF Div. I finalists to the league basement with a 4-7-1 record.
POINTERS 11, MADISON 9 (8)
Following a bye week, the Pointers played league champion Madison in a three-game series last week. The Warhawks (20-8, 9-3) won two of the three, but the Pointer win, in the middle game, was one of their most exciting games of the season.
Played at the Clairemont school on a day with continuous winds in the 20 mph range blowing out to right field, the Pointers got off to a 3-0 first-inning lead on just two hits. A hit batter, walk and infield single preceded a two-run double by Lorenzo Sardo. A wild pitch plated the third run.
The Dogs bit again in the second inning when leading hitter Jordan Otjen had an RBI single for a 4-0 lead before Madison put up a pair in the third, cutting the Pointer lead to 4-2.
Then in the fourth inning, Kien Vu began to flex his muscles.
With two teammates on base, Vu annihilated a one-out pitch and sent it far over the right field fence into nearby homes for his fourth home run of the season, raising the Pointer lead to a seemingly insurmountable 7-2.
Then came a disastrous fifth inning for the Pointers.
Starting pitcher Dominic Nunes was lifted after he began to tire, throwing 101 pitches over 4.2 innings. He gave up three earned runs and four hits, walking six and striking out four. Two Pointer relievers weren’t able to get the final out or stop the Warhawk rally, yielding a hit and four more walks before head coach Jeff Solis summoned Bubba Nunez to the mound. Nunez stopped the bleeding but not before Madison had completely erased the Pointer lead with a 7-7 tie after the fifth.
The Pointers weren’t ready to raise a white flag though and scored two more runs in the top of the seventh and final inning. But the Warhawks came back to score a pair off Nunez to again tie the game 9-9, sending it to extra innings as fans and players shivered in the frigid winds.
But again, Vu took matters into his own hands. With one aboard in the top of the eighth, he launched his second home run of the game, again far over the right-field fence, to put the Dogs back in control 11-9. This time the Warhawks were done and Nunez set them down in the home half to earn the win. The game began at 4 p.m. and ended at 7:32 p.m.
SENIOR DAY
Before the final regular season home game on May 13 Pointer seniors were honored by team boosters. Introduced on the field with their families were Diego Mansur, Jet Taylor, Aden Santana, Chance Kreuger, Ayden Rygiel, Cole Madden, Brevin Taft, Drew Brawner, Nunes, Vu, Nunez, and Sardo.
JUNIOR VARSITY
The Pointer JV won 25 games this season, a Pointer baseball record according to several sources. With an overall record of 25-3-1, coaches are eager to add members of this team to 11 juniors and other returning varsity players in hopes of a championship season in 2023. The competition to make next year’s varsity and JV rosters should be intense with so many talented players coming up.
