Santa Maria falls to Bakersfield Christian in CIF championship game

Jun. 19—The final score didn't accurately describe the action in Friday night's championship game at Bakersfield Christian High School.

The Eagles came away with a 14-6 win over underdog Santa Maria to capture the CIF Central Section Division 4 championship, the school's first title in a decade.

The game, though, was filled with drama and, ultimately, disappointment for the eighth-seeded Saints who made a magical run to the championship game.

There were five lead changes and many more swings of momentum. Santa Maria twice held leads and rallied back from multiple deficits before their own miscues ultimately cost them.

The Saints led 6-3 in the top of the fifth inning before Santa Maria's pitching and defense wilted in the 100-degree Bakersfield heat.

"About three or four errors opened the gates," Santa Maria coach Mike Roberson said. "There should've been three outs. We had a couple calls that didn't go our way, but that's baseball. That happens. They capitalized on it. That's a good team, but, you know what, we're a great team.

"I'm proud of these boys. This was our goal to get here. We wanted it to end differently, but at the same time these boys should be proud of what they did and what they accomplished."

The postseason run was quite an experience for the Saints, who have 10 seniors on the roster. They won two home playoff games and won at Taft in triple-digit heat in the semifinals on Wednesday. Friday's game started at 7:30 p.m. in an attempt to avoid the day's high temperature of 112 degrees. The temperature was 108 degrees at first pitch.

The Santa Maria players were looking for anyway to cool off throughout the game, with players soaking headbands in water and spraying each other with water. Santa Maria seemed to handle the elements just fine when the game started.

The Eagles, though, got stronger as the game went along. They scored four times in the bottom of the fifth inning and seven times in the sixth to pull away from the Saints and win their first divisional title since 2011.

Santa Maria held a 1-0 lead after scoring in the top of the second inning. The Eagles went ahead 2-1 with two runs in the third inning. The Saints then tied the game at 2-2 with a run in the top of the fourth. The Eagles added another run in the bottom half of the inning to go back up 3-2.

Santa Maria then came alive in the fifth, scoring four times.

Raymond Rodriguez lined a single to right and Joseph Ybarra reached on an error after driving a ball to left field that went through the fielder's glove.

Rodriguez scored from third when Luis Guerrero laid down a bunt on what appeared to be a safety squeeze play. The throw from third to first sailed high and that allowed Ybarra to score and give the Saints a 4-3 lead.

Justin Guerrero then ripped the first pitch he saw from reliever Broc Redenius to plate Guerrero from second base and put the Saints up 5-3.

Ricky Figueroa then brought pinch-runner Julian Ortiz home with a ground ball that hit the bag at second base, giving the Saints a 6-3 advantage.

Santa Maria could've scored more, though. The inning ended when right fielder Mason Brassfield caught a fly ball and gunned down the Santa Maria runner at third who was trying to tag up from second base.

Santa Maria's defense then began to waver. The Saints had relied on strong defensive play to win their first three playoff games.

An error at second with one out seemed to wake the Eagles up. Evan Cloyd followed that up with a hard-hit double to right field to put BCHS runners at second and third.

Manny Herrera then drove home two runs to cut the Santa Maria lead to 6-5.

An error on an overthrow from shortstop to first base brought the sixth Eagle run home to tie the game. Jace Sherley then smacked a ball that went over Rodriguez's head in right to give the Eagles a 7-6 lead they would not relinquish.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Saints committed another throwing error with two outs that brought the next two Eagle runs home to put Bakersfield Christian up 9-6. Chano Gonzalez lined a double to put the Eagles up 11-6. They tacked on three more runs in the frame.

All seven of Bakersfield Christian's sixth-inning runs came with two outs.

Santa Maria fell to 18-10 with the loss. Bakersfield Christian, the No. 2 seed in the Division 4 bracket, is now 22-8. The Saints were hopeful they would get a CIF SoCal Regional playoff bid. Those brackets will come out Sunday evening.

"This should be enough to get us into regionals and into state. Hopefully we qualify," Roberson said.

Julien Sepulveda started on the hill for the Saints and was solid for two-plus innings. He didn't allow a baserunner in the first two frames.

Ricky Figueroa, Carlos Hidalgo and Joseph Ybarra pitched in relief for the Saints. They are all seniors.

Santa Maria will lose 10 seniors from this squad, including captain and four-year starter Brayan Nuñez.

Rodriguez, Guerrero, Gutierrez, Joey Saucedo and Nate Andrade are also seniors.

"These guys were so resilient," Roberson said. "This is a senior-loaded team. There's nothing that these guys can't do. We've played from behind, we've played with the lead. There are days where nothing goes our way but we kept fighting. It's just heart and trusting each other. They are brothers in there and I think that's what got us here. Playing good ball and believing in each other."