Lightning make history

For a photo gallery of this game, click here.

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Coach Andy Berglund dug the situation for Sage Hill School so much that he never moved.

As the third-base coach, he didn’t have to frantically wave his arms.

Well before the pitch crossed the plate, three base runners motored with two outs and a full count in the fourth inning.

Just another timely hit and Berglund knew the Lightning would be closer to claiming the school’s first baseball league championship.

They led at Capistrano Valley Christian by six runs, but they almost lost one player.

Alex Jimenez raced home from third before senior JJ Beruldsen pulled the ball, lifting Sage Hill and many eyebrows Friday.

Jimenez was a couple of feet from possibly getting knocked out. Luckily for the sophomore, Beruldsen bats left-handed.

Beruldsen cleared the bases with a single to right field, helping Sage Hill clinch the Academy League title with a 10-2 victory.

Berglund breathed a huge sigh of relief. Now the first-year man doesn’t have to worry about the Lightning (14-4, 12-1 in league) having to lock up the league crown in the final two regular-season games against rival St. Margaret’s next week.

And, Berglund still has Jimenez around before Sage Hill makes its first playoff appearance since 2004.

“I was a little freaked out by that to be honest,” Berglund said. “He’s going 150 miles per hour at all times. To get him down to 120 miles an hour is a chore. I told him, ‘Man, you’re either going run over the umpire, or you’re going to run over JJ next time.

“I saw it out of the corner of my eye. He was going to get hit by that bat, or something.”

Whatever it took to win their 12th straight league game is how Sage approached Friday.

They started their ace, Travis Duncan. One of three seniors on a club that suffered through two previous coaches and not much success before Berglund joined this season.

Berglund figured in a big game, with perennial league champ Oxford Academy mathematically still alive, what better player to send out to the mound than Duncan. The right-hander delivered, shutting out Capistrano Valley Christian (8-12, 5-8) for the first three innings.

Everything was set up for Duncan (3-2) to succeed.

“When we got the five runs in the top of the second that was like the clincher,” said Duncan of the inning in which he doubled, accounting for one of the team’s three doubles in the second. “We knew we weren’t going to give up more than that.”

Duncan only allowed one run, breaking up his shutout bid in the fourth. He could care less about that stat. Just as long the Lightning continued to play solid defense behind him and when Jimenez came in relief. They backed him for five innings until Berglund pulled Duncan after he walked the leadoff man in the sixth.

“He wanted to [finish the game],” said Berglund of Duncan, who allowed five hits, walked one and never recorded a strikeout. “We could tell he was weakening. I just went out and told him how great it is to have a guy like him step up under pressure.

“When I got a big game on the line, I really trust him. I told him that, ‘You’re a big-game pitcher.’ He always proves it. I couldn’t be happier.”

The same can be said of how Sage Hill feels about Berglund, the former player-coach in Europe.

Berglund told his players that they had a chance to compete for a league title before the season. He wasn’t aware of defending champ Oxford, which had only dropped two league games in the previous three years.

The only Oxford Berglund knew of was in England. He made sure to get acquainted with the new Oxford, guiding Sage Hill to its first series win against Oxford as it took two of three games.

A lot of firsts this season and now the Lightning are looking to accomplish another one by winning a section title.

“We thought it was possible,” said Beruldsen, who went two for five with four runs batted in and a double. “I know [a lot of people] were thinking we were going to finish like fourth, or fifth in league this year. We took them by surprise.”

Academy League

Sage Hill 10, Capistrano Valley Christian 2

SCORE BY INNINGS

Duncan, Jimenez (6) and Orrantia; Miles, Carter (4), Hoffman (5), Pierce (6) and Meinhold, Shanton (5). W – Duncan, 3-2. L – Miles. 2B – Vogel (SH) 2, Duncan (SH), Jimenez (SH), Urbino (CVC). HR – Pierce (CVC).

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].