Estancia baseball falls in CIF wild-card round for second straight year, losing to Windward
When it comes to the CIF Southern Section baseball playoffs, Estancia High has not won much in 25 years. Three wins are what the Eagles have during that period in the postseason, all coming in the wild-card round.
They came close to getting their fourth wild-card win in the last quarter of a century on Tuesday.
The Eagles’ late-inning rally fell short at home, losing to Los Angeles Windward 6-5 in a Division 5 wild-card game.
Estancia had the game-tying run on third base and the go-ahead run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Wes Burton came in to close things out for Windward. Burton got the final out on four pitches, striking out the batter looking.
Burton and the Wildcats will be returning to Orange County on Thursday. The Wildcats (14-12) moved on to the first round to play at No. 3-seeded Katella (20-6).
For the second straight year, Estancia (16-13) bowed out in the wild-card round. This time, the third-place team from the Orange Coast League battled back from a 4-0 deficit, making it a game late.
A 4-3-5 inning-ending double play in the bottom of the sixth stopped the Eagles from catching Windward. One second the Eagles had tied the game at 6-6, and three minutes later, after the three umpires convened, they did not.
The umpires overturned an obstruction call at third base, calling the runner out at third, and the Eagles went into the seventh trailing 6-5.
“What I saw from the dugout was [our third baseman Ted Fortier] jumped up to get the [throw from first baseman Vince Dolcemaschio], and he literally landed on the runner,” Windward coach Omar Peña said. “Apparently the runner didn’t make it third base for some odd reason. It wasn’t because [Fortier] was in front of him, or blocking him, he was up in the air, so that was my argument.”
Peña’s argument won out, and Tyler Ross was out at third base.
Estancia coach Nate Goellrich couldn’t believe what happened. Initially, the umpires sent Ross home because of an apparent obstruction at third base.
“That call should not have been overturned,” Goellrich said. “But we had plenty of chances in this game.”
The opportunities were there for Estancia to win its first playoff game in four years. Spencer Stern, who allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings of relief, kept the Eagles in it.
The fifth inning is when the Eagles came back, scoring three runs. An error by the first baseman started the rally for Estancia, and then the Wildcats took their starter, Dolcemaschio, out.
His replacement was Isaac Muñoz, and he walked Jake McIntyre and Trevor Brown to load the bases. Four pitches later, Muñoz hit the next batter, Joe Stukkie, bringing in a run, and the Eagles cut the lead to 6-3.
Two more runs came around to score when the Wildcats were unable to turn an inning-ending double play. A throwing error to first base closed the gap to 6-5.
Muñoz began the seventh by walking the first batter he saw in Colin Gardner. McIntyre tried to move him over into scoring position, but he couldn’t lay down the bunt in play.
Facing a 0-2 count, McIntyre battled. He saw 12 pitches during his at-bat, fouling off eight of them. Without McIntyre, Gardner was able to get to second on a wild pitch, but four pitches later, Muñoz struck McIntyre out looking.
The Wildcats decided to bring in Burton with the game-tying run in scoring position. Burton induced Brown to groundout to second base, and Gardner moved to third base.
After throwing a first-pitch ball to Stukkie, Burton got Stukkie to swing and miss twice in a row. The next pitch froze him, and the game ended, allowing the fourth-place team from the Gold Coast League to win on the road in the wild-card round for the second straight time.
As for the Eagles, they finished the season dropping their last five games. Four of those losses came in league, costing them second place and forcing them to open the playoffs in the wild-card round.
“If we had finished second, we wouldn’t have had to play a wild-card game. We would’ve played Thursday,” Goellrich said.
CIF Southern Section Division 5
Wild-card round
Windward 6, Estancia 5
SCORE BY INNINGS
Windward 220 200 0 – 6 10 3
Estancia 011 030 0 – 5 5 1
Dolcemaschio, Munoz (5), Burton (7) and Cook; Auriemma, Stern (2) and Pearce. W – Dolcemaschio. L – Auriemma.
Twitter: @ByDCP
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