The Open Division playoffs are the highest level for any sports team in which to compete in the San Diego Section. Winning the Open Division championship is thus like being crowned royalty.
The Eastlake Titans baseball team has amassed a full royal court of accomplishments over the past six completed seasons with three Open Division championships, one Open Division runner-up finish and one Division I second-place showing.
“It’s awesome,” EHS baseball coach David Gallegos said. “When you can win the highest division, it’s a great honor. A lot of coaches haven’t won one and we have three. We’ve been blessed with great ball-players.”
The Titans’ championship game odyssey began in 2015 with a runner-up finish to Poway in the Division I championship game. Eastlake advanced a rung up the ladder to the Open Division in 2016 but placed runner-up to Cathedral Catholic.
The Titans’ Open Division breakthrough came in 2017 with an 8-3 win over Helix. Eastlake won its second Open Division championship in 2019 with a 5-3 win over Poway.
Perhaps the crowning achievement for the program came with last Saturday’s 8-3 win over the third-seeded Grossmont Foothillers that handed the Titans, seeded eighth in this year’s double-elimination tournament, their third Open Division championship in four completed seasons.
“It’s kind of funny in that Grossmont was seeded third and we were seeded eighth and we won 8-3,” Gallegos said.
It wasn’t a barrel of laughs this season for Eastlake, however. The Titans (25-10) definitely had their ups and downs, with their downs coming at the most inopportune moments. Eastlake lost three one-run decisions to the Foothillers this season, including two in tournament championship games.
Eastlake also fell short in winning this year’s Mesa League championship with back-to-back losses to fellow front-runner Bonita Vista.
The Barons captured a 6-4 decision in a game that went nine innings on May 25 to fire the first salvo between the teams, each entering the game with spotless 8-0 league records.
The Titans dropped the rematch, 8-0, at Bonita Vista on May 28.
The Barons split their final two-game series against Otay Ranch to finish 11-1 in league play while Eastlake fell, 2-1, at Montgomery on June 1 to finish with a 9-3 league record.
“We had a downfall in the last week-and-a-half of the season,” Gallegos said.
Putting the three setbacks to Grossmont and the league runner-up finish to Bonita Vista behind them, the Titans embarked on their latest playoff assignment.
The top eight teams from the 16-team Division I field earn berths in the Open Division. Eastlake had just enough rankings points to make the Open Division cut. Granite Hills received the No. 1 seed among the remaining 12 Division I teams.
The Titans made it count for everything.
“Nobody thought we could do this, but we believed we could as a team and a staff,” Gallegos said.
Eastlake promptly made believers out of skeptics by upending the top-seeded San Marcos Knights, 2-1, in the opening round on June 9.
The Knights (26-7-1) scored in the first inning on an opposite-field home run by Alex Fernandes but the Titans, making the most of their five hits in the game, scratched back with single runs in the second and sixth innings to finish on top.
Senior Sebastian Sanchez was credited with an RBI while senior Ethan Lizama scored the winning run on a throwing error.
Senior Ray Cebulski went the distance by allowing just two hits while striking out nine batters.
Eastlake followed with a 10-3 win over fifth-seeded Sage Creek on June 11 to advance to a rematch against San Marcos — winners over fourth-seeded Torrey Pines (4-2) and Sage Creek (7-0) in the challenger bracket — in a fourth-round game on June 15.
The Knights won 8-4 to force a double-elimination game between the teams on June17.
“You want to stay in the winners bracket that first week to avoid playing more games later on,” Gallegos said. “We played three games that second week. It hurt us but it also helped us because it helped set our pitching for the championship game.”
Eastlake eliminated San Marcos, 6-1, in the upper bracket final to advance to meet the Grossmont Hills League champion Foothillers in the standalone championship game.
“We threw Ethan in the second game against San Marcos — he gave up only three hits and one run and had 10 strikeouts. He had them off-balance with his high fastball,” Gallegos said. “We came out with some timely hitting. We knocked off the No. 1 seed.”
Senior Nico Vallarelli had two RBI while sophomore Isaiah Lane, sophomore Daniel Mora and senior Bret Leonhardt each drove in one run. Mora and Vallarelli both had two hits while Leonhardt scored two runs.
Leonhardt swung a big bat with a double and home run. Vallarelli and senior Marcelo Mayer also smashed two-baggers in the key win.
Lizama led the team with three RBI in the win over Sage Creek while Sanchez and Mora both drove in a pair of runs.
The winners smashed four doubles and one triple among their 13 hits in the contest. Lizama picked up the win by allowing two hits in four innings while striking out five Bobcats.
Grossmont advanced to meet the Titans with three consecutive wins in the lower bracket. The Foothillers bested sixth-seeded La Costa Canyon, 7-5, in the first round, then defeated seventh-seeded Santana, 4-2, in the second round. Grossmont avoided a loss in the fourth round with a 10-2 elimination win over LCC.
Senior Caleb Hommel had a big game in the elimination win over the Mavericks with three hits, including a home run, and four RBI. Senior Justin Brown also homered and collected three RBI in support of winning pitcher Jake Romero (five hits, five strikeouts) in a complete game effort.
Hommel drove in two runs in the win over Santana while senior Evan Vasiliou tossed a complete game victory with six strikeouts.
Grossmont made up a 5-2 deficit in the opener against LCC with five runs in the final two frames. Vasiliou scored two runs while Zamora and senior Isaiah Gomez both had two RBI. Senior Jaden Wilcox, with relief help from Romero, picked up the win.
That brought the teams to a fateful meeting in the division championship game.
The Titans needed to get the monkey off their back when facing the Foothillers for the fourth time this season, and they did.
Six Eastlake players each were credited with an RBI: sophomore Nico Libed, Lizama, Mora, Leonhardt, Mayer and Vallarelli.
The Titans struck for two runs in each of the opening two frames to build an early 4-0 lead. A three-run sixth inning explosion separated the teams on the scoreboard.
Mora and Mayer each stroked doubles while Leonhardt hit a home run.
Sanchez, Mora and Leonhardt all scored two runs while Mayer had three hits.
Cebulski pitched 6.1 innings before yielding to sophomore reliever Isaiah Martinez. Cebulski gave up four hits and walked two batters but struck out 10 Foothillers.
Junior Barron Zamora keyed Grossmont (29-6) with two doubles and one RBI while Vasiliou had two hits, including a double, and scored one run.
Vasiliou, who was tagged with the loss, coughed up nine hits and eight runs (four earned) in 5.1 innings. He walked two and struck out six Titans.
“I think our guys wanted revenge,” the Eastlake skipper said. “We knew we wouldn’t lose. We were ahead in the three other games we had played them. Once we got the lead, the kids knew they (the Foothillers) weren’t coming back.”
In this case, the fourth time proved to be the charm.
Back to the future
The 2021 season began with some uncertainties as the climate began to thaw from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eastlake’s 2020 spring season was canceled after just six games when the pandemic was initially declared by the World Health Organization.
Players were kept off the practice field until just recently. The Titans played their first game — a 16-0 tournament win over visiting Monte Vista — on March 22.
“I think the biggest challenge was not playing, being at home during COVID, not being able to do what they love, which is to play the sport of baseball,” Gallegos said.
Eastlake was coming off a 2019 Open Division championship but essentially lost two senior classes after the 2020 season was canceled.
Gallegos and his assistant coaches had to piece the team back together as best they could.
“We lost a lot of our pitching staff — two of our three starters,” Gallegos said. “We lost some key guys — we lost our third baseman, we lost our entire outfield, we lost our catcher.
“I thought we would be very inexperienced, but they did well. Of our three starters (all seniors), Ethan Lizama was 9-2, Ray Cebulski was 7-2 and Garrett Beckhelm was 7-2.”
Lizama recorded a 1.02 earned-run average with 83 strikeouts in 55 innings while Beckhelm notched a 2.05 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 41 innings. Cebulski cobbled together a 2.52 ERA with 86 strikeouts in 66.2 innings.
As a whole, the EHS pitching staff recorded a 2.12 ERA with 269 strikeouts in 224.2 innings.
Top offensive performers included Mayer (.394 hitting average), Cebulski (.371 hitting average), Sanchez (.369 hitting average), Mora (.368 hitting average) and Vallarelli (.346 hitting average).
Cebulski recorded a perfect 1.00 fielding percentage in 29 games. The Titans logged an overall .948 fielding percentage.
“I think defense was our strength,” Gallegos said.
The Titans received the No. 4 seed for this year’s three-round Southern California regional tournament but could not advance following an 8-6 loss to fifth-seeded Chino Hills Ayala (25-3).
“We ran out of pitching,” Gallegos said.
Chino Hills lefty Thomas Cerecedes improved to 11-0 on the season after pitching five strong innings in which he scattered six hits and allowed one earned run.
Eastlake pummeled two Ayala relievers for five runs in two innings to make the game close at the end. The Titans trailed 8-2 entering the bottom of the seventh inning.
Mayer led the team in virtually every offensive category, including RBI (45), runs scored (46) and stolen bases (19).
He hit his 14th home run in Tuesday’s regional loss. It came in his final at-bat as a Titan on a grand slam. He also scored three runs and stole two bases to close out his Eastlake career.
The Titans lose 14 players to graduation.
Memories, indeed.
District 42 Tournament of Champions on tap
District 42 Little League’s summer schedule opened last Saturday with play in five divisions in this year’s edition of the Tournament of Champions.
Games were played at South Bay Little League and Southwest Little League with some games switching to Sweetwater Valley Little League as the week progressed.
South Bay Little League, Chula Vista American Little League, Luckie Waller Little League, Sweetwater Valley Little League, Southwest Little League, Eastlake Little League, Chula Vista National Little League and Park View Little League all are fielding teams for the tournament.
Championship games are scheduled Saturday, June 26, at Sweetwater Valley Little League.
The 6U Division final is scheduled for 10 a.m., followed by the 8U Division final at 11 a.m., the Minor Division final at noon, the 9U Division final at 3 p.m. and the Major Division final at 4 p.m.
“This is such a milestone considering that a year ago all youth sports programs were at a halt due to the pandemic,” District 42 administrator Ernie Lucero said.
“There are countless stories from all our leagues, as well as major efforts done by their board of directors and league volunteers, to make the 2021 spring season a success despite the restrictions in place. We are grateful for everyone who has contributed to the reopening of Little League and are looking forward to post-season tournament play with our TOC and All-Star games.”
Unforgettable or exasperating, CIF’s 2020-21 season is unique
The CIF-San Diego Section’s 2020-21 sports schedule has raced to a miraculous close.
Few would have given high school sports teams a chance to not only compete on the field but complete an abbreviated season following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 that put all youth sporting activities in a holding pattern.
High School sports teams traditionally start practicing in August and September to start each interscholastic year. But those dates came and went as the 2020 lockdown continued. Few schools were holding in-person classes and most campuses across the section remained closed, including athletic fields.
Distance learning became the norm as sports took a back seat to the home computer.
Section officials remained hopeful that as the pandemic started to abate that some form of season could be salvaged, especially for the seniors on the various teams.
Plans were made to launch a delayed season in late December and early January, but it wasn’t until mid-February and early March, in fact, that high school student-athletes actually were able to get back on the field and meaningful games finally commenced.
The roll-out was slow to start due to the state’s cumbersome color-coded tier system for economic reopening. However, a series of lawsuits opened the floodgates and it quickly became a nightmare for many athletic directors trying to allocate field time for sports that traditionally competed in separate seasons but were compressed into a short window of opportunity.
Because of this creative scheduling, some sports teams ended their seasons as much as two weeks or more after graduation ceremonies.
Besides graduation, proms and advanced placement testing, section officials also had to find enough referees to officiate games, which sometimes wasn’t so easy to facilitate with some referees involved in officiating multiple sports.
Key operating words were perseverance and dedication.
Not only did the 2020-21 season survive, but it appeared to thrive.
“If you had asked me in December or January if we would be playing now, I would have given it a five percent chance of completing the season,” San Diego Section commissioner Joe Heinz said. “We’re happy our schools have been able to mitigate all these challenges.
“Compressing three seasons of sports into four months obviously created its share of challenges. If we weren’t able to do this for two years in a row, it would have been absolutely devastating for our student-athletes.”
Spring fling
Baseball, softball, boys and girls water polo and track and field all held their championship events last Saturday in overlapping fashion.
While softball finals took place at Helix High School, Granite Hills High School hosted the water polo finals — all eight of them.
Baseball was split between two sites — Poway and Eastlake high schools — while University City High School hosted the Open track finals that consisted of qualifiers from all three divisional finals held the previous week.
Several section teams also completed play in the Southern California regional boys and girls basketball championship games last weekend.
It’s all been accomplished at a frenetic pace to reward student-athletes with a season they could call their own.
Eastlake High School represented South County in the Open Division baseball finals while three South County softball teams took the playing field in last Saturday’s Season 2 championship matchups. Two South County teams made a splash in the pool in water polo.
It may not quite be over, either.
Regional playoffs are set to conclude in both baseball and softball this weekend.
All-star games are also planned.
This past weekend’s spate of championship games built on an already jam-packed schedule that saw 12 other sports wrap up their seasons in the past month.
The Southern California regional boys and girls golf championship tournament took place June 15 following regional competition in boys and girls tennis June 1-5.
The section’s divisional boys and girls basketball championships took center court June 10-12.
The Southern California regional playoffs for boys volleyball wrapped up two weekends ago following section divisional championships June 4-5.
Girls and boys lacrosse divisional championship games took place June 5.
The regional soccer championships took place June 1-5 following the section’s divisional finals over Memorial Day Weekend.
Section championship tournaments in girls wrestling and boys wrestling took place May 22 and May 29, respectively.
The section’s coed tennis team finals took place May 11-13, followed by the individual tournament May 24 to June 10.
The section divisional swimming and diving championships kicked off the run of section finals on April 23-24.
The 2020-21 section calendar ended with six consecutive weeks chock full of CIF championship events.
It was obviously a year like no other.
“No shortage of fun,” Heinz quipped in an understatement of the first order.
Southern exposure
Eastlake defeated Grossmont to win the Open Division baseball banner while Mater Dei Catholic repeated as Open Division champions in softball. Otay Ranch opened an exciting new chapter by winning the Division II softball championship. while Bayfront Charter lost to Holtville in the Division IV softball final.
Both Mater Dei Catholic and Hilltop finished runner-up in the Division III girls and boys water polo finals, respectively, following last weekend’s section championship extravaganza.
