Both the Bonita Vista High School baseball and softball teams lost their San Diego Section playoff openers on May 15. But both teams remained in contention for division championships thanks to the double-elimination nature of this year’s tournament.
The Bonita Vista softball team, seeded second in the Division I tier, dropped a 7-4 decision to seventh-seeded Patrick Henry, while the third-seeded BVHS baseball team came up short to sixth-seeded Helix by a 3-2 score in the Division II bracket.
Both teams regrouped for second-round play on May 17.
The Lady Barons (14-13-1) were eliminated by sixth-seeded Mission Hills (16-12-2) by a score of 5-2 after coughing up an early 2-0 lead thanks to a five-run rally by the Lady Grizzlies in the top of the sixth inning.
The BVHS baseball team hosted 10th-seeded Madison on May 17 and looked to have its season end prematurely as well while trailing the Warhawks, 4-2, through three innings and going down 6-5 in the top of the ninth inning.
But the Barons were far from finished with the 2024 season.
A timely two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning carried the hosts to a dramatic 7-6 victory — the start of four consecutive wins while just one loss away from elimination to reach last Friday’s division championship game.
It wasn’t the most ideal route to take, but the Barons somehow made it work.
BV baseball coach Dave Palet believed his team had more to show for itself.
“We believe we have fantastic pitching and a veteran team,” Palet said after the opening round loss. “We believe we still have a chance to win the Division II championship.”
In retrospect, they proved words of wisdom.
Rally caps
The May 15 playoff opener featured an opening run scored by Bonita Vista in the bottom of the first inning before the visiting Highlanders tied the game, 1-1, with a single run in the top of the third inning. The Scotties added another run in the top of the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead.
The Barons tied the game, 2-2, with a single run in the bottom of the sixth inning only to see the visitors go in front, 3-2, in the top of the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly RBI by senior Walker Laub.
The hosts challenged with the potential game-tying run in the bottom of the frame before senior Kris Jones made a game-saving catch in the outfield.
Seniors Alonso Andrade and J.D. Corcoran (double) each drove in one run for Metro-Mesa League runner-up Bonita Vista while seniors Gavin Brown and Luis Sosa each scored runs.
Junior Michael Maywood pitched six innings with seven strikeouts while facing 25 batters. He allowed four hits and two runs, one of them earned. Junior Cristian Ayala pitched one inning with one hit, one earned run and one strikeout.
Senior Lincoln Wirschem pitched a complete game victory with six strikeouts and four hits, allowing one earned run. He faced 25 batters.
The Highlanders made the most of their five hits in the game. Seniors Adrian Espinoza and Laub were each credited with one RBI while Jones (double) scored twice and senior Gehrig Syms scored once.
The playoff victory was the fourth win in a row for the Scotties, who finished third in Grossmont Hills League play behind Granite Hills and Grossmont.
***
The comeback win over Madison kept Bonita Vista alive in the double-elimination tournament and proved to be the catalyst.
Bonita Vista defeated Helix, 3-2, in a third-round rematch after the Highlanders dropped a 2-0 decision to the second-seeded Santa Fe Christian Eagles in second-round play. After eliminating the Scotties, the Barons got to take their swings at the high-flying Eagles, capturing a must-win-or-go-home 3-2 victory in nine innings in fourth-round play and then eliminating Santa Fe Christian by a score of 5-1 in the decisive semifinal contest.
Madison built a 4-2 lead through three innings and led, 5-3, entering the bottom of the seventh inning. The hosts pushed across two runs to tie the score, 5-5, to send the game into extra innings. Maywood and senior Harry Shin each scored runs to knot the game.
Neither team scored in the eighth inning, but the visitors pushed across the 6-5 go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth inning.
It was time to dig down deep and get a little help from the opposition.
Senior Ismael Castanon was hit by a pitch to start the unlikely rally. Following a strikeout, freshman Liam Lee drew a walk to put Castanon in scoring position. Shin then followed with a walk to load the bases. Senior Gavin Brown was then hit by a pitch to bring one runner in to tie the game, 6-6, with the bases still jammed with Barons. Senior Josh Hughes then drew yet another walk – the third of the inning by the Warhawks – to plate the game-winning run.
Senior Dante Millan, Castanon, Lee and seniors Luis Sosa and Alonso Andrade each picked up two hits in the game while Millan and Lee each drove in two runs.
Four pitchers – Hughes, Castanon, junior Cristian Ayala and senior Landon Wales – took the mound for Bonita Vista while combining for 13 strikeouts and three earned runs. Hughes logged five strikeouts in three innings while Castanon and Ayala each fanned three batters. Wales allowed one hit while striking out two batters in one inning of work to record the victory.
As big of a win it was, the Barons had to get right back to work the following day against a Highlanders team that had previously handed them an inopportune loss in the first round.’
Bonita Vista led 1-0 and then tied the game, 2-2, in the fifth inning as Sosa drove in senior Jimmy Skinner with a RBI single.
The Barons took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning to turn the tables on Helix and eliminate the East County team. Hughes drew a walk and came around on a RBI double by Shin. Wales picked up the win – his second pitching victory in less than 24 hours.
Castanon had two hits and one RBI while Shin and Sosa each had one RBI. Shin, Sosa and Castanon each bagged doubles. Sophomore Demarco Rojas pitched 4.2 innings with eight strikeouts. Wales faced nine batters in closing out the win.
Bonita Vista buckled down and never trailed in the first game against the Eagles, leading by scores of 1-0 and 2-1 before breaking a 2-2 deadlock with the game-winning run in the top of the ninth inning. Bonita Vista came to do battle with 11 hits while holding its opponent to five hits.
Castanon had two doubles and two RBI. Andrade (RBI) and Shin also slammed two-baggers. Sophomore Leo Cubillas, Shin, Corcoran, Castanon and Lee each collected two hits. Andrade doubled in Cubillas for the winning run.
The visitors rode the arms of four hurlers: Hughes, Castanon, Ayala and Maywood. Castanon struck out six batters in three innings and Maywood fanned four batters in 3.1 innings as the quartet struck out 14 Eagles overall.
With Bonita Vista and Santa Fe Christian now each having one loss, the semifinal loser was obviously out of the tournament and the winner would advance to the championship game. Bonita Vista won 5-1 on a two-hitter by Rojas.
Photos by Chona Tayco Fouch
Palet attributed the so-called “hidden ball” trick to keying the win.
With Bonita Vista ahead 3-1 in the fourth inning, an error placed a SFC runner at third base with no outs. The BV third baseman acted as if he didn’t have the ball – it was presumed the Baron pitcher did. When the runner at third base casually stepped off the bag, the BV third baseman tagged him out.
The home fans created an uproar, but the play stood.
Castanon had two doubles and two RBI while Hughes, Sosa and Andrade each collected one RBI. Sosa (double) had two hits and scored twice.
Rojas pitched 6.2 innings, walked four batters and struck out five to earn the win on the hill. Wales faced one batter. Rojas chalked up 108 pitches while Wales threw four pitches.
The Eagles (24-8) remained in the game with five stolen bases. Sosa stole two bases for the victors.
That brought the Barons to the championship game against the top-seeded Pointers, who had vanquished, in order, ninth-seeded Scripps Ranch by a 3-2 score and a pair of wins against fourth-seeded Maranatha Christian by scores of 7-2 and 4-1, to reach the Division II final.
Both teams were noted for their pitching and general lack of producing runs. Predictably, the division title game was close and hinged on an error made by the Barons in the second inning in a 2-0 loss.
Palet said the four-game playoff win streak had the coaching staff thinking this was indeed a championship team, and told the players so.
“The boys were playing as a team the whole year,” Palet said. “They played as a team in the playoffs. It was truly a team thing. They believed in each other as a team.”
Castanon drew the starting assignment against the Pointers, who countered with junior Matthew Garrison, who spent part of his youth in the South Bay.
Garrison showed he meant business from the start, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning while striking out 10 Barons.
Not that Bonita Vista (22-11-1) didn’t have a couple chances.
Sosa advanced to third base with two outs in the fourth inning but was stranded there.
Castanon broke up Garrison’s no-hit bid with a solid basehit with one out in the seventh inning. An ensuing walk moved the BV runner to second base, but Garrison induced the next Baron to strike out to end the game.
Garrison finished the CIF championship game – Point Loma’s first division title since 1982 – with 13 strikeouts. He faced 25 batters, fired 107 pitches, walked three and allowed one hit.
“I knew by the second or third inning that my fastball was there,” he said. “I looked up in the fifth inning and saw zeroes. My pitching coach taught me not to worry about the negatives but to focus on the positives. It was 60/40 stress to fun. We got to show what we’re about. I’m really happy.”
Castanon struck out eight Pointers in five innings while allowing just two hits and no earned runs. Hughes pitched the seventh inning in relief with two strikeouts.
Seniors Kai Dickinson and Brayden Taylor scored for the Pointers (19-8-4) on a misplayed grounder up the middle.
That was it: three hits and 23 strikeouts between the two teams.
Point Loma won the Division II championship with just two hits while aided by two BV errors.
“We’re very proud of the kids,” BVHS principal Lee Romero summed up. “It’s been since 2014 that we’ve been up here. I understand that pitching is what brought us here but we’re proud of all the kids.”
San Diego Section Division II Baseball Playoffs
Play-in Round
(9) Scripps Ranch 3, (8) Mt. Carmel 2
(12) Coronado 4, (5) San Pasqual 1
(6) Helix 4, (11) Westview 2
(10) Madison 5, (7) Classical Academy 3
First round, double-elimination
(1) Pt. Loma 3, (9) Scripps Ranch 2
(4) Maranartha Christian 5, (12) Coronado 3
(6) Helix 3, (3) Bonita Vista 2
(2) Santa Fe Christian 7, (10) Madison 3
Second round, double-elimination
(1) Pt. Loma 7, (4) Maranatha Christian 2
(9) Scripps Ranch 7, (12) Coronado 6
(2) Santa Fe Christian 7, (6) Helix 3
(3) Bonita Vista 7, (10) Madison 6 (9 innings)
Third round, double-elimination
(4) Maranatha Christian 8, (9) Scripps Ranch 4
(3) Bonita Vista 3, (6) Helix 2
Fourth round, double-elimination
(1) Pt. Loma 4, (4) Maranatha Christian 1
(3) Bonita Vista 3, (2) Santa Fe Christian 2 (9 innings)
Fifth round, double-elimination
(3) Bonita Vista 5, (2) Santa Fe Christian 1
Championship game
(1) Pt. Loma 2, (3) Bonita Vista 0
Girl power
Senior Alexis Jimenez and junior Anissa Del Rio each collected RBI on home runs in the My 15 playoff game for the hosts while Jimenez, Del Rio, sophomore Leah Letuli and senior Irie Iapala each scored single runs.
Junior Danica Aboytes started in the pitching circle and allowed eight hits and three earned runs in four innings while freshman Noelle Kalavi pitched the final three innings allowed four hits and struck out four batters while coughing up four runs, two of them earned.
Junior Izzy Ervin keyed the Lady Patriots with two RBI while senior McKenna Gieger, junior Zoe Rutherford and senior Sophia Sanchez each drove in one run. Rutherford hit a home run while Ervin scored three runs.
Rutherford went the distance to record the playoff win, scattering seven hits while striking out five batters.
Bonita Vista scored single runs in each of the opening two innings to lead 2-0. Patrick Henry came back with one run in the third inning and poured across four runs in the top of the fourth inning to go in front 5-2 on the scoreboard.
The Lady Barons got one run back in the bottom of the fourth inning to trail 5-3. But the visitors tacked on single runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings to build a 7-3 lead.
Bonita Vista rallied with one run in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Lady Pats out-hit hosts 12-7 with each team charged with one error.
Patrick Henry defeated 10th-seeded Santana, 3-2, in Tuesday’s play-in game. The Lady Patriots trailed 2-1 before tying the score in the bottom of the seventh inning and plating the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Both teams had five hits.
Rutherford picked up the win in relief of sophomore starter Belle Will by allowing one hit in two scoreless innings.
Santana senior Aurelia Dawson took the loss after striking out six batters in 8.2 innings while allowing four hits and one earned run.
The Lady Sultans finished the season 11-16 overall.
In the May 17 season finale for Bonita Vista, Kayla Ramirez (double) and Kennedy Dimmick (home run) each collected two RBi for the victorious Lady Grizzlies. Abby Huhn hit solo home run for Mission HIlls during their late five-run rally to overcome a 2-0 Bonita Vista lead.
The Lady Grizzlies tamed Patrick Henry, 3-0, in the next round before ending their season with a 6-4 loss to third-seeded Otay Ranch as senior Anaya Camacho (home run) drove in three runs for the Lady Mustangs.
