Rancho San Diego’s reigning District 41 championship team earned a rematch with defending Section 7 champion Sweetwater Valley by hanging onto an 11-10 lead in eliminating District 66 champion Spring Valley in Monday’s challenger bracket game in Chula Vista.
Cole Henderson started the scoring with a two-run home run in the first inning for RSD but Spring Valley showed a lot of fight by tying the score at 3-3 in the fourth inning on aa Quinn Cadava three-run bomb to center field.
In the fifth inning, Spring Valley took a three-run lead but RSD answered with three runs of its own in its half of the inning. Tiger Guerrero of Spring Valley pitched well despite the offensive nature of the game and also contributed with his bat. He left the game (after reaching the maximum pitch count) with the score tied 6-6 in the fifth inning only to see RSD pull away with five more runs in the same inning.
In the top half of the sixth inning, with Spring Valley trailing 11-6, SV’s Miguel Orozco led off with a solo shot to right field that got the hit parade started. Guerrero cut the lead to one run down with a sharp single, then advanced to second base on a wild pitch with just one out.†RSD’s Henderson, who was having a monster game with the bat by hitting two home runs and smacking a double, settled down and got the final two outs to secure the win.
