More Harmening Heroics
Led by co-captain Russell Harmening, the Calvary Christian Lions won a nail-biter beating the La Jolla Country Day Torreys 4-3 in the final regular season game.
Calvary led for the majority of the game until the Torreys fought back and tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. Their comeback set the stage for some Harmening heroics when, in the top of the last inning, Harmening belted a solo shot over the left field fence that recaptured the Lion's lead which they never relinquished.
Harmening started on the mound for the Lions and threw 5 solid innings allowing only 4 hits, no walks while striking out 7. His only mistake came in the 4th inning when he elevated an 0-1 changeup to MLB prospect Sam Ayala who launched it deep over the right field fence. It was the first run Harmening has given up in his last 30 innings pitched.
He left with a 3-1 lead but failed to get his 9th win of the year when the Torreys tied it up after his departure.
After a scoreless 1st inning, Calvary managed to load the bases in the second inning but failed to get a run across. They got on the board in the 3rd when David Carpenter led off with a walk, moved to second on a Sam Sheehan groundout, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored when Matt Hartman bounced a ball to short that was misplayed for an error.
They made it 3-0 in the 4th when Isaac Conover singled up the middle to start the inning and Sam Hebert walked putting runners at 1st & 2nd. A David Flores ground ball forced Hebert at second putting runners at first and third. With two outs, Carpenter then singled to score Kallin Iwasaki who was pinch-running for Conover. Sheehan followed with a line single to right scoring Flores who would have been out easily at the plate but a wide throw to home allowed him to score Calvary's third run.
Ayala's home run in the bottom of the inning made it 3-1.
Both teams failed to score in the 5th and Harmening, who was at 86 pitches, was relieved by Carpenter.
Normally a starting pitcher, Carpenter, who had not walked a batter in his last three outings, struggled with his control. He managed to get two outs on a strikeout and sacrifice bunt, but a single and two walks loaded the bases and Carpenter was relieved by Sheehan.
The Torrey's brought in pinch hitter Ian Lutz who singled through the 5.5 hole scoring two to tie the game at 3-3. He got out of the inning when he got the final hitter to fly out to left.
With the momentum now clearly in the Torrey's court, Harmening snatched it back when he hit the first pitch he saw deep over the wall to reclaim the lead. It was Harmening's third home run of the year.
Sheehan settled in and threw a scoreless bottom of the 7th to secure the victory. Sheehan was the winning pitcher of the day improving his season mark to 5-1.
The game marked the end of the regular season for the Lions who finished with a 24-5 overall mark. They won the Citrus-West championship as well putting up their second straight undefeated league season at 8-0.
They move on the CIF playoffs where they were awarded the number 1 seed in Division 5. They will take on the winner of the play-in game between Julian and San Diego Jewish Academy. They will play Wednesday at 4:00 at Calvin Christian.
No comments:
Post a Comment