Calvary vs. Horizon 5/25/12 CIF D-5 Play-offs Round 2

Lions Outlast Horizon to Advance to CIF   Semi-Finals

The Calvary Lions advanced to the CIF semi-finals with a 10-3 win over a tough Horizon Panther squad in a a game that was much tighter than the final score indicates.
Horizon jumped ahead early when they took a 1-0 lead in the second and they held their slim margin until the bottom of the third when senior Sam Sheehan changed the momentum by blasting a 3-run home run to dead center to give Calvary the lead. Calvary added 2 more in the 5th to increase their lead to 5-1 but Horizon battled back in the 6th scoring two and putting the tying runs aboard before a big, and very unusual, defensive play ended the threat and swayed the momentum back into the Lion's court. Calvary capitalized by following with a 5-run outburst in their final at bat to put the game out of reach.
Calvary's ace Russell Harmening got the start and pitched 6 effective innings while picking up his 9th win of the year. He allowed 6 hits and 3 runs, walking none and striking out 10 Panther hitters. Sheehan finished the game off by tossing a scoreless 7th inning allowing one hit and striking out the side.
After Horizon took the early one run lead, Horizon's #1 pitcher John Lee struggled with his control and threw 8 straight balls to the first two hitters of the inning. He made the most of his control problems by picking off one of the Calvary baserunners but sophomore David Carpenter lined a single to left-center to keep the rally going putting runners on 1st and 2nd to set the stage for the Sheehan home run. With two outs, he lined the first pitch he saw deep over the center field fence to give Calvary the lead that they would never surrender.
They added their 4th and 5th runs when Sam Hebert fought off an inside pitch and fisted a pop-up over first that dropped for a one-out single. Junior outfielder David Flores, now almost fully recovered from the knee injury he suffered playing basketball for the Lions, launched a drive over the centerfielder's head for a double putting runners on second and third. Carpenter followed by rocketing a hard liner to center scoring both runners.
But Horizon was not to be outdone. Trailing by 4, they mounted a two-out, nobody-on, rally when sophomore Kalani Nakamura hit a liner just out of shortsop Connor Kollenda's diving reach for an infield single. 3rd hitter Lane O'Dea made it a game when he hit a Harmening fastball over the centerfield fence for a two-run shot tightening the score to 5-3. They got their 3rd hit in-a-row when David Case lined a hard single to left bringing the tying run to the plate in sophomore Brad Horkan who had already singled earlier in the game. He kept up his hot hitting when he hit an 0-1 pitch to right center that hit high on the outfield fence. The ball hit a pole and ricocheted away from centerfielder Sheehan. Carpenter hustled all the way from right field and picked up the ball and heaved it home from deep center to catcher Caleb Whitley. The throw was short and Whitley was forced to abandon home plate to retrieve the ball. Harmening, who was backing up home on the play, moved to the plate when Whitley went after the ball. Out of the corner of his eye, Whitley saw the runner stumble and without hesitation, he alertly fed the ball to Harmening who tagged the runner out for the third out of the inning, saving a run and ending the threat. It is not often when a catcher is the cutoff man to a play at the plate.
If the play had not been made, Horizon would have cut the lead to 5-4 with the tying run on second. But that wasn't the case and knowing they dodged a bullet, a fired-up Calvary returned to the dugout and put the game away by answering back with 5 big runs in the bottom of the 6th.
Matt Hartman started the rally with a short pop to right that fell for a lead single. Harmening then hit a hard liner directly to the rightfielder who dropped it for an error putting two runners on board. Following a deep lineout to left by Whitley and a strikeout, pinch hitter Alex Nurding laced a single to right for a 2-out clutch RBI knock. Sam Hebert blooped a single just inches from the shortstop's outreached glove for another run-scoring single. Back-to-back errors by the Panther shortstop on two Flores and Carpenter ground balls allowed two more to score giving Calvary a 10-3 lead.
The win puts Calvary at 26-5 on the year and gurantees them a spot in the CIF semi-final game for the second straight season.
Last year was a different story because Calvary had one loss and had to win the loser's bracket and beat Santa Fe Christian twice to advance to the finals. They eliminated Tri-City Christian in the loser's bracket and won the first game against Santa Fe 6-2 but lost a heartbreaker when, after battling back to tie the game at 3-3, Santa Fe won in the bottom of the last inning on a walk-off hit. Santa Fe won the CIF title the next day.
This year the cleats are on the opposite foot, Calvary is in the winner's bracket and their competition must go through the loser's bracket and then come back and beat Calvary twice.
Horizon and Foothills are the two remaining teams in the Calvary's bracket.
NOTE: Horizon beat Foothills by a score of 11-5. They will play Calvary on Tuesday at 4:00 at Calvin Christian in the semi-final game. If Horizon wins, they will play again on Thursday, same time and location. The CIF championship game is Friday, June 1st.