Calvary Comeback Earns Spot in CIF Finals!
The Calvary Christian Lions advanced to the CIF finals in dramatic fashion, overcoming a 5-0 deficit to beat Horizon 7-6 in the CIF semi-finals.
Caleb Whitley was the offensive hero of the day with three clutch RBI singles, including the game winner in the bottom of the 6th inning.
Calvary's starting pitching has been tremendous, putting up a 0.89 ERA in the month of May. That was not the case however as David Carpenter struggled allowing 5 runs before recording the first out of the game. Horizon pounded out 5 hits to go with 2 walks and a wild pitch before a blown squeeze bunt attempt cleared the bases and allowed Calvary to get out of the inning.
Down 5-0, the Lions had an extremely difficult task to overcome. In the second inning, Carpenter finally settled in and threw a scoreless frame setting the stage for the comeback. In the bottom of the inning, Russell Harmening got things rolling when he lead off with a line single up the middle. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored when Whitley banged a single to left. Seniors Connor Kollenda and Sam Hebert each singled and the second run scored when David Flores hit a lazy fly ball to right that was dropped for an error. Carpenter helped out his cause by singling in another to cut the score to 5-3.
Calvary could have tied the game at 5-5 had they not made two costly base running errors. A runner was thrown out trying to advance to third when down by 5 runs and the potential tying run did not advance into scoring position on a throw to the plate. In all, Calvary's unusually poor baserunning cost them 3 runs over the course of the game and made their comeback attempt much more difficult than it should have been.
The Lions gave back a run in the top of 3rd when 2 errors led to a run giving Horizon a 6-3 lead.
Calvary battled back to tie the game in the bottom of the 4th inning when Sam Hebert lead off the inning by doubling into the right field corner. Kallin Iwasaki, pinch running for Hebert, scored for the fifth straight game when Flores doubled him in. With two outs, Matt Hartman hit a dribbler that he beat out for an infield single putting runners on first and third. An errant pickoff throw to first scored Flores and moved Hartman to second putting Calvary within one. Horizon elected to intentionally walk the red-hot hitting Harmening to put runners on 1st and 2nd, but Whitley made them pay for their decision as he tied the game by lining the first pitch he saw to deep right center to tie the game at 6-6.
Senior Isaac Conover relieved Carpenter and threw a scoreless 5th inning to keep Calvary in the game. They threatened to score in the bottom of the inning but stranded a man in scoring position.
Hard throwing Sam Sheehan relieved Conover and struck out the side in the top of the sixth keeping the score knotted at 6 all.
Sheehan then led off the bottom of the sixth by nearly undressing the pitcher with a line shot up the middle. The ball was hit so hard the centerfielder charged and attempted to throw Sheehan out at first. The throw was high and left the playing field allowing Sheehan to advance into scoring position. With one out, Harmening was hit by a pitch, setting the stage for Whitley's game winner. With a 2-2 count, he stayed on a tough down-and-away change-up and lined a ball over short to score Sheehan giving the Lions the lead.
Sheehan then closed the door by striking out the leadoff hitter. Brock Bentley made a gold-glove level play when he harnessed in a one-hop shot to third turning a potential double into an out. The final out was recorded on another groundball to Bentley who threw wide to first but Hebert made a nice play coming off the bag to tag the runner for the game-ender.
Calvary now sits at 27-5 on the year and is in the CIF finals for the first time in school history. In fact, no Calvary team in any sport it's 20+ year history has ever played in the CIF finals.
Calvary will be taking on The Rock Academy on Friday 5/30 at Eastlake High School. Game time is 4:00.
The Rock is 23-4-1 on the year and has won their last 18 straight games. Their last loss was at the hands of Calvary when the Lions shut them out 3-0 in the first game of the Lion's Tournament.
It should be a great game! Come out and see it if you can.
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