Golden Valley offense stays hot in win over Merced
The runs kept coming for the Golden Valley High baseball team as the Cougars seemed determined to finish the season strong.
Golden Valley had three four-run innings en route to a 14-2 win over Merced in front of a large crowd that showed up for the Nannini Game on Friday night at Merced High.
The win finished off a two-game sweep of the Bears in which the Cougars outscored Merced 24 to 4.
“We started playing good in the San Luis Obispo tournament a couple weeks ago,” said Golden Valley coach Scott Solis. “I wish we would have figured things out a little earlier.”
The Cougars improved to 10-14 overall and 4-6 in the Central California Conference. Golden Valley had hoped it could win out and still make the playoffs, but the Cougars’ playoff hopes ended earlier on Friday afternoon when El Capitan (6-6 CCC) defeated Pitman 5-2. The Gauchos will hold the tie-breaker advantage over GV because they swept the Cougars earlier this season.
Solis says the Cougars still have plenty to play for in the final two games against Buhach Colony.
“We can still finish in third place,” Solis said. “We may not be able to go to the playoffs, but it would be nice to get to .500 in league with our recent struggles.”
It was a strange night filled with a triple play, streakers and a player called out trying to steal home because of batter interference.
It started with a pregame ceremony where Dave Nannini handed out 17 scholarships worth $300 to the senior players on both teams on behalf of the Kevin and Brian Nannini Scholarship Foundation. The Nanninis have handed out over 180 scholarships worth over $50,000 in the 14 years since the foundation was started in 2004.
The Bears (9-14, 3-7) then had the defensive highlight of the night in the top of the first inning with a triple play.
Golden Valley’s Sean Bowler walked to star the game and Jack Solis was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. With both runners on the move, Brady Mello hit a soft liner to Merced’s Tanner Pellissier at second base, who caught the ball and fired to second base to double off Bowler and then shortstop Clayton Hall tossed the ball to first to triple off Solis to complete the triple play.
The momentum didn’t stay with the Bears long as Golden Valley pushed four runs across in the second inning. Bowler delivered the big blow in the inning with a two-run single.
Merced tried to answer back in the second inning as the Bears loaded the bases with one out. That’s when Hall tried to steal home. As he broke for the plate on the pitch, batter Cole Huie took a swing as Hall slid home. Hall was originally called safe, but was then called out because the umpire rule Huie interfered on the play.
A long argument ensued with multiple discussions between umpires and coaches from both sides. Merced coach Justin Parle eventually protested the game after Hall was ruled out and both of the other base runners were sent back to their original bases.
“The way I saw it, it was clean,” said Parle, whose team was also eliminated from a possible postseason berth with the loss. “I didn’t understand the interference call. I don’t know all the rules in the rule book, but as far as I know, our batter didn’t have to get out of the way. I didn’t like the end result of the play either with the runners going back.
“Lets get this out of the way first. Golden Valley played their tails off and they deserved to beat us that game. But I also believe that play was a big momentum shift at the time.”
The Cougars offense was too much as they took advantage of walks, hit batters and came up with big hits with runners in scoring position. Joe Flores delivered a two-run single during a four-run fourth inning that extended GV’s lead to 8-2.
Bowler and Nick Romero singled in runs in the fifth to help stretch the Cougars’ lead to 10-2. Golden Valley then sent up a string of pinch-hitters in the sixth inning and tacked on four more runs.
“We’ve really been working on ball flight and good contact every day in practice,” Solis said. “We’ve been getting really good at-bats lately.”
The two teams will finish their seasons next week. Merced plays two games against Atwater, including a Monday night game at 7. Golden Valley finishes with two games against Buhach Colony, including a Monday afternoon game at Doug Fister Field at 4 p.m.
El Capitan 5, Pitman 2 at Turlock – Braiden Ward doubled and homered to lead the Gauchos (13-12, 6-6 CCC) to a win over the Pride. Elijah Reid added two hits and two RBIs for El Capitan. Chase Whitaker pitched five innings to pick up the win and Sai Davuluri came on in relief to pick up the save.
This story was originally published May 5, 2017 at 11:19 PM with the headline "Golden Valley offense stays hot in win over Merced."