Mariposa baseball rallies into D-VI title game

The Mariposa High baseball players and coaches posed for team pictures on Tuesday with everybody holding up four fingers.

The number four has proven to be a good one for the Grizzlies this year.

The Mariposa boys basketball team was seeded fourth in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs and won the first boys basketball section championship in school history.

The Grizzlies baseball team was also seeded fourth as it defeated top-seed Bradshaw Christian twice on Tuesday to earn a spot in the Division VI championship on Monday at a time and site to be determined. It was sweet revenge for Mariposa after the three-time defending champs had eliminated the Grizzlies from the playoffs the last three seasons.

Mariposa (17-7) opened the best-of-three semifinal series against Bradshaw Christian with a 7-6 loss in eight innings as the Pride came back from a 6-2 deficit. The Grizzlies answered with 4-1 and 3-1 victories at Stagg High on Tuesday to secure their place in the title game.

“The kids never thought they were out of it after losing the first game,” Mariposa coach Justin Kleinsmith said. “We felt like we’d given one away in game one. We’ve had close games all season that we weren’t able to pull out for whatever reason, but they responded differently to the playoff atmosphere.”

Jake Williams set the tone on Tuesday, throwing a complete game in the 4-1 victory against Bradshaw Christian ace Spencer Swain. Williams also went 3-for-3 at the plate. Kleinsmith said catcher Dillon Mah keyed the decisive three-run sixth inning. The junior tripled in a run and later scored to put Mariposa up for good.

Joey Freitas then allowed just one run through six innings in the nightcap, before freshman Michael Medinas came in to close out the game with a 1-2-3 seventh inning.

The key inning for Mariposa came in the fifth when Freitas was able to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam with no outs. Freitas induced a ground ball to shortstop Blake Atkins, who fired home for the force out. Freitas struck out the next batter and then got another grounder to Atkins to escape the jam.

This story was originally published May 25, 2016 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Mariposa baseball rallies into D-VI title game."