The 2024 San Diego Section baseball playoffs wrapped up a memorable spring season with seven divisional championship games May 23-25 at the University of San Diego and UC San Diego.
East County was represented by two champions: the Valhalla Norsemen in Division III and the Mt. Miguel Matadors in Division V.
The division title was the first in school history in the sport at Mt. Miguel while Valhalla added to its 2019 Division III championship. The Norsemen also won the Division III title in 2006.
Second-seeded Mt. Miguel defeated the fifth-seeded Kearny Komets, 5-3, in exciting fashion as senior Jeremiah Castillo clubbed a game-winning walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Top-seeded Valhalla, this year’s Grossmont Valley League champion, shut out seventh-seeded Mira Mesa, 3-0, behind a one-hitter by senior pitcher Colton Stinkeoway.
Valhalla High School player celebrate in the aftermath of their San Diego Section Division III championship game victory.
Orange Nation
Ryan Wheeler has coached the Norsemen since 2017, winning the 2019 Division III championship and four league championships.
“We’ve hit on all cylinders,” the VHS coach said. “We have defense, pitching and hitting. COVID changed a lot of history for our program. We were down for a couple years and rebuilding to get to this point.”
Junior Mace Wheeler, the coach’s son, earned honors as the Grossmont Valley League Player of the Year while Stinkeoway was the league’s pitcher of the year. Senior Julian Jerjees also was a key player, according to the elder Wheeler.
Stinkeoway faced 25 batters – four over the minimum — while tossing 93 pitches (65 of them strikes). He struck out eight batters, walked two, hit one batter and allowed one hit. The left-hander retired the Marauders in order in the first inning. It was a sign of things to come. He attributed the team’s success to “team chemistry and team bonding.”
“I went out there with the mind-set to do the best I can,” the VHS hurler said. “I trusted my team. They hit some balls to the outfield. A one-hitter — that’s about the best we could have played.”
The Norsemen (24-6) scored the only runs they would need in the bottom of the first inning as senior Nate Moulton and Mace Wheeler each singled, junior Tanner Lough reached safely on a bunt and Jerjees picked up a RBI with a bases-loaded walk. Senior Aidan Treltas recorded a RBI on a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0.
Valhalla took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning as Wheeler was hit by a pitch, moved up a base on an error before Treltas eventually plated him with the RBI. The Norsemen had one runner thrown out at the plate to prevent more damage on the scoreboard.
Valhalla loaded the bases in each of the fifth and sixth innings but failed to produce the game-breaking hit. In the meantime, Stinkeoway had the game under control. He recorded the game’s final out on a called third strike.
“Everything clicked,” the VHS coach said. “I thought we played a little tight, but we got it done.”
The younger Wheeler went two-for-two with a double and two runs scored while Treltas had two RBI, Lough had two hits and Moulton scored one run as the Norsemen extended their winning streak to 17 games.
“We came up short last year (3-2 loss in the semifinals to Maranatha Christian), but we came back the next day to the field and started practicing to get here,” Stinkeoway said.
During Wheeler’s coaching term, the Norsemen have placed nine players to the next level, including pitcher Joseph Ingrassia currently in the Boston Red Sox organization.
“It shows we can play ball,” the VHS coach said. “We can give people a run for their money.”
State playoffs
Mt. Miguel (16-16) received the No. 3 seed in the Division V state regional playoffs, topping No. 6 Pacifica Christian/Orange County (22-8) in the opening round on May 28 by a score of 2-0 to advance to the semifinals on May 30.
Valhalla (25-6) received the No. 2 seed in the Division IV state regional, defeating seventh-seeded Oxford Academy (18-15-1) in the opening round by a score of 4-0 to advance to the semifinals with an 18-game winning streak.
Granite Hills (22-8) received the No. 6 seed in the Division I state regional, opening at third-seeded Huntington Beach (24-9) in the first round with an 8-3loss.
Both Mt. Miguel and Valhalla bowed out in the state semifinals to end otherwise stellar seasons. Mt. Miguel (16-17) lost 6-5 in eight innings to the second-seeded Azusa Aztecs (20-6) while Valhalla (25-7) lost 6-4 to third-seeded Pacifica (21-12-1), the eventual regional champion.
