East County baseball teams pulled off a championship triple play last Saturday as the Granite Hills Eagles, Christian Patriots and West Hills Wolf Pack all made good on their top-seeded status to crown themselves San Diego Section division champions.
Granite Hills (25-10) rallied from an early 2-0 deficit against second-seeded Point Loma (20-13) to record a wild walk-off 3-2 victory to energize fans in the Division I final played at Poway High School.
Christian High School (26-4) defeated 10th-seeded San Dieguito Academy (21-14) by a score of 7-4 to win the Division III title while West Hills (16-17) defeated third-seeded Mission Vista (22-11) by a score of 4-0 to capture the Division IV championship in a pair of games played at Eastlake High School.
Granite Hills coach James Davis said his team turned to small ball — rather than swing for the fences — to notch the program’s seventh CIF championship in its history and fourth under Davis.
The Eagles scratched across runs in the bottom of the second and fifth innings to tie the score 2-2 to set up the game’s dramatic ending.
With one out in the seventh inning, Alex Gibaud reached safely on a single and wound up at second base on a throwing error on a missed bunt. He later moved to third base on a groundout by teammate James Taylor and scored when Hudson Beamon hit a first-pitch looper into center field.
“It was amazing to get the opportunity to get a game-winning hit,” Beamon said in a media interview. “It’s something I’ve dreamed about my whole life.”
Taylor scored Tanner Vielguth on a groundout in the second inning and Grant MacArthur singled to score Taylor in the fifth inning to set up the Eagles’ dream victory.
Granite Hills used two pitchers in the game: senior Noa Ponciano and freshman Chandler Henry. Ponciano allowed four hits and two earned runs in four innings on the hill while Henry hurled three scoreless innings without a hit to pick up the win.
The Eagles received the No. 1 seed in the Division III Southern California regional playoffs.
Patriot Nation
City League champion Christian ran its winning streak to 17 games as sophomore Vaughn Major blasted a two-run home run, scored three runs and posted a complete game victory on the hill to improve to 10-0 on the season.
Major entered the championship game a 1.20 earned-run average with 84 strikeouts in 52.1 innings.
Senior Josh Meekins (.391 hitting average) also slammed a two-run home run while senior Will Carlock (.368 hitting average) drove in two runs.
The Patriots received the No. 2 seed in the Division V regional playoffs.
Hungry like a wolf
Despite finishing just 2-13 in Grossmont Hills League play, West Hills turned on the power in the playoffs with four consecutive victories, including two shutout wins (18-0 over fifth-seeded Holtville and 4-0 in the final over Mission Vista).
Junior Connor Evans (.359 hitting average) cracked a two-run home run in the first inning and senior Kyle Dobyns threw his second shutout in postseason play while striking out 11 batters to key the Wolf Pack.
West Hills received the No. 2 seed in the Division V-A regionals.
