The Sunset League’s Mavericks and Diplomats gathered at Azusa Pacific University on a scorching hot summer evening for the first game of the best-of-three Sunset League Championship.
The No. 1 seed Mavericks won the game on a thrilling walk-off after losing a big lead late in the game.
The Mavericks got off to a strong start, scoring three runs in the first. Two of the runs came on singles into left field, and the other came on a demoralizing blooper that dropped in front of the centerfielder.
The Diplomats were able to get a run back in the second off Mavericks ace and Sunset League pitcher of the year, Garrett Sinfield.
Sinfield settled back in after the second inning laps to quiet the Diplomats throughout the rest of his outing.
The Mavericks offense was unrelenting, scoring again in the second, fourth, and fifth to extend their lead to 6-1.
It looked like the top-seeded Mavericks would cruise to a simple and expected victory until the Diplomats flipped the game on its head in the seventh.
An error early in the inning gave the Diplomats life and allowed them to load the bases. A hard-hit single to center brought in two runs to bring the tying run to the plate.
A walk loaded the bases to bring up the Diplomats' three-hitter. A long, intense at-bat resulted in another walk, bringing in a third run and putting the tying run in scoring position.
Diplomats cleanup hitter Chris Smith played hero by smoking a double down the right-field line to tie the game.
With momentum now on the side of the Diplomats, the Mavericks needed a big play to get their confidence back.
The Mavericks continued to struggle in the ninth with another crucial error allowing runners to reach second and third with only one out. With the middle of the lineup coming to the plate, the Mavericks intentionally load the bases, bringing Smith to the plate again.
This time, Mavericks pitching won the battle by striking Smith out. It appeared that the next batter gave the Diplomats the lead when he hit a hard ground ball into the 5-6 hole, but the Mavericks shortstop incredibly caught the ball backhanded on the run and threw the ball to third for the force out to keep the game tied.
The spectacular play awoke the Mavericks and rejuvenated their momentum just in time for the bottom of the ninth.
“It brought the guys back to their feet, they were excited. This is what summer is all about, especially in the championship series,” said Mavericks head coach Dylan Hoffman.
A leadoff single put the winning run on the base path. A subsequent infield single moved the runner into scoring position just in time for a passed ball to move the winning run to third.
With the winning run on third, Hoffman brought Jared Pugrad into the game to pinch hit. Pugrad looked calm and collected as he went to the plate and for good reason. After seeing a pitch, Pugrad crushed a fastball into deep left-center for an electrifying walk-off to hand the Mavericks game one.
Pugrad’s age, experience, and poise prompted Hoffman confidently to sub him in for the big moment.
“I knew it was coming. He’s one of our older guys on the team and he’s a leader. He was on the bench to start the game, but he had a positive attitude the whole game and he got his moment there,” Hoffman said.
The competitiveness of game one excited Hoffman, who acknowledged how good the Diplomats have been recently.
“It’s a big win, it was definitely the most competitive game we had all summer,” said Hoffman. “Caps off to the Diplomats, they have some of the hottest bats in the league right now, and they’re the team we didn’t want to see in the playoffs, but were excited by the competition.”
Games two and three (if needed) will be at Mt. Sac on Saturday with the first game starting at 1PM.
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