EL CAJON (4-11-2018) – The El Cajon Valley Braves nearly won their first league game since May 6, 2015, but the West Hills Wolf Pack rallied from a 5-2 deficit to take the Grossmont Valley League opener, 6-5, on Tuesday afternoon.

West Hills regained its composure from a four-error second inning to lose the lead, coming back to take the decision over the host Braves in a 5-inning ballgame.

“They don’t beat themselves and played smarter than we did,” said West Hills coach Mickey Deutschman. “We were very lucky to win.”

Braves skipper Clifton Thomas, now in his fourth season at his alma mater, formerly played under “Mickey D.” with the San Diego Stars semipro ballclub. Thomas, a Western Baseball Association standout with the Stars allowed his mentor to talk to the Braves after the contest.

“We took some positives out of the game,” said Braves starting pitcher Jesus Favela, a senior. “We almost beat West Hills – we had them on their toes, their coach  even told us that after the game, giving us a speech.”

“He honestly thought  that we did a good job and should’ve won the game.”

As for the immediate future for the Braves?

“I said it before: we will be a force to be reckoned with and will come out on top in the (near) future. We are not finished yet,” according to Favela.

Thomas concurred, “We will be giving a lot of people a run for their money with guys like Jesus, Robert (Verdugo) and Aaron (Rodriguez).”

Five early runs by ECVHS came on two consecutive plays in the second inning, punctuated with two Wolf Pack errors each, the second producing a “Little League” home run.

The Braves loaded the bases on a walk and a pair of hit batsmen. Mario Jacobs followed with a ground ball that was booted for one run, then the throw went wild, advancing all of the runners an additional 90 feet to tie the ballgame at 2-all, as Paul Lazalde and Luis Huerta scored.

Rodriguez, a left-hander who batted 2-for-2 plus a walk, followed with a base hit for the go-ahead run by Favela. However, two more errors allowed “Little A-Rod” to circumnavigate the bases and a 5-2 lead.

Rodriguez spent his freshman year as a West Hills student playing on the Frosh team

However, West Hills relief pitcher Landon Bailey entered to register the final out. Bailey then pitched the next three frames, only allowing an infield single and one walk to collect the victory out of the bullpen.

The Wolf Pack saw two runs come without the aid of a base hit.

Steven Cristini, the latest West Hills leadoff hitter, and Cody Pedrero walked, both moving into scoring position on a wild pitch.

Devin Bevilacqua followed with an ugly ground ball to the right side, yet it got the job to plate Cristini. Kai Dennis answered with a more conventional grounder to the right, again forcing ECVHS to go to first base while Pedrero scored.

In the third, Cristini again secured a lead walk. He stole second base, then came home on a double down the left-field line by Dennis.

West Hills moved even with two runs in the fourth.

Cristini (three walks, three runs) drew a free pass with two outs. Pedrero also walked, then both came home Bevilacqua line single.

The go-ahead run came an inning later. Gavin Kondyra opened the frame with a fly ball that was dropped in the outfield. He scored on consecutive ground balls by Larry “Chris” Schroeder – who was just voted as team captain by his teammates — and Honick for his second game-winning RBI in April.

Not much was expected from Cristini, especially at the plate, yet he’s reached base in six of his last 10 at-bats.

“I’m just trying to give us a chance to win,” said Cristini, a sophomore. “I did my job three times, but the other guys behind did their’s, too, so it’s starting to come together for us.”

West Hills is now 5-9 overall (1-0 in the Grossmont Valley League), including three straight wins in April. The Braves fell to 4-5 (0-1 GVL).

El Cajon Valley last won a league game back in May of 2015 against Monte Vista, a 2-1 decision that was the Braves’ first league win in 14 years.

San Ysidro 3, WEST HILLS 2 – West Hills High pitcher Gavin Kondyra saw another solid performance on the mound go to waste, as surging San Ysidro scored an unearned tie-breaking run in the 5th inning Wednesday (Mar. 14), just enough to nip the Wolf Pack, 3-2, at the border school.

Friday 3-9-2019: Helix 12, at WH 0

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header 

By Nick Pellegrino 

SANTEE (3-10-2018) ---------- Buoyed by a trio of run-scoring at-bats by San Jose State bound outfielder Brandon Peterson, the 6th-ranked Helix Highlanders parlayed three unearned runs in their first trip to the plate into a massive 12-0 spanking of the host West Hills Wolf Pack.

 

Peterson finished with four RBI, including the game-winning RBI in the 1st on a sharp single to right field, a 2-run triple down the left field line in the 6th, then a sound sacrifice fly to the opposite field to ice the cake in the 7th to clinch Friday's (Mar. 9) Foothiller Tournament contest.

 

"Everyone on this team does their job -- we don't many holes to fill -- so if we keep it up, we can again contend for CIF," said Peterson, who bats in the 3-hole ahead of Zack Owens, who knocked in six runs in the team's previous outing.

 

In other words, the Scotties (3-0) dynamic offense will be difficult to overcome.

 

This ballgame was over early as the Scotties displayed precision baseball -- both on and off the field -- as the Pack seemingly rolled over as three Helix pitchers combined on a 2-hit shutout.

 

"We need to find nine players who are passionate about playing varsity baseball," noted West Hills coach Mickey Deutschman. "Our effort today will not cut it."

 

The victory was the first for Helix coach Cole Holland over Deutschman after playing eight seasons with the San Diego Stars semipro ballclub. Holland was one of the ballclub's top players, but "Mickey D." won their first encounter between them in this same event in 2016.

 

West Hills heavily contributed to its own doom, finishing with four errors, a catcher's interference violation, while the pitchers hit five Helix batters.

 

Meanwhile, Helix starting pitcher Thomas Caneday breezed through with four strikeouts, registering 11 of his first 12 outs on K's or ground balls.

 

Helix leadoff batter Austin Kretzschmar, the shortstop, displayed hustle for the Scotties with his first swing of the bat, legging out an infield single. An interference call put two runners on for Peterson to register his first RBI.

 

In the 4th, the bottom four members of the Helix batting order -- Emran Kazmi, Griffin Zamora, Jack Sothras and Jordon Thompson -- all reached base and scored to make it 7-0

 

Conversely, West Hills (1-2) had only three baserunners, with none of them advancing into scoring position.

 

 

By Nick Pellegrino

 

SANTEE (3-8-2018) --------------- Following the virtues of the West Hills High defense in the ballclub's opener, Game No. 2 could've allowed Wolf Pack pitcher Gavin Kondyra to falter in frustration.

 

Despite eventually firing a complete-game 3-hitter, Kondyra trailed most of the afternoon against visiting Montgomery, trailing 3-0 on a trio of unearned runs by the Aztecs in the second inning.

 

However, the Pack took advantage of an error in the fifth inning, then tacked on four additional runs, grabbing the lead for keeps on a 2-Foothiller Tournament action on Wednesday (Mar. 7).

 

"Errors happen, but as long as we get our bats going, we can win," said Kondyra.

 

Although it took longer than desired, the Wolf Pack (1-1) collected half of their 10 hits in the pivotal frame when they scored all of their runs.

 

Of course, an error started the rally, but the next four runs were earned against a trio of pitchers for Montgomery as the Pack batted around.

 

Second baseball Peyton Honick opened the frame with a hot shot at third bse, but an excellent back-hand grab prevented an easy, down-the-line double. However, the throw to first base was wide.

 

Moments later, Cody Pedrero pulled a deep drive to the right-center field gap, circling around for an RBI triple and getting West Hills on the board. Two pitches later, Pedrero came home on a Joe Thrailkill sacrifice fly to trim the deficit to 3-2.

 

The next three batters reached base to knot the contest.

 

Catcher Andrew Ritayik legged out a slow roller to second base for a scratch single, moving to second on Kondyra's line single to left-center, then scoring when a drive by Devin Bevilacqua short-hopped the fence in left to leave the teams even.

 

The Aztecs answered with a strikeout which should've ended the inning. Instead with two outs, Kai Dennis went to right-center field with a 2run triple to take the lead for keeps.

 

The re-energized Kondyra then set down 6-of-7 batters to finalize his complete-game victory, surviving a on-out walk in the 7th with an ensuing ground ball and a pop out. The junior left-hander struck out three.

 LA MESA – The climb to ascend the top of baseball’s mountain of success continues for the West Hills Wolf Pack, despite falling to Mira Mesa, 4-3, in Saturday‘ season opener f the Foothillers Tournament held at Helix High.

 

The host Highlanders captured the first of two contests on the day, 8-4, against powerful Madison.

 

The Wolf Pack rallied from a 4-0 deficit with three runs in the 6th inning, then moved within inches of moving even with the Marauders. However, on an afternoon when both team defenses shined, Mira Mesa was able to cut down the tying run at the plate to hang for the victory.

 

“Both teams looked like they were in midseason form, especially on defense,” said West Hills third-year coach Mickey Deutschman. “We seemed a little nervous early, but once we smacked a couple of line drives, it was anybody’s ballgame.”

 

In Deutschman’s first game as head coach in 2016, Mira Mesa fired a no-hitter at the Pack. This go-round, a one-out double  in the third inning showed they would refuse to roll over.

 

“This was the first time in forever that this school ran a strong off-season program,” added the coach, who is a member of the National Semipro Baseball Fall of Fame with more than 1,100 career victories. “This program said for years that they want to win. Well now, they doing what’s necessary to do so.”

 

Since the school began varsity competition in 1990, the Wolf Pack own just a single league championship — but with an asterisk.

 

In 2003, WHHS was one game behind Grossmont entering the final day of the regular season. The Pack won their season finales, but Grossmont, in preparing for the playoffs, were upset to forge a deadlock for the old Grossmont North League.

 

This spring, some consider West Hills to be a co-favorite to contend for the Grossmont Valley League crown.

 

“It’s way too early to talk about such things,” added the coach. “But inside, we’d like to think we can be there.”

The huge tally saw a lead walk to second baseman Kai Daniels, catcher Andrew Ritayik lined a base hit to right, then center fielder Chris Schroeder walked to load the bases.

 

An out later, first baseman Gavin Kondyra stroked an RBI base hit over the head of the Mira Mesa second baseman to end the Marauders’ shutout bid, then left fielder Colton Corderman walked to force in a run.

 

That’s when Mira Mesa’s defense came through. The third baseman snagged a ball ticketed down the left-field line, firing to the plate to gain a critical force out.

 

Leadoff hitter Cody Pedrero followed by reaching base for the third time without the aid of a hit, walking with the bases loaded for an RBI to move with a run before the Marauders escaped.

 

Mira Mesa left-handed closer than Aaron Leicester, a junior, then retired West Hills in order in the 7th to register the save.

 

We talked about the defense, so here we go:

 

West Hills shortstop Joe Thrailkill twice ranged deep in the hole to flag the ball,  then threw against his body for the out at first base in the 1st and 4th innings.

 

In the 3rd, Thrailkill was I the middle of a splendid double play, when Peyton Honick fired to knock down a ball headed for center field. He gloved the ball to Thrailkill covering second, then relayed the ball to Kondyra at first base.

 

Then in the 6th, Wolf Pack third baseman Devin Bevilacqua caught a line drive, then made a long dive to the bag to eliminate the runner for an inning-ending, unassisted double play.

 

Mira Mesa also converted twin-killers in the 2nd and 3rd frames.

 

Later, center fielder Stephen Thompson ended a pair of innings with nice catches. In the 4th, he charged forward for a diving snag to prevent Thrallskill from registering consecutive doubles.

 

Thompson also reached high to snare a line drive for the game’s final out. He prevented Kondyra from reaching base for a fourth straight time (1 hit, 2 walks), preventing West Hills from placing the potential game-tying run into scoring position.

 

Leading 1-0 early, Mira Mesa expanded its lead on a 2-run single by No. 3 hitter Gabe Jones in the 3rd.

 

West Hills (0-1) returns to tournament action Wednesday (Mar. 7), hosting the Montgomery Aztecs at 3:30 p.m.