For the third time in four consecutive playoff appearances, The Sandra Day O’Connor Eagles baseball team defeated and eliminated their rival from down the street, the Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions on Thursday. In this edition of the battle for Happy Valley, the seventh seeded Eagles bested the third seed Mountain Lions 9-3.
The first batter of the game, senior Kolt Kurzman, went down on strikes. After Kurzman’s out, the Eagles bat through the lineup, scoring six runs on seven hits and giving the upset minded Eagles a lead they would not let go of.
But more than that, the offensive outbreak allowed their ace Cennedy Murrell to pitch with run support.
Heading into the matchup versus the Mountain Lions, Murrell had a 1.08 ERA with a 6-1 record. But Murrell hadn’t pitched in the two regular season matchups versus Mountain Ridge, and the Eagles lost both.
“They hadn’t seen him in the first two games, and we felt confident that he could come in and get outs," manager Jeff Baumgartner said.
Murrell did just that, as he pitched five innings and allowed just two runs. Each time Mountain Ridge threatened he would rely on his fastball or his change-up to force Mountain Lion hitters into bad swings.
With the victory, the Eagles advance to play the No. 2 Alhambra Lions, the defending 6A conference runner up. With the baseball tournament back to a double-elimination format, Baumgartner believes the hungry Eagles are playing with “house money."
“We’re scrapping, we’re fighting, and our mindset is to go out and fight every game. It keeps us loose and keeps us going," he said.
Under last season’s single-elimination format, the Eagles would have been eliminated the first day of the tournament after they lost 1-0 to tenth seed Perry. But the return to the previous format has kept the Eagles clawing with a close 8-7 win over No. 15 Desert Vista prior to the victory versus Mountain Ridge.
If the Eagles win against Alhambra, they will advance to their second straight semifinal where a possible rematch against Perry awaits. It would be the third semifinals in four seasons for the Eagles as they try to keep the winning streak going with house money.
Whether it’s timely hitting against Desert Vista or great pitching against Mountain Ridge, the Eagles are starting to hit their stride at the most important point in the season. With an experienced manager like Baumgartner and senior performers such as Kurzman, Murrell, Josh Butler, Preston Lucas or younger contributors like Ky McGary and Hustyn Wheeler, it’s not surprising to hear the looseness of the team in the dugout and the confidence they play with on the field. If O’Connor wins the 6A Conference baseball title for the second time in school history, it’ll be because they played with house money and hit the jackpot.
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