Arcadia was impressive at Apache Invitational
I took a working vacation last week. And although it was a vacation from the usual 9:00-5:00 grind it was all work when it came to covering sports. Of course sitting in the sun watching baseball games isn’t really work so I guess it was a vacation after all.
I wasn’t going out of town and didn’t have any big plans so I checked the schedule and started mapping out my week. There were three tournaments going on during Spring break but the Apache Invitational at Arcadia High School was right down the street so I knew that would work.
I took the Friday before the break off as well so took a drive out to Covina to check out Northview and Covina. By the time the following Wednesday rolled around I had seen six games in four days.
I learned several things during the last week with the most important being that the baseball in the San Gabriel Valley is really good. From Northview to St. Francis, from Arcadia to Glendora, from San Dimas to Temple City… I saw some excellent baseball.
In Covina I saw a Northview team that had some big bats in Xavier Martinez and Damien Chico and a great arm in Eddie Pedroza.
Pedroza fired a complete game in a 7-5 win over Covina and hit a home run to boot. He wasn’t overpowering but he battled through it and eventually beat the Colts. The Vikings are undefeated in league play heading into next week.
On Saturday the Apache Invitational got underway and the first game of the Tournament might have been the best. For six innings St. Francis held Temple City scoreless. Things looked even worse for the Rams when St. Francis picked up two runs in the top of the seventh to take a 3-0 lead. And on the mound for the Golden Knights was their ace- Northwestern bound Ethan Bramschreiber, who had taken over in the fifth inning.
I was thinking about what I was going to ask Temple City Coach Barry Bacon after the loss. It turned out it wasn’t necessary.
Corey Copping led off with pinch hit double and the Jarrard brothers loaded the bases as Jonah ripped one into right and Julian walked. Dusty Sanderson worked another walk for a run and a Branden Pultz single made it 3-2. Then it was up to Alec “Bubba” Vigil.
The former Temple City National Cub climbed in and promptly delivered a base hit into right field. Julian Jarrard scored with Dusty Sanderson right behind and the celebration began.
The Rams had not only scored four in the bottom of the seventh to pull it off but had done so against a Division One pitcher.
“We’ve been flying under the radar but I like our guys,” Bacon said.
That Night submariner K.J. Edson and Arcadia made quick work of San Dimas in a 3-1 win. With Edson, Garrett Tuck and Erik Trask, the Apaches have one of the strongest rotations in the area.
The rains came Monday but Tuesday Temple City was at it again going against another ace. The scouts stood three deep behind the backstop pointing radar guns at Glendora pitcher Adam Plutko. His fastball topped out at 91 but he couldn’t put the Rams away. He went eight innings; the game went ten and ended in a 2-2 tie.
Sanderson hammered a three run home run on Wednesday as Temple City schooled University. In the night game Arcadia and Trask blanked La Salle 9-0 setting up a showdown with Glendora in the championship game on Thursday night.
After my six game run I called on “Big” Tony Solorzano to bail me out. Tony did exactly that and saw Jake Smigelski, the Tartans’ number two pitcher, fire a complete game while the Glendora bats did the rest. The offense racked up 10 runs and rolled to a 10-2 victory to capture the Apache Invitational title.
It was a great week of baseball, and it made for a great vacation. That’s a working vacation that I can live with.
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tspeterson32@yahoo.com.
Leave a Reply