In completing a 15-7 regular season May 12 and winning the Frontier League championship, Malibu head coach Paul Gallo knew his team with a .367 team batting average and a .460 team on-base percentage could really hit the ball. What Gallo and his team would not know until March 16 was who it would face in the first round of the CIF-SS Division V playoffs in Malibu on May 20.
Then came the unfortunate news. Visiting Malibu Friday were the Temple City Rams (17-6, 11-4) of the Rio Hondo League. Temple City’s team batting average (.268) and on-base percentage (.366) was trumped by Malibu, but the Rams have pitching sensation Ryan Tucker. He has been clocked as high as 97 mph on radar guns and hit 96 mph Friday en route to a 5-2 victory over Malibu (15-8, 10-2), eliminating the Sharks from the playoffs.
“Who’s pet did I run over at CIF to get this draw?” said a disappointed Gallo. “The CIF has said it wanted to take geography into account when seeding the teams. Temple City had to drive an hour and a half to get here. Now how does that make any sense?”
Malibu pitcher Brooks Fitch began Friday’s game facing .317 hitter Mike Mendoza, one of only three Temple City hitters batting better than .300 on the regular season. Fitch retired Mendoza with a ground out to second and, after surrendering a walk and stolen base to Sheehan Casey, completed the inning after facing only four batters.
Then it was Tucker’s turn. Being watched by a gaggle of major league baseball scouts, he struck out Malibu second baseman Brett Weinstock, who reached first on a dropped third strike by catcher Brenton Wunner. Weinstock was subsequently caught stealing second base by Wunner, who benefited greatly from Tucker’s quick delivery to the plate. Center fielder Daniel Williams reached on an error following the first out, but was quickly picked off of first by Tucker. Third baseman Philip Johnson ended the inning striking out to Tucker, who recorded 10 strike outs on the afternoon.
The game was scoreless in the third when Temple City assembled the first offensive threat of the game. With one out and the bases loaded, Temple City’s Chris Almacellas hit a line drive to center, which was speared by the speedy Daniel Williams of Malibu, saving at least two runs. Fitch struck out the next batter to keep the game scoreless.
“Early on I felt like I was locating the ball and changing speeds well, which helped me with runners on third base,” Fitch said.
The Sharks scored the game’s first two runs in the fifth inning on two past balls by Temple City. Sharks catcher Michael Gwyn had the key at-bat in the inning. With runners on second and third and two outs, Gwyn fouled off scorching fastball after scorching fastball against Tucker, finally causing the pitcher to throw a ball too low for Wunner to handle. Fitch scored after the past ball in a close play at the plate, eliciting large cheers from Malibu supporters at the game. “I was just trying to find a good pitch to hit and help my team score some runs,” Gwyn said.
Gwyn would later walk, bringing up Weinstock, who walked himself after drilling a Tucker offering well foul of the left field line. This brought up Frontier League Player of the Year Daniel Williams with two outs and the bases loaded, giving him a chance to break the game open. Williams ended the inning with a strike out, only his second of the season in nearly 100 plate appearances.
Temple City then exploded in the sixth inning against Fitch, scoring all five of their runs. After striking out the first batter, Fitch surrendered six hits and a walk in the inning, the most significant being a two-RBI triple to right-center field by sophomore Kyle MacDonald to tie the game at two. Fitch, who was replaced in the inning, said, “I just threw the wrong pitches at the wrong time in that inning and they hit them.”
Regardless, Gallo said he was proud of the way Fitch and his team performed all season long. “These kids have been incredible,” Gallo said. “We had a great year record-wise, but it wasn’t just that. These kids have been special and have worked really hard.”