Centaurs Baseball Poised for Deep Run

It's been a magical season so far for the Culver City High baseball team, so much so that Coach Rick Prieto and his players don't want it to end.

The reward for winning in the postseason is the opportunity to keep playing, and the Centaurs earned one more game with a 1-0 victory over Eastside of Lancaster on Friday in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs.

Pinch-hitter Juan Alcala drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a base hit to right field. He had been waiting all game for his chance and when it came, he made the most of it.

"I wanted the coach to put me in the game because I felt like I could get the job done, he gave me an opportunity and had faith in me," Alcala said. "I was expecting an outside fastball, and I just went with the pitch and it got through the hole." 

Culver City head coach Rick Prieto wasn't surprised that Alcala delivered in the clutch.

"Juan's a junior we moved up from JV towards the end of the season and he got a few at-bats and had a couple of big hits off the bench," Prieto said. "He came through against Santa Monica [in the first game, a 7-6 win] in a situation where he knocked in that seventh RBI for us and that really helped."

This time, Alcala's RBI skipped under the glove of the Lions' first baseman but he never saw it. 

"I just hit the ball so I was running hard with my head down, looked up and it was past him," Alcala said. "It was kind scary being down there [at the bottom of the pile] but it was exciting to get the win for the team."  

Pitcher Tyler Mark got hit in the forearm on a come-backer in the third inning, but it only increased his level of concentration. The senior right-hander mixed up his pitches effectively against Eastside (15-8), which beat Segerstrom, 9-5, in a wildcard game to gain a first-round berth.

"My offspeed pitches were working for strikes, changeups and curve balls and fastballs, I was around the zone and only one walk, so I was satisfied with my performance yesterday," he said.

Culver City's defense was solid as usual and shortstop Darian Sylvester made several strong plays between second and third to rob the of hits. 

"We came out flat and weren't focused like we usually are but when it came down to it, good defense by [second baseman] Alfonso Martin, [third baseman] Daniel Hennessy and Skylar [Blocker] at first we got the job done," Sylvester said. "I hit the ball hard it just went right at the guys. He hit the outside corner, his curve ball was sharp and he was a little hard to pick up because he had a faster wind-up."

At 20-8, the Centaurs have the highest winning percentage (.714) in Prieto's tenure and became the first team in school history to go undefeated in Ocean League play. Culver City made the Division 3 semifinals last season and Prieto thinks his team can make another deep playoff run this year.

"This was the type of game you expect in the playoffs," Prieto said. "Both teams are polished teams coming in with pitching and defense and timely hitting and that's exactly what you saw."

Next up for the Centaurs is a rematch with Paramount (18-9), the third-place team from the San Gabriel Valley League, which lost to the Centaurs in round two of last year's playoffs. The Pirates knocked off California of Whittier 4-2 on the road in the first round Friday and thus will host Culver City at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday.

"Last year in the second round we played them here and we took a commanding lead--3-0, 6-0, 9-0 but it ended up in the seventh inning at 9-5 with the bases loaded," Prieto recalled.  

The Culver City-Paramount winner will meet the Bonita-Garden Grove winner in the quarterfinals Friday. La Verne Bonita (27-2) is the No. 1 seed in Division 3.

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