SANTA ROSA – Casa Grande-Petaluma didn’t win its third regular season North Bay League title since coming over from the Sonoma County League four years ago, but the second-place finisher to Maria Carrillo this season did win its second playoff championship with a resounding 13-5 victory over the first place Pumas on Friday evening at Cardinal Newman.
Prep2Prep North Coast Section No. 9 Casa Grande (20-5) had their hitting shoes on early after posting six runs in the top of the first inning.
Carrillo scored a run in the second inning and it stayed that way until the top of the fifth. After the Gauchos turned a double play to end the fourth Coach Paul Maytorena implored his boys to get busy as they returned to the dugout.
“Come on boys, let’s put this one away. We haven’t scored since the first inning,” Maytorena told them.
Maytorena’s boys promptly responded with another six spot, and although Carrillo scored two runs in the sixth and two in the seventh, the game was not really in doubt as Casa Grande added a run in the top of the seventh to take a 13-3 lead.
“We just keep getting better,” Maytorena remarked. “The pitching and defense has been there and we’re hitting the ball now.”
The Gauchos rapped out 14 hits led by sophomore Dylan Moore who was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Junior cleanup hitter Quinton Gago was also 3-for-4 with a sacrifice, two RBIs and a run scored. Centerfielder Stephen Proctor had two hits and two RBIs with a run scored, and Blake Berry scored twice and drove in one.
With all the offense Casa Grande produced the pitching of senior starter Jason Wutsch and junior Parker Ruoff who relieved him, was something that can’t go without mention.
With arms at a premium at this point of the season, Wutsch, who is almost exclusively a reliever, got the start. He might only be 5-7 but the right-handed sidewinder came up huge after he went three innings, and although he gave up eight hits, Wutsch didn’t walk anyone and struck out four while only giving up one run. In the third inning he gave up a single and double to start the inning but with runners on second and third he struck out the side.
From there Ruoff, a reliever that pitched from the stretch even with no runners on base, came on for two and two-thirds innings and he gave up two hits and four walks but didn’t surrender a run.
“That was the longest Jason (Wutsch) has gone this year,” Maytorena said. “Between him and Parker (Ruoff) they ate up some innings.”
Maria Carrillo (17-9) had 12 hits in the game but they left 13 runners on base. Cal-bound Andrew Vaughn had two hits including a monster two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Both teams will now await the CIFNCS seeding meeting on Sunday to find out where they land in the Division II playoffs with each looking like they will be in the top four or five at the worst.
“We don’t want to go limping into the playoffs,” said Maytorena, who is in his 22nd year at the Gauchos helm. “We’re hitting now and that’s contagious, but we have a long way to go and from here its one and done.”
