In a game where both starting pitchers exited before the end of the second inning, it came down to a gutsy pitching performance in the seventh inning by Redwood Christian senior Alex Williams, as the Eagles held on for a 5-4 victory over Piedmont to claim the North Coast Section Division IV baseball championship.
With Redwood Christian holding a 5-3 lead, Williams took the mound in the bottom of the fourth inning, having thrown four innings on Wednesday in the Eagles' 12-inning semifinal win over Saint Mary's. The Stanford-bound league MVP allowed nothing more than a single in his first three frames, but ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh.
Paul Woolcott started the inning with a single, his second hit off Williams, and EJ Cheung and Matthias Haggerty followed with back-to-back singles to load the bases with one out. An error on Joe Sassi's ground ball to shortstop then allowed Woolcott to score and cut the Highlanders' deficit to one run, still with the bases loaded and just one out.
"Our confidence level with Alex on the mound is always high, even though they had already gotten a few hits off him and he had thrown those four innings in the last game," said Redwood Christian coach Jim Cleveland. "He didn't back down, didn't fall behind, and went right at guys. He had great command of his great slider in that last inning, and he used it for strikeouts when he needed them."
Indeed, facing the four and five hitters in the Piedmont lineup, Williams responded to the situation with back-to-back strikeouts to end the game, crowning the Eagles as champions once again, after winning the Division V title last season.
"When we got bumped up (to Division IV), our guys embraced the new challenge. We liked the idea of playing against larger schools," Cleveland said. "It's one thing to feel you can be competitive, a whole different thing to actually go get it done. I give a ton of credit to our seniors for leading us all year and accomplishing this goal."
Early on, it appeared that five runs might not be enough to get the job. Redwood Christian took an early lead with four runs in the top of the second inning, as an error and three walks put pressure on the Piedmont defense. Meanwhile, Luke Luebker, Andrew Saake, and Williams all took advantage with run-scoring singles, facing Highlanders' ace Carson Gerhardy.
"I liked our chances since we had faced lefty starters in each of our last two games," Cleveland added. "And it is a new element, pitching in a section championship game."
Despite falling behind early, Piedmont rallied back with three runs in the bottom of the second. A double by Max Bekes scored a run, but the next two runs came courtesy of an error and a bases loaded hit by pitch, which followed back-to-back walks. That prompted Cleveland to insert Joseph Carlton on the mound, who struck out two batters in one and one-third scoreless innings prior to Williams stepping on the hill.
