Indians lose to Calaveras in 11 innings following fundamental error in ninth

Imagine hitting a walk-off single with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to win your team a section championship.

It’s what dreams are made of, right? That exact scenario happened for the Marysville High School varsity baseball team on May 24… until it didn’t.

The No. 1 seed Indians (26-6, 12-3 Pioneer Valley League) thought they had walked it off in extra innings to win the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV Baseball Playoffs Championship game over No. 2 Calaveras (28-4, 14-1 Mother Lode League). However, Marysville senior Elijah Marin, who hit the game-winning single, failed to step on first base due to excitement over scoring the winning run from third.

While the Indians were jubilantly celebrating the supposed win, Calaveras senior catcher Woody Gardina began calling for the ball to be thrown in from left center field where the game-winning hit was delivered. Outfielders, senior Aiden Look and junior Brayden Brim, initially didn’t hear their co-captain trying to get their attention from home plate due to being overwhelmed by the disappointment that comes with a championship loss.

Gardina eventually got the baseball thrown back into the infield where it was received by junior first baseman Giovanni “Gus” Tofanelli who tagged first, leading to the umpires ruling the Marin out, meaning the winning run did not count and the game would continue into the 10th inning. Calaveras went on to win 9-7 in 11 innings to win the 2022 CIF SJS D4 Baseball Championship and shatter the hearts of Marysville fans everywhere.

The ending for the Indians may have been bitter, but the journey along the way will be remembered for a long time. Due to being the top seed in the postseason tournament, Marysville earned a first round bye. The Indians’ first game of the playoffs came on May 12 against No. 8 Sierra (12-16, 6-6 Valley Oak League) of Manteca.

Marysville senior Matthew Haggard and Sierra junior Tyler Looney had a pitcher’s duel backed by their defenses to send the game into extra innings tied at zero. In the top of the eighth, Sierra junior Mitch Van Zwaluwenburg appeared to have an extra base hit down the left field line, but he was robbed by Marysville senior Cole Tyler who made a tremendous diving play at third base.

Then in the bottom of the eighth inning, Marysville junior Dairius Jacobs won the game with an RBI single to center field, scoring senior Jaxon Finley from third base. Marin and junior Kayden Ellyson had two hits each. Haggard earned the win by pitching a shutout over eight innings, allowing eight hits and one hit by pitch with eight strikeouts on 92 pitches.

The Indians matched up against No. 12 Orestimba (17-11, 12-2 Southern Athletic League) of Newman in the semifinals of the tournament in a best of three series, beginning on May 16. Marysville hosted the first game as the higher seeded team, and for the second consecutive game, the Indians prevailed by a score of 1-0.

Marysville scored the lone run of the game on its lone hit of the game, an RBI double from junior Jack Howsley to score Tyler in the fourth inning. Junior Stevie Cherry earned the win on the mound, as he pitched six scoreless innings and allowed seven hits, three stolen bases and two walks with 11 Ks on 104 pitches.

The Indians’ offense finally came to play in the next game two days later, as they won 9-1 to eliminate the Warriors and move on to the section championship game. Marysville scored one run in the top of the first inning and four in the second to jump out to a 5-0 lead. Orestimba scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the third inning. The Indians put the game away with three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to ultimately win 9-1.

Cherry had a team-high with three hits in four at bats. Tyler and junior Trishton Henderson had two hits each. Four other Indians had one hit each. Haggard earned another win on the bump. This time the senior pitched a normal complete game of seven innings, allowing six hits, two walks, two stolen bases and one earned run with four punchouts on 80 pitches.

Marysville and Calaveras faced off in the early game for the D4 section title at Sacramento City College’s Union Stadium on May 24. Entering the game, both teams had at least three playoff games this season holding their opponents to one run or less. However, in the most important game of the year, it was a high scoring affair.

Calaveras started off strong, scoring twice in the top of the first inning on a two-run shot to right field from Tofanelli, his 10th home run of the season. The Indians answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning to take the lead. Two of the runs came on a double to right center field from junior Maddox Marino that was nearly hit out of the park.

In the top of the second, Calaveras had a shot to tie the game, but Cherry threw Gardina out at home to maintain the one run lead. Marysville added on to its advantage in the bottom of the third with three more runs, jumping out to a 6-2 lead. Cherry knocked in the first run of the inning with an RBI triple over Look’s head to deep center field. Marin followed that up with an RBI double to left field to score Cherry. Marin scored the final run of the third on a sacrifice fly to center field from Henderson.

Calaveras answered in the top of the fifth with four runs to tie the score. Junior Tyler Maddock scored the first run on an RBI single up the middle from senior Andy Rios. Senior Chris Maddock scored after Tofanelli was hit by a pitch. Marysville had a chance to limit the damage caused by Calaveras, but the Indians failed to turn a double play to end the inning, and an untimely error at first base attempting to do so allowed two runs to score, tying the game.

The game went into extra innings knotted at six as seven innings were not enough for the two teams to settle it. Calaveras took the lead in the top of the ninth inning on an RBI single up the middle from Tofanelli to score Chris Maddock, who kicked off the inning with a leadoff single. Marysville had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth and tied the game at seven on an RBI sacrifice fly from Cherry to center field to score Tyler.

That’s when things got complicated. With the bases loaded and two outs, Marin delivered a hit over Brim’s head in left field to score Howsley, seemingly winning the game and section championship for Marysville. Unfortunately, fundamentals came back to bite Marin in this situation. His excitement got the best of him and instead of completing the 90-foot jog to first to make the hit and subsequent run count, he made an immediate left turn veering off the base path to join his teammates dogpiling on the field by second base.

Calaveras noticed, threw the ball to first base, Marin was called out and the game continued. Both teams went scoreless in the 10th inning. However, Marysville blew an excellent opportunity to win the game in the bottom half of the 10th as the Indians had runners at second and third base with one out. Rios got himself out of the jam with back-to-back punchouts to end the inning.

Then in the top of the 11th, Tofanelli recorded his third hit of the game with an RBI single to right field to score Chris Maddock. Calaveras added on an insurance run with a sacrifice fly from senior Dean Habbestad to carry a 9-7 lead into the bottom of the 11th.

Chris Maddock not only scored the go-ahead run, but also recorded the final out from the shortstop spot, throwing out the base runner at first to leave two Marysville runners stranded and win the championship for his team. With the win, Calaveras claims its first section title in school history. Calaveras had played in the title game twice before in 2000 and 2004 but lost both times. Coach Tom DeLappe gets to go out on top as a section champion after 26 years at Calaveras and 20 of them as the head coach.

Tofanelli, Rios and Chris Maddock had a game-high with three hits each. Tofanelli made the most of his opportunities, racking up five RBI, three hits (one homer), one run scored and one HBP in six plate appearances.

Marin tied for the game-high with three hits in six at bats. Cherry, Tyler, Howsley, Jacobs and Ellyson each had two hits. Cherry led the team in RBI with two. Haggard got the start on the hill in his final high school game. The senior pitched four innings, allowing nine hits, six earned runs and one walk with three strikeouts on 65 pitches. Cherry suffered the loss in relief on the mound, pitching six innings and giving up six hits, three runs (two earned), three HBP and two walks with one K on 102 pitches.

Rios earned the win on the bump for Calaveras. The senior pitched 5.2 innings of relief and allowed three hits, three walks, one unearned run and one HBP with five punchouts on 98 pitches. Habbestad got the start for Calaveras as he tossed 5.1 innings, giving up seven hits, six runs (four earned) and two walks with one strikeout on 78 pitches.

After winning the CIF SJS D4 championship, Calaveras moved on to the CIF Division IV NorCal Baseball Championships. Calaveras was given the No. 5 seed in the Northern California tournament and played at No. 4 Christopher in Gilroy on May 31. Christopher was victorious 10-3, ending Calaveras’ season.

Marysville had several memorable moments during the 2022 season, including winning a league championship and going on a 17-game winning streak. Five seniors will be graduating in the Class of 2022: Haggard, Tyler, Marin, Finley and Blake Beeler. Kudos to coach Bill Rollins and his entire team on a great season with a deep playoff run.