GARDEN GROVE — The Rancho Alamitos baseball team had the right player on the mound for the biggest game in the program’s history.
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Henry Garcia allowed no runs, one hit, one walk, hit one batter and had seven strikeouts in the Vaqueros’ 3-0 victory over Oxford Academy in the CIF-SS Division 8 semifinals Tuesday at Rancho Alamitos High School.
The Vaqueros (15-11) will be making their first-ever appearance in a CIF-SS baseball final. They will play Schurr for the Division 8 championship on Friday or Saturday.
Schurr defeated Duarte in the other semifinal Tuesday.
Garcia’s performance was a continuation of outstanding efforts by the senior this season.
He pitched a perfect game with 14 strikeouts in a 9-0 victory over Saddleback on April 24. He allowed one hit with 16 strikeouts in a season-opening victory over Godinez 7-0 on Feb. 24.
Garcia has tossed five shutouts and has 110 strikeouts this season.
“Every big game he’s had, he has showed up for us,” Rancho Alamitos coach Sammy Macias said. “He is our ace. He just hits his spots.”
The Patriots (12-18) had runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the first, fourth and sixth innings and Garcia pitched out of trouble each time.
“I’ve been pitching in pressure situations all my life,” Garcia said. “I’ve never let that get to me and this was no different. Even though it is a semifinal and all the nerves are there, but I’m not letting it get to me.”
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The Vaqueros took advantage of four errors committed by the Patriots.
Carson Lamb reached on an error to lead off the first for Rancho Alamitos. He scored from third later in the inning on a groundout by Andrew Ballesta, giving the Vaqueros a 1-0 lead.
Andre Zeferino reached on a two-base error to lead off the fifth for the Vaqueros. He scored from third on a wild pitch to make the score 2-0.
Gerardo Avila made it from second to third on the wild pitch and then scored the Vaqueros’ third run on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt from Ethan Shepherd.
Aaron Vilagomez pitched well in a losing effort for the Patriots. He allowed one hit with a walk, a hit batter and four strikeouts over five innings.
The Patriots opened the season on a 13-game losing streak before rebounding to finish in second place with an 8-2 record in the 605 League.
“The kids showed a lot of resilience just overcoming the start we had this year,” Oxford Academy coach Cory Williams said. “We just ran into a super-hot team and a pitcher who threw really well.”
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