Following a bright and early first pitch, the Ponderosa High School varsity baseball team wiped the boogers from its eyes and shook off the rust to dominate Del Campo.
The Bruins (8-7) beat the Cougars (5-9) by a final score of 11-2 in six innings on Monday morning in Fair Oaks at the Christian Brothers Easter Classic, hosted at Del Campo.
First pitch of the contest came at 10 a.m. It concluded midway through the bottom of the sixth frame due to tournament time constraints, exceeding two hours and 15 minutes, with the designated home squad leading by a lopsided margin.
“We started off slow, but I knew we were going to come back and that it was just a matter of time,” reflected Ponderosa coach Tony Vargas. “They came in at 8:30. I would probably say that the mindset was not there until we had to kind of get them going a little bit.
“Just play hard. Play like we know how to play. We’ve only had, all season long, probably two innings where we didn’t play competitive baseball. It’s just a matter of time, I knew we would break through.”
Del Campo scored one run in each of the first two innings to take an early 2-0 lead. The Bruins cut their deficit in half during the third frame. Then Ponderosa poured it on with nine runs in the fourth and one more in the fifth.
“We started off a little slow, but we got the bats going. We were able to score runs in big situations,” recalled Bruins sophomore right fielder Trace Trana. “We knew we could battle with them, and we just worked as a team to score runs.”
Trana led the way with a massive day. He went 2-for-4 with a homer, five runs batted in and one run scored. He blasted a grand slam to right field in the fourth inning to break the game open.
“I was trying to be patient, wait for my pitch, and it worked,” Trana said.
Junior Zealand Jenks had a strong performance as well, going 2-of-2 with a double, two RBI, two runs and one walk.
Senior right-handed pitcher Joe Stevens got the start and took a no-decision. He tossed three frames and gave up five walks, three hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts on 79 pitches.
Zack Finato (1-0), a junior RHP, earned the win in relief. He pitched three scoreless innings, allowing four walks and one hit on 59 pitches.
“Joe struggled a little bit. He was right around the plate,” Vargas explained. “He doesn’t get rattled, and that’s what I love about Joe. Zack hasn’t pitched in a while. He’s been itching to pitch, and he came through.”
Senior catcher AJ Paulsen was one of the lone bright spots for the Cougars, contributing an RBI single. In the third and final game of the day, Del Campo lost 11-1 to Woodland (10-3), minutes after the Wolves fell 6-1 against Laguna Creek (6-5).
Ponderosa plays a split doubleheader Tuesday, at 10 a.m. versus the Wolves and at 3 p.m. against the Cardinals. The Cougars will face Laguna Creek at 12:30 p.m.
“The (Capital Valley Conference) is very competitive. It is a very good, tough league. It has some great players and coaches,” Vargas foretold. “Going into this, we knew Del Campo a little bit. We don’t know anybody else, but rest assured, I’ll be doing my homework tonight.”
