Mira Costa’s baseball team made the most of its opportunities in the final week of the regular season and for the Mustang seniors, their swan song in Bay League action could not have ended on a sweeter note.
Cassidy Olson’s squad entered the week trailing Redondo by two games, needing a sweep of its rival to claim a share of the league title. After a dramatic 5-4 victory at Redondo on Tuesday and a one-day postponement of the regular-season finale, Mira Costa accomplished its goal with a 6-3 home win in front of an overflow crowd as Carl Osterhaus Field.
Not only did the win give the Mustangs bragging rights, but the victory sends Mira Costa (23-7, 8-2) into the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs as the Bay League’s No. 1 team while riding a nine-game winning streak.
Mira Costa hosts the Northwood-Los Altos wild-card winner in the first round on Thursday. All games with the exception of the finals are slated to begin at 3:15 p.m. Brackets and results are available at cifss.org.
If Mira Costa wins, it will meet the Santa Monica-Righetti winner in the second round on Tuesday.
Redondo (24-7, 8-2) is the Bay’s No.2 team and hosts Charter Oak (12-12) on Thursday. The winner will likely face Ocean League champion El Segundo (21-9) who plays the Cathedral-St. Joseph/Santa Maria wild-card winner in the first round.
Palos Verdes (18-11, 7-3) finished third in league competition and earned a wild-card berth. The Sea Kings plays Culver City Tuesday with the winner traveling to take on Bishop Amat on Thursday.
Although the graduating Mira Costa players were being honored on Senior Day, a group of underclassmen played vital roles in the Mustang’s victory.
Junior Reese Alexiades went 3-4 driving home one run and scoring another.
Junior Will Proctor scored the team’s first run after starting a four-run fourth inning. Later, he hit a two-run home run over the left field fence after Dylan Tyrer’s single led off the Mustang’s sixth inning.
Junior pitching ace Trevor Franklin set a school record with his 11th win while holding Redondo scoreless for the first five innings. He will take an 11-0 record and 1.12 ERA into the postseason.
Freshman Jesse Storey pitched the final inning in relief to close the game.
“We were all focused,” Storey said. “We knew we had a job to do and we got it done. Now we will carry this momentum into CIF.”
Mira Costa threatened in the first three innings but didn’t get on the scoreboard until Brett Davis drove in Proctor. Singles by Alexiades and Rene Houseman and an error following Houseman’s single provided three more runs to put the Mustangs ahead 4-0.
Proctor’s home run gave Mira Costa a 6-0 lead before Redondo began its comeback attempt.
“Sweeping our rival is about as exciting as it gets, not to mention it was on Senior Day in front of hundreds of our fans,” Proctor said. “We got an unbelievable pitching performance from Trevor, which is nothing new as he’s been lights out on the mound for as long as I’ve known him. Jesse Storey, a freshman, pitched in front of hundreds of crazy fans, yet didn’t let the nerves get to him. For us to have that much confidence in a freshman speaks wonders of him as a person. He’s just another one of the guys did a great job closing the game to seal the Bay League Championship.”
Redondo got on the board with Cooper Gallion’s two-run single in the top of the sixth inning. The Sea Hawks scored once in the final frame on a Duncan McKinnon groundout.
Jacob Springman went 2 for 4 with one run scored for the Sea Hawks. Starting pitcher Danny Zimmerman took the loss, dropping his season record to 5-2.
“It felt amazing being able to win a league title at home in front of all the fans that showed up,” said Mira Costa senior Dylan Tyrer, who went 2 for 3. “We played hard and tried to leave no doubt. Having all the fans there was great and definitely added a ton of energy to the game, but we really got up for the series and the energy started from the dugout in both games. The deciding factor in the game was the energy and our ability to play a clean game.”
