Redondo’s baseball team kept its Centennial celebration going Friday afternoon rallying from a two-run deficit to eliminate second-seeded Palm Desert in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs.
Trailing 2-0, Redondo capitalized on four walks to score five runs in the bottom of the third inning and starting pitcher Cooper Gallion went the distance to give the Sea Hawks a 6-3 victory.
Redondo (27-7) will travel to Bishop Amat (17-12-1) Tuesday for a 1:30 p.m. game, the second consecutive year the teams have met in the semifinals. Bishop Amat defeated Redondo 3-1 in 2014 before edging Palm Desert 4-3 for the Division 3 title.
Palm Desert came out hitting the ball hard against Redondo, getting six of its nine hits in the game in the first three innings. The Aztecs scored two runs in the top of the third inning but the hitless Sea Hawks remained patient.
Even though Palm Desert starting pitcher Jeremiah Estrada was around the plate, Redondo didn’t chase bad pitches. Cole Henderson and Duncan McKinnon drew walks to open the bottom of the third inning and Jacob Springman loaded the bases after an error by the shortstop.
Brady Dorn hit a two-RBI single to left field to tie the score before Jason Clebowicz laid down a perfect bunt. Springman scored on the bad throw to first then Gallion drove in his Division 3-leading 42nd RBI of the season knocking Estrada out of the game.
Reliever Andrew Bash walked in Redondo’s fifth run of the inning and Gallion took full advantage of the lead, allowing only three hits, no walks and one run in the final four innings.
“We gave Cooper a second life and he took advantage of it,” Redondo head coach Jeff Baumback said. “Offensively, we were able to allow their pitcher (Estrada) to struggle to find the strike zone. We didn’t go out of the zone and help him out and by putting up some big runs, it boosted Cooper’s confidence.”
Redondo batters walked 11 times in the game.
Gallion (7-1, 1.53 ERA), who went 2 for 3 at the plate, said the big lead made him more relaxed but wasn’t worried about the slow start.
“I knew my teammates were going to get runs for me at some point and when they did, it just fired me up to shut ‘em down and get the win,” Gallion said. “We faced some good pitching today and for us to get five runs in one inning is amazing. I didn’t want to let it go to waste.
“Before that inning, I was missing with my curveball but coach (Jeff) Stimpson gave me some good pointers on snapping it down and it became a key pitch to my success.”
Redondo added an insurance run in fourth inning when Danny Zimmerman’s one-out double off the base of the left centerfield wall score drove in Springman who had led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on a free pass to Clebowicz.
Baumback, whose team has been ranked in the top ten in the division much of the season, said the lessons learned by last year’s young team have paid off and the team still felt confident despite dropping its final two regular-season games to rival Mira Costa.
“Beating Palm Desert was a big win for us, but we were seeded second most of the year so we were confident in our abilities,” Baumback said. “We knew we’d be facing a very good team that is physical and strong. Last year the guys didn’t know what to expect. They we just excited to have won a (playoff) game and play a game at home. This year, we go into each game thinking we can win it.”
Gallion said his team is looking forward to playing Bishop Amat again.
“Almost of all our starting players from last year returned this season so we have experience of going deep into the playoffs,” the junior said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to pull it off this year.”
