Sage Creek beats Cathedral Catholic 5-0, completes improbable San Diego Section championship run
SAN DIEGO— One month ago, the Sage Creek High School baseball team was 8-10-1 and sitting outside of the playoff picture in Division 2 in the San Diego Section.
The Bobcats went to work, winning six of their final seven regular season games, to earn a play-in game in the San Diego Section Division 2 playoffs.
On Thursday night, Sage Creek finished off their playoff run as Division 2 champions, defeating two-seed Cathedral Catholic 5-0 in the championship game at University of San Diego’s Fowler Park.
“With our backs against the wall and to be able to do it, I’m just so proud of these guys,” Sage Creek head coach Ryan Madsen said after the game.
Sage Creek came from behind to beat West Hills in last Monday’s play-in game to earn the 12th and final seed in the bracket. Sage Creek then proceeded to win at Coronado 12-8 in an elimination game the next day. The Bobcats closed out the week by beating Christian 13-8 and Del Norte 5-3, winning four games in five days.
They opened this week with a 1-0 loss at Del Norte on Tuesday but bounced back by beating the Nighthawks on Wednesday, 6-0, to advance to Thursday’s championship game.
“It was a tough ask but man these guys stuck together, and it was a tough hill to climb, and they climbed it,” Madsen said.
In the sixth inning of a scoreless game on Thursday night, Sage Creek led off with back-to-back singles, prompting sophomore Max Biehl to put down a bunt. He executed perfectly and his speed forced a quick throw from Cathedral Catholic that sailed over the head of the first baseman and out of play, leading to the game’s first run.
“I was definitely glad to get one in,” Madsen said. “I thought our players were executing really well at the plate and it just wasn’t resulting in anything and sometimes that’s baseball.”
Two more walks forced in the second run for Sage Creek before Levi Underwood’s sacrifice fly to right field made it 3-0. Jamo Familio proceeded to come home on a wild pitch for the fourth run and Porter Rovin capped off the five-run inning with a sacrifice fly to left field.
“What’s awesome is these guys were right in there the next at-bat ready for the next opportunity and then in the sixth (inning) we capitalized on the opportunities we got,” Madsen added.
Low on pitching while playing their seventh game in 11 days, Sage Creek turned to senior Luke Caruso on the mound. A .457 hitter at the plate, the Biola-signee delivered his best outing of the season. He held the Dons, who entered on an eight-game winning streak, to four hits over seven shutout innings, finishing with seven strikeouts on 98 pitches.
Caruso struck out Eli Selga with two runners on to end the sixth inning and retired the Dons in order in the seventh inning, capturing Sage Creek’s second CIF baseball title and first since they defeated Sweetwater for the Division 4 crown in 2016.
The victory qualifies Sage Creek for next week’s Southern California regional baseball playoffs that are scheduled to begin on Tuesday afternoon.
