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Players from Northwood and South exchange handshakes after Friday’s CIF playoff game. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Two Northwood High School pitchers combined to strikeout 18 batters Friday in the opening round of the CIF Division 3 baseball playoffs against South of Torrance.
Starter Casey Euper, a senior who has signed with UC Santa Barbara, had eight strikeouts (striking out the side twice) and Paul Grossman, a junior who has committed to USC, recorded 10 strikeouts in relief.
But South, behind junior Peter Broughton, held the Northwood bats in check to defeat the Timberwolves 3-1 at Northwood. Broughton had three strikeouts and allowed five hits.
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Northwood (20-6-1) had a nine-game winning streak going into the game and had scored 36 runs in its last four games but couldn’t get much going against Broughton (5-4).
South (16-13) turned two double plays which ended potential Northwood rallies. The Spartans outhit the Timberwolves 10-5 and had timely hits when they needed them.
“It’s CIF, it’s just one game, it’s whoever plays better than the other person is going to win, we really didn’t show up with the bats and their guy was in a zone, nothing really overpowering, but we didn’t get the timely hitting that they did and they took it home, that’s CIF baseball,” said Northwood Coach Josh Keithly.
“It was kind of a strange game, some timely stuff happened and it didn’t go our way, they had some balls that kicked fair, that was kind of the difference of the game right there.”
South, the fourth place team from the Pioneer League, took advantage of a Northwood error in the second inning to move ahead 1-0 on a single by Caden Lewis, who was 3 for 4 with a run scored.
South added two more runs in the fourth inning, ending Euper’s string of 54 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. After an RBI double by Gabe Ibarra which made it 2-0 Keithly brought in Grossman, who is the Timberwolves other starting pitcher.
After the next batter struck out, Tyler Dow delivered a sacrifice fly to drive in the second run of the inning.
Grossman recorded another strikeout to end the inning and allowed only a triple the rest of the way. He struck out the side in the fifth inning.
Northwood tried to get back in the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Colin Carlson doubled and went to third on a wild pitch. Carlson scored when Carter Liu laid down a squeeze bunt but a double play ended the inning and Broughton held the Timberwolves to two singles the rest of the way.
“We tried to mix things up,” Keithly said. “We got a run off of that, and we tried to get the fire going.”
Grossman, who was able to keep the Timberwolves close, was disappointed too.
“It was a tough one, it was a great season for the guys, I’m really proud of the team, we took big strides this year, it’s just really tough, one bad day of baseball and that’s playoff baseball for you,” he said. “He (Broughton) was tough, a lot of breaking balls, it wasn’t our day today.”
South Coach Grady Sain praised the effort of Northwood’s pitchers and his starter.
“We had our left-hander going, Peter Broughton, he’s a good one and we knew we had a great shot with him on the mound, we knew they were having their lefty as well, and he was as advertised, and I think the key was we just got a couple of really timely hits and put a lot of pressure on them early in the game.
“We left some bags full but we were pressing and making him (Euper) work and a slash turned into a double and a big sacrifice fly in that inning to put us up 3-0 in that inning. And Peter and the defense did the rest.”
Ibarra also had three hits for South, which will host El Modena on Tuesday in the second round.
Keithly, the Northwood coach, said his players should be proud of the season.
The Timberwolves were 17-3-1 in league and won their first league title since 2013.
“It was an awesome season, the boys worked hard, it was a great class, couldn’t have asked for anything better, they were complete studs, we didn’t show up today, but the whole season, we showed up, so we can’t let that one game over-ride the whole season, so successful, we took everyone out in league and we were the dominant team,” Keithly said.
Keithly said there is plenty of talent returning led by Grossman and Liu.
—-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
