Caleb Camacho (right) and Blake Gramlich of Woodbridge celebrate the walk-off win with their teammates. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Woodbridge’s baseball team was held to a run and three hits through six innings by Laguna Beach ace Branson Wade in a Pacific Coast League opener Wednesday at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.
But the Warriors stayed close with outstanding pitching by junior-lefthander Kyle Underwood and pushed across two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat Laguna Beach 3-2.
Catcher Caleb Camacho delivered a walk-off single to left field to drive in Vaughn Tase, who reached on a bunt single, for the go-ahead run. Caden Camacho led off the inning with a walk, Blake Gramlich was hit by a pitch and after a strikeout to a pinch-hitter, Underwood walked with the bases loaded for the tying run.
To see additional photos, click on the first picture:
Warrior players charged out of the dugout to celebrate the win with Caleb Camacho and their teammates.
“You just got to be proud of the way the boys fought today,” said Woodbridge Coach Ryan Brucker. “Obviously, Wade is a really good pitcher and we knew it was going to be a tough task. I was a little disappointed with our approach from that standpoint that I think we had six strikeouts looking and you want the guys against a good pitcher to compete and I know it’s not an easy ask for them but for them to stay in the game; we always preach execution and getting the lead-off walk and Vaughn Tase getting that bunt down and Gramlich getting hit by the pitch and Kyle having a tough at bat working a walk to tie the game and obviously Caleb, I’m so happy for him.
“I give all the credit in the world to Kyle Underwood. He was out there battling and keeping us in the game. He wanted to finish the game, he was begging me to stay in, in the seventh. He’s just a competitor, that’s a Warrior there.”
Underwood (1-2) allowed four hits and two runs, but no runs or hits after the third inning. He struck out nine and walked one.
Wade, a Loyola Marymount University commit, allowed two earned runs and five hits.
“I thought Branson threw great,” said Laguna Beach Coach Ryan Belanto. “It just kind of came apart a little bit toward the end, he couldn’t find the slider in that last inning after he threw it extremely well the whole game. We just didn’t hit, hats off to that lefty, he carved us up today, he was really good, got squeezed a little bit too and he kept his composure.
“I just didn’t think we took great at bats today, we will get back after it at practice tomorrow and we will be ready to go for Friday.”
Woodbridge scored first in the first inning. With two outs, Vincent DeMarco singled and scored on a deep-fly to right center field hit by Alex Johnson which the outfielder initially caught, then dropped for an error.
Laguna Beach (4-2) took the lead with two runs in the third inning on RBI singles by Otis Boultinghouse and Lincoln Adams.
Wade allowed just two hits after the first inning until the Warriors got going in the seventh, capped by the RBI single by Caleb Camacho.
“We were down one run the entire game, we were struggling with the at bats a little, sixth inning our coach gave us a little pep talk and lit a fire under us and lit everyone up and got the rally going,” Camacho said. “The pitch was outside, I just took it that way.”
Underwood was thrilled to notch his first complete game pitching in his career. Brucker said he would have made a pitching change if Laguna Beach had put a runner on in the seventh. But Underwood struck out two and retired the side in order.
“It was pretty awesome, started out hot, had two shutout innings and then got a little turned around in the third and they scored two,” Underwood said. “But keep fighting, we can’t give up, never, so just fought through the rest of the game and ended up putting up zeroes for the rest of the game.
“This is big, we needed to at least split the series with Laguna Beach in order to be in standing to win the league and we did that today, hopefully we can go catch another dub on Friday and we will be in a good spot.”
The teams wrap up the league series Friday at Laguna Beach.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
The post Woodbridge rallies, captures walk-off victory over Laguna Beach in league opener first appeared on .