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Estancia Eagles players and coaches with the CIF Division 6 championship trophy Saturday at Goodwin Field. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Estancia High School’s baseball team scored a run in the second inning of Saturday’s CIF Division 6 final vs. Marshall at Goodwin Field on the Cal State Fullerton campus.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
The Eagles were then held in check against a dominating pitcher Caleb Thatcher and Marshall moved ahead 3-1 on an 88-degree day in Fullerton.
It all changed in the bottom of the seventh inning when Estancia’s Jake Humphries blasted a bases-clearing walk off triple with no outs to lift the Eagles to a 4-3 victory. It’s the second CIF title for the program, which also brought home a CIF Division 5 title in 2022 with a win vs. Anaheim, also at Goodwin Field.
This title was achieved with basically a whole different team that brought home the trophy in 2022.
“I was 0 for 3 in at bats,” said Humphries, who was a backup on the 2022 team. “I had some fire in me, I knew I had to get something done for the team, I couldn’t go out doing nothing for the team so I had to get at least one, put something to the outfield, get a tag up, because we were only down two. I had faith in the guys behind me too that they would get something done as well. We just got to extend the inning.
“This title means everything, this team has so much perseverance, we had a pretty good season, but we got kicked down so many times but it’s just about how many times we got right back up.”
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jacob Ramirez led off with a single, Sawyer Atkinson walked and Nico Viramontes reached on a bloop single to right center setting the stage for Humphries to deliver.
Lincoln Silva, who came on in the seventh in relief of starter Vaughn McRea, earned the win, his third in relief in the playoffs. McRea pitched to one batter and allowed a single to Nate Callaway but a pinch-runner was thrown out by a lot at home.
“It means a lot, we got second (in league), our season was good but it could have been better,” Silva said. “He (Coach Nate Goellrich) keeps telling me to be ready and I’m ready when we needs me.”
McRea surrendered three runs, all unearned in the first inning. Callaway had an RBI double and Ben Muro drove in two runs with a single and the Eagles made an error. McRea wound up allowing six hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out two and walking four and gave his team a chance to comeback.
“It was just complete heart by these guys,” said Goellrich, the Eagles coach. “Our first game of the year against Woodbridge was ugly and I’m putting it nicely. I told the guys we can either work to get better or it’s going to be a lost year, to their credit, they worked hard. It wasn’t always good, we had a lot highs early and a lot of lows, we just kept grinding, found our rythmn about mid-year.
“We got down 3-0 early and I didn’t lose faith at all, I knew that the way we’ve been playing, if Vaughn could just keep us in there we had a shot late, Jake, being a senior coming through in that moment was absolutely amazing for us. I can’t say enough about this group of guys, they just never gave up all year.
“When people were down on them, they believed, now we’re CIF champions.”
Goellrich credited McRea for keeping the Eagles (20-13) close.
“They’re a very good hitting team, can’t say enough about him and what he’s done in all the playoffs for us, he pitched eight innings against Pacifica Christian (another comeback win) …. once he dialed it in, we knew he would be going 110 (pitches) for us), it was just a matter of how long he could get. Lincoln is the ultimate vulture, he goes 3-0 taking all of his wins.”
Estancia got on the scoreboard in the second inning. Carlos Hauser walked and Athan Perez singled to put runners on first and second. Leadoff hitter Miles Dodge then doubled to right center field to cut the lead to 3-1.
The Eagles stranded two runners in the third and fifth innings against Thatcher who was dominating through five innings. He wound up striking out 10, allowing three hits and walking four. Michael Gerst, came on in the sixth inning.
In the sixth inning, McRea walked and advanced to second base but was stranded there.
But down to their final three outs, the Eagles made their most important rally of the season in the seventh.
“We got the private schools around us that try and take our best players and the public schools who try to take our best players,” Goellrich said.
“My first stint as head coach and now, I want people who want to be here. And these guys are here and we work hard with what we’ve got. It shows that we have a successful program, that’s all we can ask for. If you don’t want to win CIF championships, then don’t come to Estancia.
“That’s our goal, that’s our mindset ever since we won it four years ago, we want to be a 20-win team every year, we’ve been fortunate enough to do that for four years in a row and to do it with guys in the neighborhood, kind of old school where everyone wants to leave and looks for greener pastures. These guys all grew up in the area from the neighborhood, and you can win that way, we’ve shown we can and we will just keep building up the program that way.”
“It’s very rewarding,” Humphries added. “It’s just like the two years in between the two titles, it’s kind of crazy because we had really good seasons those two years and we expected to go deep in the playoffs. It was really about the perseverance within those two teams, there was no quit in either of those teams. We almost got knocked out of the playoffs and didn’t have a chance to do that my freshman year.
“I just had to make sure I touched first, I didn’t think they were going to send that last guy but I guess the outfielder tripped in the outfield and he kept going.
Eagles players celebrated on the field with a dogpile before accepting the championship plaque.
“It’s what you dream for, the dogpile was amazing and makes it worth it in the end,’ Humphries said.
Goellrich said that Estancia will compete in the CIF So Cal Regional next week. Marshall (20-7-1) also qualifies
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com