On Friday, April 4th, CHS varsity baseball played the Westlake Warriors for the final game in their series, winning 10-4. Westlake had already won the series by taking the two games before this, but the Coyotes gave the Warriors their first Marmonte League loss.
Calabasas started off the 1st inning with freshman pitcher Jayden Singer on the bump. Singer got through the inning fairly easily, forcing two flyouts to left field and striking out another, although he hit senior Noah Stead with a pitch. After Singer got out of the 1st, the Coyotes stepped up to bat, with senior Harvard commit Matthew Witkow leading off against Westlake senior Dylan Ramsey. Witkow got on base via single and would eventually steal 2nd, with a single to right field from junior Nathan Rosenfeld moving him to 3rd. Both Coyotes took their chances to steal a base, and although Rosenfeld made it safely to 2nd, Witkow was tagged out at home, erasing the first scoring chance of the game. Junior Luke Carlis struck out preceding Witkow’s steal, and a fly out from senior Tufts commit AJ Seidel to right field left both teams scoreless.
The 2nd inning saw much of the same efficiency from Singer and the Coyote defense. Senior Connor Pink, who’s committed to Grinnell, caught a high pop-up to get their first out quickly. Junior Joey Moore then singled and, only a few pitches later, stole 2nd. With a swinging strikeout and a cleanly fielded ground ball from Pink, who got the out at 1st to Seidel, Westlake’s next two batters fell in succession, ending the top of the 2nd. However, the bottom of the 2nd wouldn’t fare any better for Calabasas; Pink and junior Julian Bray both struck out, and sophomore Trevor Chang hit a grounder to Stead, who ended the inning with a throw to 1st.
The top of Westlake’s lineup came back to hit in the 3rd inning. After junior Blake Miller roped a ball through the air into Witkow’s glove, senior Noa Nakagawa hit a double into the left-field corner. Singer walked junior Caden Atkinson, giving Stead the opportunity to score some runners. However, the Coyotes got away with a lucky break; Stead popped the ball high up in the air, and Nakagawa and Atkinson both attempted to steal, misjudging the ball’s trajectory and distance. When Stead’s pop-up was caught, Nakagawa and Atkinson both scurried back to 1st and 2nd base, but not in time for the out to be made at 2nd, ending the top of the 3rd inning.
The Coyotes carried this momentum into their hitting. Senior Kyle McLaren hit a small dribbler near Ramsey, which he fumbled, giving McLaren enough time to reach 1st successfully. This error was vital for the Coyotes; Witkow walked on four straight pitches, and Carlis hit a sacrifice bunt to move Witkow and McLaren into scoring position. Rosenfeld sent a deep sacrifice fly into center field, which allowed McLaren to tag up and score, giving the Coyotes the first run of the game. Senior and Menlo commit Jack Quirk would add two more runs with an RBI homer to left-center field, bringing home Witkow and making the score 3-0. Pink would then strike out, but this stretch of plays was substantial in helping Calabasas avoid the Westlake sweep.
“I think Rosenfeld’s sac fly with one run started the streak, and then I was up,” said Quirk. “Then the momentum went on from there.”
Westlake immediately responded in the 4th inning. Senior Mason Charles singled out to left field, and fellow senior Mason Berlinger sent a ball over the stadium into left-center field, cutting the deficit to 1. Immediately feeling the effects of the lead lessening, Singer hit Moore in the head, although two straight flyouts to left-center and center field and Moore being thrown out at 2nd after attempting to steal again would help him get back on track. The bottom of Calabasas’s lineup quickly accumulated two outs, although in between the two, Chang sent a grounder to Stead, which he couldn’t recover, giving Chang the chance to reach 1st. With only a single out to give, the Coyotes responded in turn; Witkow sent an RBI double into right-center field, sending Chang home. Junior Brady Entin was then sent in to pinch run for Witkow and promptly stole 3rd base off a wild pitch, putting him only 90 feet from scoring another run. Carlis singled, sending Entin home; Rosenfeld walked on a full count, and Quirk singled, which let Carlis run home and make it 6-2. The inning ended when Seidel sent a bases-clearing double into deep right field but was thrown out at 3rd trying to extend it into a triple, leaving the score at the end of the 4th 8-2.
“Those extra runs were probably more important than any runs we’ve scored all year,” said Seidel. “It just affirmed that we are as good as we are, and it gave us come confidence going into this week.”
The Coyotes were rolling into the 5th inning. Singer forced undesirable hits from Miller and Nakagawa, resulting in a flyout and a sharply hit grounder to Pink, which was cleanly delivered to Seidel. For the final out of the inning, Atkinson sent a missile through the air whose target was the glove of senior Harrison Beck. Beck had substituted in for Witkow at 3rd base after Witkow suffered a hamstring injury. Additionally, Dylan Ramsey’s time pitching was done, going four innings and letting up eight runs off eight hits, with senior Kelson Kirkelis coming in for relief. Kirkelis’s first inning of work was a fresh change for the Warriors, as Pink, Bray, and Chang all fell victim to a groundout, a swinging strikeout, and a fly out to center field.
The 6th inning marked the beginning of nitty-gritty time for the Warriors, and they took the chances that came to them. After two Warriors quickly got out, Berlinger sent a single to 1st base that took a bounce over Seidel’s head. Moore stepped up to bat and cranked a homer to left-center field, doubling Westlake’s run total and effectively taking Singer out of the game, who suffered four runs off seven hits in 5.2 innings; junior Philip Greenfield would come in to relieve him. Greenfield made quick work of freshman Holden Backus, inducing a grounder to Chang at 2nd, who made the throw to 1st to end the inning.
The bottom of the 6th did not prove to be any easier for the fresh arm of Kirkelis. McLaren led off and walked off a full count, later stealing 2nd off a wild pitch. Beck also reached base via walk, which ended Kirkelis’s day at only 14 pitches; junior Mihalis Katsambas came in to relieve him and eventually close the game. The first batter Katsambas faced was Carlis, who singled to load the bases. Rosenfeld grounded into a double play, with him and Carlis getting out, but McLaren ran home and put the score at 9-4 off the commotion. Quirk singled and brought Beck home to make it 10-4. However, a Seidel grounder to short would end the inning.
With their backs up against the wall, Westlake needed some magic to at least send the game to extra innings. Consequently, Westlake’s head coach Wally Barnett announced that junior Tyler Cornish would be pinch-hitting for junior Rocco Cortell, who rounded out the Warriors’ lineup, which didn’t go as planned for Westlake, as Cornish struck out. Miller flew out to deep right center, and although Nakagawa walked with the hope of starting a 2-out rally, Atkinson flew out to center field, ending the game.
Although Calabasas lost the series against Westlake, head coach Thomas Cassidy was happy with what he saw from his players, also emphasizing the importance of taking any league game that they can get.
“I thought [the game] was a good way to bounce back after a couple of tough losses to start the week and to avoid the sweep. It was nice to finish the week on a high note,” said Cassidy. “Winning keeps us in the pack with the other league teams. Falling to 1-5 would be a really tough hole to try and dig ourselves out of. So it keeps us in the mix and will hopefully be a little bit of a springboard for us moving forward.”
The Coyotes will play their next game today, April 8th, at 3:30 P.M. at Newbury Park.
