CIF baseball roundup: Paramount falls in extra iings

The Paramount Pirates took the top-seeded South Hills Huskies to extra iings in the second round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs at home on Tuesday, but couldn’t hang on and fell 3-1 in 11 iings.

Pitching was the story in this one. Both teams were held scoreless going into extra iings, but with the bases loaded in the top of the 11th, a sacrifice fly and a base hit up the middle brought in three for the Huskies.

“Give them credit. They beat us,” said Paramount head coach Frank Bignami. “I’m proud of the way we played and I’m proud of the way we fought.”

The Paramount pitching staff was impressive and battled throughout the day. Starting pitcher Eric Ramirez matched South Hills frame for frame as he got through 6 1/3 iings, giving up four hits while striking out four. Daniel Heandez came on in relief and got out of a couple huge jams to keep the Pirates in it.

Heandez came on for Ramirez in the seventh with one out and two ruers on. He got a fly ball and a ground out to get out of the iing and send it to extras. In the top of the ninth, Heandez found himself in another hole after an error and a few walks. But the senior escaped danger again, getting a pop fly to shortstop to end the iing.

“They battled today,” said Bignami of his pitching staff. “I give a ton of credit to them and my coaching staff. We knew where to attack their hitters and they did a really good job with it.”

The Paramount hitters couldn’t carry their momentum into the bottom half of the iings and Heandez couldn’t work his magic for a third time in the top of 11th.

The Pirates got one back in the bottom of the iing. Heandez walked and got to second on a fielder’s choice. Luis Lara brought him home with a double down the left field line.

- Paul Slater

REDLANDS EAST VALLEY 1, GAHR 0 >> The No. 2 Gladiators was stued by Redlands East Valley in the Division 2 second round on the road. The game’s only run came in the bottom of the first iing when Gahr dropped a fly ball in the outfield with two outs on the board.

Gahr (24-7) came its closest to scoring in the fifth iing when Oscar Carvajal singled with a ruer at first and one out to move Xavier Estrada to third. But Carvajal came too far off first toward second and was caught in a rundown for the second out to swing momentum. The game ended on a double by Chase Alvarado, which he attempted to stretch it into a triple. The REV outfield relayed the ball to third for the tag on the slide to end the game.

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Chris Corral pitched six iings for the Gladiators, allowing five hits with four strikeouts.

“I’m very proud of this senior class for getting the program to this level,” Gahr head coach Gerardo Perez said. “This was a new division we were playing in and this was the highest ranking we have ever had. I’m just so proud of how these seniors carried themselves off the field and on the field.”

- Chris Trevino

LA MIRADA 7, RANCHO CUCAMONGA 1 >> The Matadores (23-7) rolled to an easy victory on the road in the second round of the Division 2 playoffs, and will face Redlands East Valley in the quarterfinal round on Friday. Chad Wilson, Matt Hickman and Anthony Quezada all had three hits apiece for La Mirada.