Yoemen win district title, set for Elkhart
The Cameron Yoe baseball team clinched the district championship on April 30 with a win over the Rogers Golden Eagles 7-3.
Brannon McCall (6) struggled in the top of the first inning and allowed a run on a single to right field. Cameron caught the Rogers runner stealing second base for the second out. McCall got out of the top of the first inning on a groundout. Ryan Host (10) advanced to first base on a hit by pitch with one out in the bottom of the first inning.
He advanced to second base on throwing error, then stole third base. He would get thrown out at third base on a clever play by Rogers with Landon Greene (9) stealing second base, the catcher fired a bullet to the pitcher instead of throwing it to second and threw it to third base to catch Host off balance for the out.
Greene reached third base on a wild pitch. He was not able to score as the bottom of the first inning ended on a pop out.
McCall would come out to the mound and pitched a shutout second inning. Marino Cardona (15) started the bottom of the second inning off with a bang as he smacked a leadoff triple for the Yoemen. He then advanced home on a wild pitch to tie the game. That would be all of the scoring as the bottom of the second inning ended on a line out to left field.
McCall allowed a leadoff single in the top of the third inning. He then allowed a run on a single to left field for a 2-1 deficit for Cameron. McCall then loaded the bases with a walk then allowed a bases loaded walk for a 3-1 lead for Rogers. McCall would escape the top of the third inning with no further damage as he finished on a strikeout.
Cameron didn’t score in the bottom of the third inning. McCall hit a batter with two outs in the top of the fourth inning but was able to get out of it with a groundout that went straight to him where he was able to make the play to get the runner out.
The Yoemen got on base with back-to-back walks for Greene and Marino Cardona in the bottom of the fourth inning. Adam Cardona (1) reached first base on a bunt in a remarkable play where he beat the throw to first base. Greene advanced on a wild pitch to score creating a 3-2 deficit. The bottom of the fourth inning ended on a fly out.
McCall allowed two straight walks to lead off the top of the fifth inning. It was then that coach Hector Delgadillo made a pitching change in the inning. Host came in for McCall. Host saved the inning by catching a sacrifice bunt, then he immediately threw to second base to get the second out, then Tracer Lopez (3) threw to first base to complete a rare and fantastic triple play.
“I think it was huge,” Coach Hector Delgadillo said. “I mean runners on first and second, no outs and they try to bunt. As soon as that ball was in the air, I thought we had a chance at least to get the ball or catch it, but Ryan, he’s pretty athletic. For him to catch it, pop up, and already know what to do after the fact. And then Tracer did the same thing and then Marino did the same thing. They knew where to be at the right time, and when to do it, I mean it was a great play. And I think for the morale of the team, that just brought everybody up. That was huge and obviously we fed off of that and came back and bounced back.”
That bounce back started with a leadoff single by Bobby Borgas (7) followed a double for Lopez at right field. Borgas came home on an RBI sacrifice fly by Greene to tie the game at three and Host was also able to steal second base. The comeback continued on a two run RBI triple by Dillan Akin (4) for a 5-3 game and their first lead of the game.
Kason Goolsby (14) would come in for Akin as the pinch runner. He would come home on an RBI sacrifice bunt by Adam Cardona for a 6-3 lead. The bottom of the fifth inning ended on a pop out to the pitcher.
Host backed up his team’s offensive performance and pitched a shutout sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Jaidyn Sanchez (11) would be hit by a pitch and head to first base. He would find a way to round the bases and head home on an RBI bunt single by Borgas where he reached on a throwing error and was safe at second base. Sadly, he would be caught stealing at third base. The bottom of the sixth inning ended on a pop out. Host allowed a pair of two out singles in the top of the seventh inning but was able to finish the game with a pop out to third base for the 7-3 win. Host in his three innings of relief allowed two hits, one walk, threw a strikeout, and allowed no hits.
“I was real impressed,” Delgadillo said. “And I think that’s something that’s expected out of him. That’s something for any of our guys. If a starter gets in trouble, we got to have somebody to come in, somebody reliable like Host. I’m glad he felt ready to go and could put some zeros on the board. That was great and that’s what we need. Then we turn it around on offense, had a big inning or two and that was it.”
With this victory, the Cameron Yoemen secured the district championship.
“Man, it feels awesome, it feels great,” Delgadillo said. “It’s always a good thing when you can win a district championship, not only for us but for the kids. It’s just a confidence booster for them. Understanding that, especially in a game like this where we’re down two to three runs, we’re able to come back and find a way to win. I thought it was great and what we need going into the playoffs. Again, it gives us more confidence and it gives us a good chance that we can compete and play in the next few weeks and that’s what we’re going to ask from our guys.”
The players and the coaching staff also fed off the enormous crowd that was there to support them, as it was standing room only. Delgadillo believes it was beneficial and the players fed off the energy of the crowd.
“That’s what we talked about,” he said. “We’re playing for a district championship on a Friday afternoon at home, there’s no better place to be. So, we talked to the boys about that this is going to be a playoff game. This is a playoff atmosphere, we had the fans, and we were playing for something. It wasn’t just let’s just play to win. We came out and we wanted it. I thought the kids did a great job battling and staying in the game, and the crowd’s a tremendous help from the first pitch to the last out.”
The Yoemen’s first playoff matchup will be against the Elkhart Elks. This playoff matchup will be a three game series starting on Friday. Game one will be at Elkhart on Friday at 7 p.m., game two will take place at the Yards of Cameron on Satuday at 1 p.m. The “if necessary” game three will also be at the Yards of Cameron and would be played at 3 p.m.