South Hills baseball’s dramatic finish ends with sixth championship and 4-3 victory over Redlands East Valley

By Fred J. Robledo
South Hills has been in many championships and won its fair share, but there was nothing more nerve-racking and thrilling than what unfolded in Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship game at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino.
“This is why Hollywood keeps making movies,” South Hills coach Darren Murphy said. South Hills scored two runs in the seventh, then got an inning ending double play in the bottom of the seventh with the tying runner on third to escape with a 4-3 victory over Redlands East Valley to win the school’s sixth championship.
It was the top-seed Huskies’ (26-7) first title since 2009, finishing the season on a 14-game winning streak and giving Murphy his first title at South Hills in his third season since moving over from Northview, where he won a title in 2008.
“It was sweet,” Murphy said. “It’s hard to find the words to describe it.”
South Hills’ starting sophomore Brandon Dieter was cruising with a 2-0 lead and only allowed two hits through five innings, but after giving up a leadoff triple to Paul Rojas in the sixth, South Hills turned to lefty Ryan Mauch, who returned following an ACL injury just before the playoffs and had been clutch in a closing role, having thrown nine scoreless innings in the postseason.
But Mauch struggled.
After REV’s Christian Kirtley hit a sacrifice fly to center that scored Rojas to cut the Huskies’ lead to 2-1, things continued to fall apart.
Isaiah Gonzalez singled and Brent Vansant walked, with Gonzalez later stealing third.
Joseph Ortega Rodriguez’s squeeze attempt looked like an easy play at home for Mauch, but he fumbled the ball, allowing Gonzalez to score to to make it 2-2 with Vansant taking third.
Justin Wear squeezed home Vansant for the 3-2 lead and suddenly the Huskies were down to their last three outs.
“It was scary,” South Hills’ Chris Moya said. “When they got those three runs, it went through our minds, ‘what just happened?’ But as a team we’re so close we knew we could come back and we played for each other until the end.”
South Hills’ Quinn Cotter led off the seventh with a single and Jacob Dominguez legged out a single. After Dieter’s grounder moved the runners over, Robert De La Cruz singled home Cotter to tie the score, then Moya’s flyout scored Dominguez for the go-ahead run and 4-3 lead.
And just when it looked like South Hills might blow it again allowing runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the seventh, it got an inning-ending double play and the celebration began.
“The stories will get better as we get older and how we were down ten runs and came back,” Murphy joked. “It adds to the drama, no doubt about it. But you’re excited beyond belief. I have so much respect for our kids.
“The range of emotions from A-Z is incredible. One thing I believed in and I did say to the kids in the seventh is think about how good it’s going to be when we comeback. You say that to try and keep them positive, but I think our schedule, the things we do, playing who we play and the fact we really have some studs that show up in big games is what we’re about.”
After wasting a one-out double in the first, South Hills took a 2-0 lead in the third inning.
Dieter singled and later scored on a passed ball, then Nick Lugo ripped a shot that REV pitcher Andrew Miner couldn’t handle for an infield single, scoring Moya from third.
It stayed that way until things unravelled in the sixth, but the way it ended, with the Huskies having to pick-up Mauch, who went from what appeared to be a tough loss to an improbable win, one more storyline to a terrific finish.
“The offense picked him (Mauch) up tonight,“ Murphy said. “Ryan wasn’t as sharp and that was bound to happen. That’s what I was worried about, would we be in shock because we hadn’t seen anyone score on him in a long time. When you only have one inning to play off what happened, that’s what made me nervous.
“Hey, If we won 2-0 that’s fantastic, but that’s why Hollywood keeps making movies. This was a Hollywood ending.”