Great Oak edges Temecula Valley, Chaparral shocks Murrieta Valley with one game to go
— Baseball is a crazy game, plain and simple. Just ask the teams in the Southwestern League. Coming into this week, a tie that ended between Temecula Valley and Murrieta Mesa last Thursday at Storm Stadium, made things cloudy in the standings. The race to the top was heated between Vista Murrieta and the Golden Bears, who were neck and neck up until that tie ball game put a kink in things. While no Southwestern League game can end in a tie, according to the bylaws of the league, there were also two games left in the regular season to focus on this week.
Temecula Valley head coach, Darric Merrell, had a protest entered with the CIF Southern Section offices, due to the dramatics in how the game ended with the Rams. A bases-loaded hit by pitch should have plated a run, but the umpires ruled against Merrell’s squad for celebrating on the field before the batter touched first base. The umpires went back and forth before ruling him out, which in itself has no written rule. Ultimately, the protest was shot down this week by the CIF Southern Section offices.
According to Thom Simmons, CIF-SS Assistant Commissioner, his office does not accept protests based on a misapplication of the NFHS playing rules in any sport. Simmons, by email, went on to cite bylaw 1111.1, which states that any member school shall have the right to protest the outcome of any athletic contest if its opponent has used an ineligible player in the contest or violated any CIF Southern Section rule in connection with the contest.
Which begs the next question. How may a coach resolve a misapplication of an official rule question to umpires governing that sport at the game site?
Simmons replied, “the coach must raise the question of misapplication in accordance with official rules governing that sport with the game officials at the exact time of the misapplication, and the game officials will rule on the possible misapplication before play continues. No protests may be forwarded from this point.”
So, basically, the protest stops on the side of the CIF-SS offices but can still be taken up with the NFHS officials, or the game can be picked up in the eighth inning in accordance with the bylaws of the league. That is what will happen Friday, April 29, at 6 p.m. at Temecula Valley High School.
Of course, as Merrell had alluded to last week, “if something happens during our games this week, which takes us out of contention, then it’s all a moot point, but for that call to end our game in a tie, it did nobody any good.”
Perhaps he jinxed himself, but in their first game of their final two-game series against Great Oak Tuesday, April 26, the Wolfpack, on their home field, delivered a gut punch to the Golden Bears. Great Oak beat them 2-1 in a pitchers’ duel, that also saw some controversary with a bobbled catch, transfer call, late in the game. A call that did not help Temecula Valley’s cause. Shea Lake pitched Great Oak to victory, allowing one run in six innings with five strikeouts. Lucas Smith got the Save with his one inning of relief to close the game. Charlie Combs took the loss for Temecula Valley , allowing just three hits, two runs and striking out three.
Grant Yzermans, Darin Chapman, and Chris Paciolla had two hits apiece to lead Temecula Valley, but the Great Oak defense would not let up. The Wolfpack trailed all game until a wild pitch plated Jaydon Thompson in the fifth inning, and a Ryan Lee sacrifice fly would plate Michael Rodda for the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth.
The win keeps Great Oak (9-5) in third place in the standings and knocks Temecula Valley to 10-3-1 (with that tie looming over them), a clear game back of Vista Murrieta (12-2). The Broncos defeated Murrieta Mesa (3-10-1) in their first game of the week, 10-2, and Chaparral (3-11) found some fire on the road to scorch the Nighthawks, 12-4. The loss for Murrieta valley still keeps them in fourth place with a 4-10 league record.
That win for the Broncos by the way, well it secured at least a share of the Southwestern League title right now. Why the share? OK, let’s play this out for kicks and giggles.
Temecula Valley could win their final match-up against Great Oak, putting them at 11-3-1, Vista Murrieta could lose to Murrieta Mesa, putting them at 12-3, and now finishing that tie could determine whether it’s a co-championship, or maybe just an outright one for the Broncos.
Of course, that’s if things play out that way for the Golden Bears. If not, nothing really changes if they win/lose that tie on Friday. The top three teams (Vista Murrieta, Temecula Valley, and Great Oak) will still move on to the playoffs, Vista Murrieta secures their eighth league title in an outright effort, and the bottom three teams send their seniors off with memorable parting gifts since none of them will get an at-large playoff bid due to not having winning seasons (.500 or better).
So, as previously stated, baseball is crazy, and you never know what can happen on any given day. The Southwestern League regular season will wrap up Thursday of this week with Vista Murrieta at Murrieta Mesa, Great Oak at Temecula Valley, and Murrieta Valley at Chaparral in a Friday game. Those game times are set for 3:15 p.m.
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
