EVERETT — Archbishop Murphy senior Conner Longoria drove in the game-tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning and eventually scored on the play on a Cedarcrest throwing error to give the Archbishop Murphy baseball team a 5-4 win that clinched its sixth consecutive Cascade Conference title.
“You just never know in baseball how things are going to end up unfolding,” said Archbishop Murphy head coach Stan Taloff. “It was aggressive baserunning by Longoria. He forced them to make a play.”
After a single and a wild pitch put Chris Damitio on second with no outs in the seventh, Longoria singled. The subsequent throw home was dropped by the catcher and Damition scored to tie the score at 4. On the play, Longoria tried to take third base and the throw to third was offline, allowing Longoria to trot home with the game-winning run.
Archbishop Murphy holds a half-game lead over Granite Falls atop the Cascade Conference standings. But the Wildcats having swept the Tigers earlier in the season hold the tiebreaker for the conference’s No. 1 seed in next week’s 2A Bi-District 1/2 tournament.
“We started off with a young team but the first goal was to win the conference title,” Taloff said. ‘I would say its hard to win six (league titles) in a row, and thats what we’ve done. Our kids played well and with a lot of enthusiasm.”
After both teams failed to score for three innings, Cedarcrest took a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh off an RBI single by sophomore Jacob Jewell, who finished 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI. The Red Wolves outhit the Wildcats 13-to-6 but were able to put just three runs across against Murphy starter Connor Sand.
“He did real well,” Taloff said of Sand. “He was able to keep the damage minimal even though they got thirteen hits. That’s the sign of a good pitcher.”
At Archbishop Murphy H.S.
Cedarcrest1110001—4132
Archbishop Murphy1200002—562
Adam Davenport and Blaine Wagner. Connor Sand, Ryan Dorney (7) and Ernie Gamboa. WP—Dorney (4-3). LP—Davenport (4-2). 2B—Jacob Jewell (C). Records—Cedarcrest 10-7 league, 11-7 overall. Archbishop Murphy 12-5, 12-7.
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