Central Catholic Gets Chance To Defend Title with 3-2 Win over St. Pius X

TAPPS DIVISION 1 STATE SEMIFINAL

		1	2	3	4	5	6	7		R	H	E
Central Catholic		0	2	0	0	0	0	1		3	7	0
St. Pius X		0	0	0	0	0	2	0		2	4	1

In a repeat of last year’s semifinal, it was the same teams, the same score and the same team winning as Central Catholic defeated St. Pius X 3-2 in a tight game in the TAPPS Division 5 Semifinal.  Central Catholic will now have the opportunity to defend their title in the State Championship game against either Liberty Christian or Prestonwood Christian Academy.

After a scoreless 1st, Central Catholic put up a couple of runs in the top of the 2nd.  With one out, JD Amescua walked and Jayson Sapp singled.  Jake Hernandez then hit a double to center field that scored Amescua.  Obie Martinez then hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Sapp.  Central Catholic took a 2-0 lead.

Starting Pitcher Matt McClenan had held St. Pius scoreless for 5 innings but the bats came alive in the bottom of the 6th.  Andrew Kirklin led off the inning a single and with one out, Sean Marquez singled moving Kirklin to 3rd.  Marquez then stole 2nd.  After a line out to 2B, Jorge Arcia came up and doubled home both Kirklin and Marquez to tie the game at 2 apiece.  Relief pitcher Amesuca got the 3rd out to send it to the 7th.

With one out in the top of the 7th, Sunghoon Kim was hit by a pitch.  McClenan came up to bat and doubled to left field. Kim scored on the play and quickly Central Catholic was back on top 3-2.

Amescua came back out in the bottom of the 7th to win it for Central Catholic.  But St. Pius X did not go down easy.  After getting the first out on a ground ball, Amescua walked the next two batters. Undeterred he promptly got two more ground outs to secure the Central Catholic 3-2. Amescua picked up the win.

Starting Pitcher Matt McClenan went 5.1 IP and gave up 2 runs on only 3 hits with 5 strikeouts and 2 walks.  He was also 2-4 at the plate with a double and the game winning RBI.  For his performance he was named the THSB MVP of the game.

“My goal was to just throw strikes and get the first out in the inning and just rely on my defense,” McClenan explained.  “And for the most part that happened.  When they tied it up, I was just praying that we would win this game for seniors.  I’m a junior and I just wanted that to happen for them.  And then I got an opportunity to help us do that when I came up to bat.”

“We knew this was going to be a tough game,” Head Coach Matt Flores commented.  “St. Pius is a good team and Coach Evans is a good coach.  Our guys played well today,  We got good pitching, good defense and we hit well.  We have experience in our lineup and that experience helps you execute well in tough moments.  We are grinders.  We are fighters.  I couldn’t be more proud of this group.”

“We are excited about the opportunity to repeat. But we know we will matchup against a good team.  It was our goal to get back and here we are.”