Los Amigos Hits and Pitches Well in 11-0 Win over Santa Ana Valley

The Los Amigos baseball team seems to be coming around, at least in terms of defense and pitching. In Thursday’s game, an easy 11-0 thrashing of Santa Ana Valley, hitting came through as well.

Diego Adame pitched especially well giving up just one hit in five innings of work. Jorge Bedolla finished the final two innings without allowing a hit.

The only negative seen in the game for the Lobos was mistakes on the basepaths. Los Amigos runners found themselves in numerous pickoffs and rundowns that had players diving back to the bag they came from—and coach Art Maltby scratching his head.

Still, he said he's happy with his team’s improvement. “Defensively, we didn’t make many mistakes,” Maltby said. “But our baserunners missed some signs.”

The one-sided game was an opportunity for Maltby to get many of his players that previously had little playing time into the game. He was able to bring in all by one player on the 16-player roster.

Los Amigos had 11 runs on 12 hits and one error. Santa Ana Valley had no runs on one hit and two errors.

The Lobos started their scoring early when Juan Garcia and Isaac Zazuetta scored on a blooper to left by Bedolla.

In the second inning, Los Amigos showed off some defense by throwing out a Santa Ana Valley runner trying to steal second, then after a walk, picked off the runner at first.

In the bottom of the inning, Los Amigos scored its third run when Adame scored on a base hit to left by Eli Sanchez. Then, Sanchez was picked off second base.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Lobos’ Jason Garcia grounded to short, but the Falcons shortstop Rodrigo Aguilar threw the ball away. Garcia wound up at second base and then scored when Luis Peraza doubled as Los Amigos took a 4-0 lead.

Peraza wound up on third when a balk was called on the Santa Ana Valley pitcher. Peraza then scored on a base hit by Bedolla, but Bedolla was picked off of first to end the inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Hernandez scored on a liner to left by Sanchez. Later in the inning, with runners at second and third, Zazuetta doubled to deep left, scoring Chris Rosales and Sanchez. Leading 8-0, Garcia lined the ball up the middle to score Zazuetta and extend the lead to 9-0.

Los Amigos went down in order in the bottom of the fifth, as did Santa Ana Valley in the top of the sixth. In the bottom of the sixth, Los Amigos almost ran itself out of the inning when Zazuetta and Sanchez both found themselves in rundowns and Sanchez was thrown out at the plate.

Zazuetta, who scored on a base hit by Garcia, was shaken up as he slammed into the catcher at home. Later Garcia would score on a grounder to left by Bedolla. That gave Los Amigos an 11-0 lead heading into the top of the seventh. Santa Ana Valley was shut down in its final at bat and the Lobos celebrated the victory.

Los Amigos next plays Saddleback High School on Saturday as part of the Newport Elks Tournament.