Tartans' Run at Second CIF Title Ends in the First Round of Playoffs

The Glendora High School baseball team’s defense of their CIF title ended on Thursday courtesy of the visiting Damien Spartans, who came into Glendora and handed their former Sierra League rivals a 6-4 loss.

After playing to a 4-4 tie, the Spartans (15-12, 9-6, third in Sierra League) took advantage of a number of Glendora errors in the 6^th inning, including an errand throw to first base and a passed ball which advanced runners on their way to scoring the go ahead 5^th run.

Damien’s senior Dorian Granados then hit an RBI double off Glendora relief pitcher Nicholas Hall to secure the final run, as the Spartans knocked the Tartans out in the first round of the Southern Section playoffs.

According to Tartans’ head coach Dan Henley, the pivotal point of the game came in the third inning after Glendora jumped to a 4-1 lead, scoring three runs on three hits off Damien pitcher Chad Lee, and loading the bases with only one out.

The Spartans then turned a double play to end the inning and stopped the Tartans from doing further damage.

“That was a momentum buster right there,” said Henley, “Because that might have been an opportunity to break it open, but we didn’t break it open. They got six (runs total).”

The Spartans drew first blood with three straight hits off Glendora starter Sean Beckman to open the game, then took a 1-0 lead on a passed ball, the first of many uncharacteristic Tartan mistakes.

Glendora drew even on the bottom half of the first off a towering solo home run by John Alexander. The Tartans then put together a strong third inning, scoring their three runs on four hits prior to Aaron Miller hitting into the double play which ended the rally.

Beckman came into the game with a 9-2 record and a 2.00 ERA and struck out six before giving way to Hall in the 6^th inning. The senior pitcher gave up four runs, two of them earned on nine hits, but he didn’t get the defensive support from his teammates to secure the win.

Henley said despite the loss, the 2011 Tartans proved they could be competitive in the Baseline League.

“They had a lot of character, we started out the season 2-2 and wondering what kind of club we would be. Obviously with the string of victories and the way we competed all year, we showed what kind of character we had.”

“I tip my hat off to Damien,” said Tartans’ first baseman John Alexander. “They played one heck of a game, they executed error free, they pitched well, they wanted to beat us and we gave it everything we got.”

“I did believe that we had the pieces to be very competitive, so that’s what we set out to do. We did that, and we were very competitive all year, even today,” Henley said, adding he was proud of his team for believing they could pull out the win.

“We’ve made mistakes in the past and we’ve gotten by them, we made a plethora of mistakes and that’s gonna happen, and you just have to overcome them. This team as they were on the front rail in that last inning, they really believed that they could pull it out again.”

The Tartans finished the regular season with a 17-6-1 overall record and 12-3 and came in with a four game winning streak before losing to the Spartans in Thursday’s playoff opener.

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