By Brandon Petersen
No one call can dictate the outcome of a baseball game, but one bad call at the right moment can flip momentum and turn the tide of a baseball game.
From Westcliff's perspective, that's exactly what took place Saturday at the Great Park, where Bethesda scored four in the top of the ninth to claim a 4-2 win.
With Desi Garcia still on the hill, trying to finish off a masterful complete-game performance, Bethesda sent a slow chopper toward Daniel Esqueda at third to start the inning.
Esqueda fielded the ball cleanly and made the throw on the run, leaving it up to Uly Duran at first to make a decent sized stretch and corral the short-hop, which he did the satisfaction of the field umpire, who called the bang-bang play out.
But after Bethesda piped their disapproval toward the crew, an ensuing conference ended with the homeplate umpire overruling the call from 90-feet away.
"The base umpire told me, 'Dave, I think I got it right,' and he did," Westcliff skipper Dave Shermet said. "The plate umpire thought the foot was pulled — which it wasn't. Uly made the play."
After the umpires took Garcia's first out off the board, the wheels fell off, and a single later, Garcia was out of the game, making way for Colby Weyant.
The Flames touched up Weyant with a pair of singles and quickly took a 3-2 lead.
"I'm sick right now, because Desi — Oh, my God," Shermet said. "And he gets three earned runs out of that."
Nonetheless, Garcia finished with an impressive line: Eight full, seven scattered, nine sent down by way of strikes and no free passes given.
"This is where he's in his element," Shermet said. "Night game. Saturday. Single game. He was firing on all cylinders. His pitch count was low, he goes eight strong innings, it's just a shame we couldn't give him more support.
"Our offense usually scores eight, 10, 11 runs. Tonight we scored two. So, we didn't give Desi the support he needed."
Despite missing a few difficult plays in the sun, Westcliff's defense was strong Saturday night.
What seemed strange was the lack of offensive production.
Although Keith Hale and Nolan Wasson had the nights off, Eddie Rivero (2B), Esqueda and Duran remained at the top of the order, Trey Harmon (RBI) got the start in right.
All four accounted for the five runners the Warriors left stranded.
Evan Rocha (RBI) and Zane Parmenter both produced doubles, but all told, Westcliff had just five hits.
The math says Saturday was an anomaly: The Warriors average 8.46 runs on 11.25 hits per contest.
Up next for Westcliff (12-3 Cal Pac, 20-12 overall) is a series with La Sierra starting Friday before the big one with apparently unbeatable BenU.
"We're going to have to execute a little better," Shermet said. "La Sierra is better than their record, an they're going to bring it. Every game matters at this point, we have six games left."
Right now, the Warriors are right on track to earn the program's first postseason appearance.
Saturday's loss won't last in the memory banks long.
"I liked the way we played, our defense was OK," Shermet said. "Desi was just sterling. Unbelievable. It's a shame it came out this way.
"But if we pitch and play defense — not worried about our offense, we'll get back on track — execution is the key. When you have runners on base, you gotta get them home."
