The Saints Open Up the Baseball Season With a Win

On Saturday, February 11, the high school baseball season began. The San Dimas Saints took on the Crescenta Valley Falcons at Stengel Field. The Saints are coming off a 20-7 record last year and with a Junior class stacked team. On the other hand, the Falcons are coming off a 16-13 record with a Senior class-stacked team. These past two years, the Saints have had the Falcon’s number. The Saints have beaten them 7-3 and 4-0 the last two times they have played. With that being said, San Dimas should handle business and start the season with a win.

In the top of the 1st inning, the Saints scratched the first run of the game with an RBI double by Junior, Jude Favela, scoring Junior, Landon White. Jude Favela would also start this game on the mound and go 1-2-3 to end the 1st inning. Both teams would then go silent in the 2nd inning. In the top of the 3rd inning, the Saints would put up 2 more runs to make the score 3-0. Junior, Kasen Khansarinia would score off of a balk and Landon White would score again off of Junior, Rocco Regan’s double. No one would score a run until the Saints had a huge 6th inning.

The Saints would get RBI groundouts from Junior, Ryan Castro, and Junior, Kody King. Then later in the inning, Kasen Khansarinia would get an RBI single and again Jude Favela would get another RBI double to put the Saints up 7-0. Jude Favela would go six scoreless innings and would later get relieved in the 7th inning by Senior, Jacob Becerra. When asked about what pitch was so effective, Jude Favela said, “My slider was the most effective because I had good control of it and we set it up well with other pitches”. The Falcons would finally tack on three runs in the bottom of the 7th. Now the game is getting interesting.

The Saints would bring in Senior, Gabriel Claros to stop the bleeding. With runners on first and second with two outs, he would strike out the batter to end the game. When asked about his thought process being brought into the game with that situation, Gabriel Claros responded,” I was just trying to get out and just focus on throwing strikes.” The Falcons tried to make the game intense at the end but the Saints would walk away with the opening-day win. The Saints now move on in the Pizza Chalet tournament and face Claremont High School in the next round. Hopefully, this win gives the Saints a huge spark and will carry it on far into the season.