Ramona High team earns baseball league title
Ramona High School’s baseball team won the Valley League championship, posting a 13-2 record in league play to finish two games in front of second-place Fallbrook and three games ahead of third-place Oceanside.
“That was great. One of the better turnarounds that we’ve had. I was real proud of the boys,” said coach Dean Welch.
Ramona entered league play with a 4-10 record that became 4-11 when Fallbrook defeated the Bulldogs in the teams’ April 13 league opener. The Bulldogs then won 13 consecutive games before losing the regular-season finale to Oceanside. A first-round playoff loss to Bonita Vista finalized Ramona’s overall record at 17-13.
“It was quite a journey,” Welch said. “Made a run that we’ll remember for a long time.”
Ramona won the remaining two games of the series against Fallbrook, whose other two league losses were to Oceanside during the third week of the Valley League season. The Warriors handed the Pirates their first league loss May 2, putting Ramona and Oceanside into a tie for first place. The Bulldogs led by half a game, as Oceanside had only two contests the previous week, but Ramona and Oceanside were even in terms of league defeats.
On May 6 Mission Vista defeated Oceanside to give the Bulldogs sole possession of the league lead. The Bulldogs’ 22-0 win over Orange Glen that day gave Ramona a 9-1 league record entering the following week’s matches against the Pirates.
If Ramona won two of three games against Oceanside, the Bulldogs would earn at least a share of the league championship. That was assured with Ramona’s 7-2 road win May 11 and 17-4 home victory May 13.
“We got up on them early in both games,” Welch said.
Ramona took a 6-0 lead after the first 2-1/2 innings in the May 11 game. Both third-inning Oceanside runs were unearned.
Blake Workman threw a complete game, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out 12 Pirates. The Bulldogs had nine hits at the plate, including five doubles. Dejan Lee had two of those doubles while Todd Roberts had a single and a double.
Lee, Roberts and Gage Canning each drove in two runs. Carl Bunday had no at-bats in his four plate appearances as he was hit by two pitches, walked once, and added a sacrifice. Bunday led the team with two runs scored.
The May 13 game began with two Oceanside runs in the top of the first, but the Bulldogs scored six times in the bottom of the first and five times in the second. Four runs in the bottom of the sixth completed the scoring.
All nine of Ramona’s starting batters had at least one hit, at least one run scored, and at least one batted in. Cameron Rowles and Canning each scored three times with a home run accounting for one of Rowles’ scores.
Bunday led the Bulldogs with three runs batted in. Starting pitcher Dylan Spacke allowed three hits in five innings while striking out seven. Tyler Dick hurled the final two innings for Ramona, allowing two hits and striking out one batter.
“After the second game against Oceanside, that put us up by three games with three to play, so we clinched at that point,” Welch said.
Fallbrook defeated Mission Vista in a 16-2 game May 11 and in an 11-2 contest May 13 to bring the Warriors even with Oceanside. Even if the Warriors and Pirates won all their games during the final week of the regular season and Ramona failed to win any, Ramona’s head-to-head advantage would have given the Bulldogs the automatic CIF playoff berth for the league champion.
The regular-season schedule allowed contingency days for makeup games in the event of rainouts, which gave teams additional contests in the final week of the season when those rainouts occurred. Rain canceled May 15 play, forcing a third game in the final week of the regular season.
The May 18 makeup game at Orange Glen was a 5-1 Ramona victory. The Bulldogs scored three runs in the second, one in the third, and one in the top of the seventh before an Orange Glen run in the bottom of the seventh avoided a shutout.
Dick pitched the first four innings, allowing one hit and no walks while striking out seven. Travis Marinshaw earned the save with a three-inning performance which included two hits allowed and five strikeouts.
In an effort to ensure that teams avoided inactivity before the playoffs if no makeup games were needed, the Valley League schedule originally included May 20 games with the league schedule for the fourth week calling for each team to play two games including the May 8 matches postponed due to the rain.
The May 20 game at Ramona was the Bulldogs’ second 22-0 victory over Orange Glen during the year. Ramona scored in all six offensive innings, including six runs apiece in the second and fourth frames. Canning drove in six runs with a home run, two doubles, a single and a sacrifice fly.
Workman homered once and singled three times for five runs batted in. Lee scored four runs and had hits in all three at-bats, including a home run and a double, along with a walk.
Rowles also homered. Adam Lobe struck out eight in his complete-game shutout while allowing three hits and no walks.
“We kept the bats rolling, and that was good to see,” Welch said.
Fallbrook won all three games during the final week of the regular season to conclude league play with six consecutive wins. Oceanside won its May 18 makeup game against Mission Vista and the May 20 regularly-scheduled game against the Timberwolves. In Oceanside’s May 21 game at Valley Center, the Jaguars scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh for a 7-6 victory, eliminating the possibility that the Pirates could tie Fallbrook for second in the final league standings.
Power rankings are the primary factor in CIF playoff selection and seeding. Ramona’s likely 12th seed in the Division I playoffs wouldn’t have been changed regardless of the result of the May 22 makeup game at Oceanside. The Pirates, who are in Division III for playoff purposes, had a seeding position at stake.
“They had a little bit more to play for,” Welch said.
Oceanside scored twice in the first. The Bulldogs scored a run apiece in the fifth and sixth. In the bottom of the seventh Najee Peat-Davis tripled for his third hit of the game and Austin Sandoval singled to right field to score Peat-Davis and give Oceanside a 3-2 victory.
“It was a tight ball game. Both sides played well,” Welch said.
The result ended Ramona’s 13-game winning streak but also gave the Bulldogs more compatible competition to transition into the post-season.
“It was good for us to get in a little bit more competitive game before the playoffs,” Welch said.
League champions automatically receive a CIF playoff home game unless their first-round game is against another league champion. Bonita Vista had a 22-7 regular-season record, including 6-2 in Mesa League play which allowed the Barons to share the league championship with Otay Ranch. The Barons were seeded fifth in the Division I playoffs, sending Ramona to Bonita Vista for the May 26 contest.
Bonita Vista was moved up to Division I after winning the Division II CIF championship in 2014.
“We faced a real good team,” Welch said.
Bonita Vista senior Ricky Reynoso threw the first five innings, striking out four Ramona batters while allowing four hits, no walks, and one run.
“We faced a real tough left-hander. Runs were hard to come by,” Welch said.
The Barons took a 5-0 lead with five runs in the bottom of the third.
“We did have one rough inning defensively,” Welch said.
Ramona scored once apiece in the fourth and sixth innings. The first three Ramona batters in the top of the seventh reached base, including one who scored, and with a 5-3 deficit the Bulldogs had runners on second and third with nobody out. Ramona was able to score one of those runners, finalizing the score at 5-4 in Bonita Vista’s favor.
The league championship was the second in a row for Ramona, whose 14-1 Valley League record in 2014 placed the Bulldogs three games ahead of second-place Del Norte.
The North County Conference realignment moved Del Norte into the Avocado East League and Fallbrook into the Valley League from the Avocado West League.