Prep baseball: ‘Crazy’ Granite Bay group rolls to win in Division II championship
When they were freshmen, these guys dreamed big. They talked of bonding, road trips, big wins and really big wins.
“When we were freshmen,” Granite Bay High School senior second baseman Brett Ott explained late Tuesday night, “we all thought that, ‘Wouldn’t it be crazy to win a section championship as seniors?’ And here we are. It’s surreal. This group is crazy.”
A good kind of crazy, and here they are, indeed.
The gritty Grizzlies delivered on their promise to give it everything they had in their final campaign together, marching through a formidable Division II field as the No. 3 seed and then holding off upstart Rio Americano 4-2 to win the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship at Sacramento City College.
Their game started 90 minutes later than expected, due to an earlier game dragging into extra innings, but the wait was worth it. It certainly was for Granite Bay coach Pat Esposito, a charter faculty member at the Placer County school since it opened in 1996. Esposito built a new program from scratch, nurtured it into a champion, kept the program among the area’s best, and then he soaked in the traditional celebration bucket dump with a team that knows no quit.
It was his first such bucket experience in 21 seasons, when Granite Bay last won a blue banner, in this very Union Stadium venue. The classy coach was all grins, reflective of program pride and profound relief.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve done this,” Esposito said with a laugh. “This is why I keep doing this, and I love it. It’s to make memories, to see the kids come together as a team, to celebrate.”
The journey back to the top wasn’t easy. It rarely is. The Sierra Foothill League gauntlet alone was a challenge, to be sure, with Granite Bay placing second by a game to Whitney, which advanced to the section D-I finals against McClatchy. A demoralizing 10-9 loss to SFL rival Rocklin on April 28 was either going to buckle the team or bring it together. Granite Bay surrendered eight runs in the final inning of that game, and senior leaders such as Ott insisted that this sort of collapse would not happen again.
Granite Bay (19-13) recovered to beat Northern California powerhouse De La Salle of Concord 10-5 in a nonleague game following the Rocklin collapse, and the Grizzlies kept on winning. The streak is nine now with more season to play. The first CIF Northern California regional tournament starts next week. Rio Americano will also advance in the single-elimination tournament.
“The Rocklin game was our turning point,” Esposito said. “It’s a grind just to get here. I scheduled really tough, by design, because we needed the experiences. It really turned after the Rocklin game.”
Ott agreed, saying, “We came together as a team after that game. We weren’t going to let that happen again, and we’ve been at a whole different level ever since.”
The Sacramento State-bound Ott led the charge as the leadoff hitter with two hits. The defense played well in backing up ace Caden Hunter. The left-handed senior struck out five and allowed three hits to keep the hard-slugging Raiders at bay.
“Coming into the season, we knew we had Caden,” Ott said. “He’s been our guy the whole season.”
The other senior starters who dreamed big as freshmen include right fielder Preston Fondren, third baseman J.P. Smith, catcher Avery Isola, first baseman Evan Bishop and left fielder Kevin MacIntosh. Junior designated hitter Cody Ferrante, junior centerfielder Christian Bert and sophomore shortstop Jacob Garcia fit right in.
“We pulled Garcia up from the junior varsity at midseason and told him, ‘’This is your spot,’ and he’s been really good,” Esposito said. “Isola has been nails behind the plate. They’ve all been so good.”
Garcia had an RBI single to tie it 1-1 in the second inning. Bert’s RBI single made it 2-1 in the fourth. Fondren drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-1, and a wild pitch scored a run to make it 4-1.
In the fifth, Rio Americano pulled to within 4-2 when Jake Marr drove in a run. Brady Wilson had the other RBI, off a double.
Calaveras 9, Marysville 7 at Sacramento City College: Gio Tufaneli had a two-run home run, his 10th of the season, and his RBI single in the top of the 11th inning lifted Calaveras of San Andreas to the Division IV championship, the first at any division for the baseball program.
Marysville was in its first title game since 1982 with scores of players from that team in attendance, and the Indians thought they had won this back-and-forth affair in the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off single by Elijah Marin, setting off a celebration on the mound and infield. But Calaveras got the ball from the outfield and to first base and then players and coaches immediately looked to first-base umpire Dave Auchard for a ruling. He ruled the runner was out for not touching first base, which infuriated Marysville players, coaches and fans who packed into the seats.
Several witnesses, including Sac City coaches and section officials watching close by, confirmed the runner did not touch first, so the game continued, tied at 7-7. Calaveras (28-3) will advance to a NorCal regional. Marysville was able to score runs off Calaveras ace Dean Hubbestad, who came in with a 13-0 record and an 0.82 ERA.
This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 6:14 AM.