Playoff roundup: Casa Roble, Woodland Christian and Leroy Greene win section championships
Ed Tupper started this coaching gig 21 years ago, a baseball lifer who continues to mentor teenagers at Casa Roble High School in Orangevale because it never gets old. .
On Wednesday night at Sacramento City College, Tupper celebrated along with his ecstatic grinders as the top-seeded Rams blew it open with a four-run sixth inning to beat No. 3 Twelve Bridges of Lincoln 6-2 in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship at Union Stadium.
This is Tupper’s first such banner as coach since 2003 and the program’s third since 1993. Tupper is a San Juan Unified School District product to the core, graduating from Mesa Verde in Citrus Heights in 1993, a year after helping that school win a section baseball crown for famed coach Ron Barney.
“Casa Roble is a great school with a great community, and we have a great senior class,” Tupper said. “We’ve had some ups and downs in baseball, but it’s been worth it. This is the best. So happy for these kids.”
The joy included watching football players who won a section title in November at Hughes Stadium, next to the baseball field, with a last-minute victory over Twelve Bridges.
Bryan McElroy is one of four Rams who has championship hats and memories for two sports this academic year. Looking every bit the part of a guy who competes in the trenches in shoulder pads, the burly senior came in as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the sixth inning to drive in Connor Campbell — the quarterback of the football team — with a base hit for a 3-2 lead. Connor Anderson, another football player who mans center field, had a two-run double to make it 5-2, and Jacob Schreiber made it 6-2 with a base hit.
McElroy was mobbed by teammates when he was replaced by pinch runner Ian Peatross after his RBI, and he was mobbed well after the team’s postgame championship photo.
“Obviously, he’s a fan favorite,” Tupper said. “How do you not love him? He’s one of our guys, and he came through.”
The other football players on the roster included designated hitter Joseph Dexter.
Tupper sensed this could be a title team with the experience and desire of the players, from the seniors on down. The Rams played a spring tournament in San Diego, which included team bonding and the beach. They won 15 of 18 games in the Golden Empire League, moved their overall record to 24-9 and will play in their first CIF Northern California regional playoff game Tuesday.
The CIF will release those brackets on Sunday.
Division VI
Leroy Greene Academy 12, Ripon Christian 11: Drew Perry hit an inside-the-park home run at Islander Park in Lathrop in the seventh inning, and Korey Ramson drove in three with two doubles as the Lions of Sacramento repeated as champions. Perry and Ramson both scored three runs, and Ramson struck out 10 in 4.2 innings of work for Leroy Greene, which moved to 23-4 in winning its 15th consecutive game.
Perry was The Bee’s Small School Player of the Year in 2023. Leroy Greene will advance to a CIF NorCal game on Tuesday.
Division VII
Woodland Christian 12, Valley Christian Academy 2: With 11 players sporting freshly dyed blond hair, and their retiring coach John Rodegerdts doing the same for fun, the Cardinals clinched the program’s first banner in this sport in an academic year that was big on winning.
The football team went 15-0 to win a CIF state championship behind quarterback Gabe Sanchez, an emotional leader for the baseball team. Woodland Christian broke it open with eight runs in the top of the third inning and four in the fourth in a game that ended after five innings due to the CIF mercy rule.
Wyatt Bickel earned the win on the mound, striking out six and allowing one earned run in four innings. Bickel moved to 7-2 while his team improved to 23-4. The Cardinals walked eight times.
Woodland Christian advances to the CIF NorCal rounds starting Tuesday.