Broomfield – Pomona’s Kyle Winters normally tears through batters, registering one strikeout after another. For about five innings Saturday, however, every Legacy batter seemed to be able to get the bat on his pitches.
But that is what defense is for. Pomona had it and Legacy at times did not, and a four-run sixth inning pushed Pomona to a 6-2 victory in the District 2 baseball playoffs at Legacy, sending the Panthers to the regional round for the seventh time in eight years.
Shortstop Tommy Frikken had eight assists, and Legacy gave up four unearned runs on infield errors in the sixth inning to make the difference.
“Not my best stuff,” said Winters, who improved to 8-0 with just six earned runs surrendered all season. “I had to rely on my defense a lot more today. Overall it wasn’t a bad outing, but not my best. I started to stay away from the curveball and just throw fastballs, so I started to find it.”
Winters looked in full command in the final two innings after a short hail delay, and Pomona (12-9) survived a day with two close games. The ninth-seeded Panthers beat East 3-2 in the early game.
No. 8 seed Legacy (15-4) rolled over Mitchell 12-1 in the first game and took a 2-1 lead in the third inning against Pomona when Mitch Griffin reached on a single, and an infield error on a ball hit by Cody Henry allowed Griffin to score.
Pomona, which hit only singles, tied the score in the fifth on an RBI hit by Frikken that brought home Anthony Salazar.
Frikken went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored. But his real contribution came in the infield.
“Kyle was doing his job throwing strikes, and we just played defense behind him,” Frikken said. “That’s what I take my pride in is defense. I work hard day in and day out at practice working on routine plays.”
Things turned in Pomona’s favor in the sixth inning when Eric Jones and Andy Guinn were walked, and Salazar’s hit could not be fielded by shortstop Justin Little. Jones scored and Blake Krenke then singled to load the bases.
Frikken then bounced a ball toward short again, and Little made a great play to get to the ball, but his throw to second was off-target, allowing two more runs to score. Winters capped the inning with an RBI single to make the score 6-2.
“That one inning, the ball had eyes for them,” Legacy coach Gary Mares said. “The ball had eyes, and that’s the name of the game. You have to have that horseshoe in your pocket, and it wasn’t meant to be for us.”
Pomona 100 014 0 – 6 6 1
Legacy 011 000 0 – 2 4 3
Pomona – Frikken ss 3-1-1-2, Loomis dh 4-0-0-0, Winters p 4-0-1-1, Heckathorn c 4-0-2-1, Allaire 1b 3-0-0-0, Jones rf 1-1-0-0, Guinn 2b 3-1-0-0, Salazar 3b 2-2-0-0, Krenke lf 3-1-2-0. Totals 27-6-6-4.
Legacy – Griffin cf 4-1-1-0, Buck 2b 3-0-1-0, Green p 2-0-0-0, Henry c 3-0-0-0, Little ss 3-1-1-0, Szabo 3b 2-0-0-0, Wilson lf 3-0-1-1, Garcia rf 2-0-0-0, Thomas 1b 3-0-0-0. Totals 25-2-4-1.
E – Allaire; Little 3. LOB – Pomona 7; Legacy 5. SAC – Allaire; Szabo. SB – Wilson; Cunningham. CS – Cunningham, Jones. 2B – Buck, Little.
Batteries – Winters and Heckathorn; Green, Henry (5) and Henry, Thomas (5). W – Winters (8-0). L – Green. HBP – Garcia (by Winters). PB – Henry.
LEGACY 12, MITCHELL 1
Mitchell 100 00 – 1 2 2
Legacy 351 3x – 12 12 2
Burks, Rosen (2) and Mays; Henry and Thomas. W – Henry. L – Burks. HR – Griffin, L, solo in first; Henry, L, one in second. Highlights – Griffin, L, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs; Little, L, 3-for-3, 2 runs scored; Buck, L, 1-for-3, 2 RBIs.
POMONA 3, EAST 2
East 000 200 0 – 2 5 2
Pomona 010 002 x – 3 5 1
Hayden and Simon; Guinn, Winters (7) and Heckathorn. W – Guinn. L – Hayden. Highlights – Guinn, P, 2-for-2.
