Grizzlies lose, fight on

Granite Hills High baseball coach A.J. Watts is a classy man.

Considering the dilemma his Grizzlies are in, most coaches would have turned in their resignation slip weeks ago.

Not Watts.

Granite Hills tumbled to 8-16 overall and 1-10 in East Yosemite League assignments Friday after an 11-4 loss to Tulare Western at home.

“At this level, and rightfully at other levels,” Watts said, “it’s not necessarily about winning at all costs, but developing winning habits.”

No excuses.

“We have a long ways to go,” he said, “but the future’s always bright. I think things are always looking up.”

No regrets.

And every dark cloud has a silver lining.

The Grizzlies suit up just 13 players. Three are seniors, and the rest fill the tab as sophomores and juniors.

“I get nervous when I come to play A.J., I do,” Mustangs coach Ken Searcy said. “He can coach. There’s no doubt about that.”

Granite Hills was hanging tough early, leading 3-2 after three innings.

But Tulare Western broke the game wide open in the fourth, sending 11 batters to the plate who chipped in to take a 7-3 lead.

Sergio Cortez and Jake Bell singled before Justin Lopez sacrificed both runners over. Grizzlies starting pitcher Tomas Valadez then hit Tyler Deazevedo with a fastball to load the bases.

Atlee Monroe swatted a roller to shortstop Alex Lamb, who attempted to get Deazevedo at second base. Deazevedo was called safe, and Cortez scored easily.

After striking out Wes Howard on a 2-2 fastball, Valadez surrendered two walks, which resulted in an additional pair of runs.

Valadez was relieved by Gabe Malandrini after plunking Chris Harbour in the arm. The Grizzly tossed 34 pitches in the fourth.

Malandrina started with a five-pitch walk to Cortez, which allowed Leal to come home, before inducing a fly out from Bell.

“We walked three runners in,” Granite Hills senior catcher Steven Dummar said. “You have to throw strikes.”

Tulare Western (16-9, 8-2 EYL) only tallied two hits in the inning, but put five of its runners on base via hit-by-pitch, walk and error.

“This year, to me, has been about eliminating that one bad inning,” Watts said. “At the root of it, for us to play and beat a team like Tulare Western, we have to play perfect.”

The Grizzlies scored once in the fourth to slice the lead to 7-4, but Tulare Western pushed across three runs in the sixth and another in the final inning to ice another victory.

Trailing 2-1 after 2 1-2 innings, Granite Hills strung together a two-out rally in the third.

With A.J. Castillo at second base, Dummar torched a 1-2 breaking ball to left field to score his teammate.

Jason Tredway reached base by way of error before Tyler McFadden bounced a single up the middle to bring Dummar home.

“You can play well and lose,” Watts said, “and you can play bad and win. We have tried to preach that to the kids.”

Dummar was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, McFadden went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Lamb was 1-for-3 with a double.

Malandrini finished 1-for-1, Ernie Rodriguez went 1-for-2 and A.J. Castillo was 0-for-3 with an RBI.

The Grizzlies will close their season at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on the road against cross-town rival Porterville.

The Panthers are 16-8 overall and 7-3 in league play.

“If we play the game correctly and lose by 10,” Watts said, “I have to say I’m happy with my club.”

-- Contact Alex K.W. Schultz at 784-5000, Ext. 1049 or aschultz@portervillerecorder.com.