Photo by Arnold Bernal
Soledad’s Aaron Rodriguez smashes a basehit last Wednesday night against Christopher to send the Aztec baseball team a spot in the CCS Division II Championship game.
SOLEDAD — One of the most successful baseball seasons ever came to end on Saturday for the Soledad Aztec team as they completed the season with a second place finish in the Central Coast Section Division II Championship. Soledad was beaten 8-3 in the final game by the St. Francis Lancers of Mountain View and the West Catholic League.
The second seed Lancers received a fight from Soledad as the Aztecs cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning but St. Francis scored one run in the top of the fifth and three in the top of the sixth to defeat the top seeded Aztecs.
The road to the championship game included a thrilling 6-5 win over #12 seed Christopher of Gilroy. The game was not decided until the 11th inning when Aaron Rodriguez smashed a basehit to score baserunner Joey Barroso. Christopher took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and scored three runs in the second inning to put the Aztecs behind 4-0.
Soledad tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth and the inning was highlighted by a bunt single by Andru Holguin.
Christopher regained the lead in sixth inning but Soledad tied the game at 5-5 in bottom of the seventh as Aaron Rodriguez reached base with a single, stole two bases on scored the tying run on a ground ball. The game remained tied until the 11th inning when Rodriguez drove in Joey Barroso with a single for the winning run to send Soledad to its first-ever CCS final in baseball.
Soledad had much to be proud of with Mission Trail Athletic League championship and a 24-6 record under Coach Damian Ryan and his staff. St. Francis finished the season at 24-8 after finishing third in the West Catholic League behind Serra and Valley Christian.
The Soledad roster included: Andrew Alonzo, Isaac Bailon, Addrienn Barragan, Joel Barroso, Fabian Cabrera, Joseph Calderon, Andru Holguin, Diego Morales, Isaiah Lopez, Jakub Melendrez, Isaiah Navarro, Ben Pajas, Anthony Ramirez, Johnathan Ramirez, Aaron Rodriguez, Robbie Santa Ana, and Chris Villarreal.
