Wednesday night, Hughson shortstop Beau Blake had trouble sleeping.
“I mean, I really couldn’t last night, to be honest with you,” the senior said. “Lots of mistakes, but mistakes happen, and it’s just about putting it behind you, picking your teammates up and moving forward.”
That’s exactly what Blake and the Huskies did on Thursday afternoon. After suffering their first loss in the Trans-Valley League this year on Wednesday on the road against rival Hilmar, 7-6, the Huskies rebounded in the series finale on Thursday with an 8-4 win to clinch a consecutive league championship and their third in the last four years.
Blake put a cherry on top of another back-and-forth game Thursday, blasting his league-leading eighth home run of the year (a two-run shot to deep right field in the sixth inning) for the final runs of the game, simultaneously draining any momentum left from the Hilmar dugout.
On the bump was junior Bryce McDaniel, who capped off a complete game effort by retiring the side in order in the seventh inning, kicking off a celebration in the middle of their home field that included a Gatorade shower for skipper Charly Garza.
“I wanted this win so bad for these kids after yesterday,” Garza said, referring to the loss in which they committed six errors, the most this season — the stuff of nightmares.
“That wasn’t them,” Garza continued. “So I knew that if we just came back today — and just do what we normally do, and we don't press, try to make up for yesterday's game and start trying to do things that they don't normally do — that we'd be OK. I'm just proud of them for being able to just turn the page the very next day and get back to what we usually do. It takes a special group of kids to do that.”
But the much anticipated rematch began with the Yellowjackets taking command. Kayleb Amaya led the game off by legging out an infield single, followed by a hit up the middle by John Labno and another infield hit by Kohen Felber. Amaya was driven in by a Jacob Sward sacrifice-fly. They extended the lead to 2-0 in the second inning when Labno singled in John Lopez, who led off with a bloop hit.
“I felt like they were just getting a little weak contact, just finding the little holes,” McDaniel said of the Hilmar offense. “I didn't really change much. I just threw more fastballs and they couldn't really touch it.
“I mean, I felt like everything (four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, curveball, changeup) was working really good for me today.”
The Huskies knotted the game at two apiece in the bottom half of the second when McDaniel scored on a balk by Hilmar starter Marlin Kindberg, and Lawson Aviles’ RBI single. Benji Ocegueda gave the Huskies the lead when he grounded into a double play with the bases loaded and nobody out in the third. The next batter, Mankins, drove in the remaining runner on base with a single to right. In the bottom of the fourth, Blake drove in another two with a double to make it a 6-2 ballgame.
McDaniel was flawless through the remainder of the game, with the exception of the fifth inning, in which he surrendered a towering two-run homer to dead center field off the bat of Labno to cut Hughson’s lead to 6-4. He responded by retiring the final six batters he faced, finishing with four earned runs on seven hits and a walk, while striking out seven.
“After the last game, we already had this one on our mind,” McDaniel said. “We knew that we had to win this game. We couldn't put the TVL in the hands of the other team or the teams that they're playing.”
GAME ONE
The opening game of one of the most consequential series of the region began saw the ‘Jackets defend their home field Wednesday, riding a four-run sixth inning and fending off a late rally en route to the 7-6 win.
Trailing 4-3 heading into the home half of the sixth, a pair of Hughson fielding errors immediately put the pressure on reliever Dominic Aguiar, who proceeded to load the bases with no outs after surrendering a walk. He didn’t seem fazed, though, punching out the next two batters, but couldn’t escape the jam, allowing pinch runner Caleb Contreras to score the tying run on a wild pitch. The Yellowjackets took their first lead of the afternoon when Felber beat out a grounder to the right side of the infield, which was slightly bobbled, allowing Tanner Westmoreland to touch home plate without a throw. The lead extended to 7-4 when Lopez smacked a two-run single to right field.
A relentless Hughson offense refused to go quietly, working a pair of walks against Amaya, who assumed the role fairly recently following an injury to Javi Mena. After a single by Karsen Moore loaded the bases for the Huskies, Isaac Lupercio drove in a pair on a scorching two-out, ground ball single down the right field line. With the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on first, Amaya struck out the slugging Aviles on three pitches to secure the win.
“After that one hit, I had to realize that they were going to get hits, and find gaps. I just had to limit them,” Amaya said. “I just had to stay calm and hit my spots. The offspeed stuff wasn't working, so I had to keep going, keep fighting through. And I got through it.
“It always feels great to knock off a No. 1 team.”
Hilmar starting pitcher Brad Chipponeri credited the Hughson lineup for their patient approaches at the plate. Two weeks ago, Garza described his roster as one of the most disciplined he has coached. In the first inning, they laid off Chipponeri’s fastball, which the lengthy Hilmar right said was “a little off” and landed low. His slider worked much better, but the top of the lineup worked full counts early. Andrew Fisher reached on a single, advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt, and scored on a wild pitch. Blake, who walked, then scored on a sharp grounder off the bat of Mankins.
Hilmar answered in the second inning against Mankins, with Sward leading off with a walk, advancing on a balk and scoring on an infield single by Westmoreland. The Huskies pushed their lead to 4-1 after Blake walked again, advanced on another wild pitch and scored on a McDaniel groundout. Carlos Guizar, who singled, scored on the third wild pitch of the inning.
“Man, they just weren't getting anything off,” Chipponeri said with a chuckle. “Everything I was throwing, they just didn’t want to swing at it. I was trying my best, but, you know those situations, I really wasn't trying to throw them anything they can handle, so it became kind of hard for me to command the zone. It was tough. I just had to persevere and just kept on. My teammates just helped me out tremendously.”
The ‘Jackets used “small ball” to their advantage in the fourth inning. Chipponeri led off the inning with a single, with pinch-runner Aiden Machado moving into scoring position on a sac-bunt by Junior Solis, running safely into third on a wild pitch, then scoring when Amaya reached on a throwing error at first base. Amaya stole second before scoring to make it 4-3 on Labno’s towering double down the left field line that was just out of the reach of Lupercio.
“We knew (Mankins) likes throwing the fastball, so we tried jumping on it early,” Amaya said. “After that, we were sitting curveball and just sat on that, looking for good pitches to hit.”
“If anything, this game proved to our guys that we can beat anybody,” said Hilmar head coach Frank Hilliard. “We knew what we were capable of, but we needed to execute it and get the results, and that’s what we did.”
MOVING FORWARD
The Huskies have no TVL games remaining. They finished with an 11-1 record against conference opponents and are 20-3 overall.
Next week marks their bye week in league, which offers an opportunity to schedule a slate of non-conference matchups. To stay sharp ahead of the postseason, they’ll travel to play Soquel on Saturday, then participate in next weekend’s Mark Dickens Invitational in Oakdale, which they won a year ago.
Hilmar, meanwhile, dropped to 15-3 overall and remain in second place with a 7-2 record in the TVL. Already having served their bye week on the league schedule, the Yellowjackets will continue their league play with a two-game set with Ripon on Wednesday and Saturday. They’ll wrap up TVL competition and their regular season at home against Ripon Christian on May 1 to make up for a game that was rained out earlier in the year.
Despite losing the series finale, the Yellowjackets have already clinched their first winning season since 2022, when they went 14-10 on the year and finished in a three-way tie with Hughson and Livingston atop the standings with matching 9-3 records. Last year, they went 12-12 overall and finished fourth in the TVL at 5-7.
