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Cypress baseball defeats Villa Park with good pitching and solid defense

March 18, 2026

Cypressâ Jake de Laquil steals third in the third inning...

Cypress’ Jake de Laquil steals third in the third inning against Villa Park in a Crestview League baseball game in Cypress on Tuesday, March 17, 2026. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

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CYPRESS – After scoring 31 runs over two wins against JSerra last week, the Cypress baseball team went a less extravagant route to beat Villa Park on Tuesday.

Good pitching, error-free defense and timely hitting carried Cypress to a 5-3 win over the Spartans in a Crestview League game at Cypress High.

The Centurions improved to 7-3 overall and are 1-0 in the Crestview League. They swept JSerra in a two-game, home-and-home series last week by scores of 17-1 and 14-2.

Villa Park is 7-3-1 overall and 1-1 in league. The Spartans beat La Habra, 6-1, in their previous league game.

Cypress won the Crestview League championship last season and Villa Park finished second.

Cypress junior left-handed pitcher Tate Belfanti struck out eight over 3⅔ scoreless innings. Belfanti, who committed to Texas Christian University, gave up one hit as he improved to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to 0.37.

He was unhappy that he allowed four walks.

“It wasn’t my best today,” Belfanti said. “Too many walks. Not getting ahead on counts, stuff like that.”

The bright side …

“We won,” he said. “We got the job done, so I can’t complain too much.”

The Centurions led throughout Tuesday’s warm-weather game.

Cypress took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Noah Johnson’s run-scoring single drove in leadoff batter Jake De Laquil, who reached on a hit by pitch. It was Johnson’s 10th RBI of the season.

The Centurions made it 2-0 in the fourth inning. Hibiki Suzuki led off with a walk and eventually scored from third base on a perfect bunt by pinch-hitter Gage Owens.

Dylan Keliiholokai’s line-drive single into center field drove in Gary Hennessy for a 3-0 lead.

The Centurions made it 5-0 by scoring two runs on an error and a fielder’s choice.

Villa Park rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Gunner Santillo had an RBI single and Owen Dunne added a two-out, two-run single to slice the Cypress lead to 5-3.

The Spartans had runners on first and second base when Cypress reliever Ben Martinez got the final out on a fly ball to right field.

Cypress coach John Weber was not pleased that his team had to hang on in the seventh inning when, as he put it, the Centurions “were cruising” through six innings.

“This goes to show that you’re never out of it until the last out,” Weber said. “(Villa Park) did a great job fighting back.”

Villa Park’s next game is a league home game Friday against El Dorado (7-4, 0-1). Cypress’ next game is a nonleague home game Friday against Mater Dei (4-2).

Cypress and Villa Park play in the 16-team National Classic tournament that runs March 30 through April 2 at El Dorado, Villa Park and Yorba Linda high schools.

Cypress baseball defeats Villa Park with good pitching and solid defense Orange County Register

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