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JSerra baseball pushes Trinity League’s three-way battle to final day of league play

April 27, 2023

ORANGE — The Trinity League’s three-way battle over two automatic CIF-SS playoff berths will go the distance, all the way to the final day of league play.

Thank JSerra for that.

The Lions defeated Orange Lutheran 7-3 in a Trinity League game at Hart Park on Wednesday night, and that left things right where they were when the week began.

JSerra (16-9, 8-6), Orange Lutheran (18-8-1, 8-6) and Mater (15-11-1, 8-6) remain in a three-way tie for second place. Only the league’s top three finishers receive automatic playoff berths.

The fourth-place will have to hope for an at-large berth into the playoffs, which is always a dicey situation.

The logjam will finally be broken Thursday, the last day of league play. The Lions and Lancers play at 4:30 p.m. at JSerra, and Mater Dei is at Servite at 3:15 p.m.

“In essence, win and we’re in,” JSerra coach Brett Kay said. “Winning is the only thing that matters. If we win tomorrow, we go in as either the third or second place team, predicated on what Mater Dei and Servite do. If (the Lancers) win tomorrow, they are automatically second, Mater Dei is third. That pushes us to fourth.”

Santa Margarita (21-6, 13-1), the county’s No. 1-ranked team, already clinched first place.

Orange Lutheran owns the tiebreaker against Mater Dei, Mater Dei holds the tiebreaker against JSerra, and JSerra holds the tiebreaker against Orange Lutheran.

Also a factor in the situation: Orange Lutheran and JSerra are Division 1 teams, while Mater Dei is in Division 2. The CIF-SS has rules regarding ties for teams that will be in different playoff divisions.

That’s a lot to keep track of, so it’s no wonder that the coaches involved are focusing on winning Thursday.

“We’re not relying on anybody else to help us,” Orange Lutheran coach Eric Borba said. “We need to win. You control your own destiny at the end of the year. That’s all you can ask for.”

In the second inning Wednesday, JSerra took advantage of some Orange Lutheran miscues and got a dose of power from an unexpected source.

The Lions had a batter reach base on an error, scored two runs on wild pitches, a run on a fielder’s choice and got a two-run home run from No. 2 batter Lou Fujiwara to take a 5-0 lead.

Fujiwara’s home run was the first of his high school career.

“I saw a fastball inside and got the barrel on top of it,” said Fujiwara, who played for Japan in the Little League World Series. “I got lucky.”

The Lancers scored two more runs in the fifth on consecutive wild pitches.

Dominic Smaldino scored all the way from second on the first wild pitch.

With JSerra leading 7-1, the Lancers had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the fifth when McAllistor Zawistoski came in to relieve starter Benjamin Reimers and got a strikeout to end the inning.

“I think the best thing for us is to put this night behind us,” Borba said. “We didn’t play a very good game. This time of year, you can’t play like that or your season is over.”

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Orange County Register

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JSerra baseball pushes Trinity League’s three-way battle to final day of league play

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