Monsignor Pace Outlasts LaSalle In Extra-Inning Thriller

In baseball, anyone can achieve redemption.

On Tuesday night, Monsignor Pace second baseman Justin Ledesma received just that.

After missing out on a play that allowed his team to squander a big seventh-inning lead against LaSalle, Ledesma found himself at the plate in the bottom of the eighth with two outs and the winning run on second.

“I just wanted to do my job and hit the ball hard somewhere,” Ledesma said.

He made amends with his bat by driving the game-winning single to left field to drive in Jorge Arenas and defeat LaSalle 13-12 in Tuesday night’s 5A District 15 home meeting.

Spartans manager Tom Duffin saw a gritty team that should have never lost a six-run lead in the closing inning.

Having outscored their opponents a combined 32-5 over their last two games, respectively, Mosignor Pace (4-2, 2-0) and LaSalle (4-3, 0-2) had not played a competitive game in some time. Tuesday night proved to be quite different.

“You have to look to the fact that you gave up six runs,” Duffin said. “We put ourselves in bad positions, and we did not get the job done defensively. I will still tip my hat off to my guys for battling. I guess this is a prelude to what fighting for the district will be like.”

Much like a contested heavyweight bout where both fighters connected a series of haymaker punches, both teams tacked on big innings and countered each other until the very end.

Pace struck first with a four-run second inning, kicked off by an Andres Sanchez triple. Designated hitter Kenneth Gonzalez drove in a run with a force out, followed by a two-run double to center field courtesy of Jonathan Ledesma. With a runner on second, rightfielder Manny Rodriguez launched a two-run home run to right-center field.

LaSalle countered the four-run inning by scoring in the next three consecutive innings. The Lions scored one run in the top of the third when third baseman Santos Grande was hit by a pitch to drive in right fielder Brad McCormick. In the fourth inning, left fielder Angel Marcano got the offense started with a double, and first baseman Joseph Fortuny with a single. McCormick drove in a run with a base hit, and centerfielder Carlos Quintana tied the game with a two-run single.

Starting pitcher Joshua Leon kept the Pace bats quiet as his offense regained the lead. Last season, Leon was a reliever and pitched just one inning against the Spartans. Manager Hernan Adames noted his progress.

“He has developed real well, and I know he can handle a spot in the starting rotation,” Adames said.

With Leon posting zeroes, Marcano’s two-run single in the top of the fifth gave Pace a 6-4 lead after trailing 4-0.  However, in the bottom of the same inning, Pace’s bats awoke when Jonathan Reyes-Diaz drove in a run with a single, and left fielder Bryan Diaz followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in Reyes-Diaz.

Tied at six apiece in the bottom of the sixth, Pace delivered what seemed to be the knockout punch. In a flurry of offense, the team exploded for six runs, highlighted by a two-run single from Reyes-Diaz and a bases-loaded, three-RBI triple from Arenas. Reyes-Diaz finished 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs.

Headed to the top of the seventh with a 12-6 deficit, LaSalle’s bench seemed unusually upbeat with players chanting and pounding their fists on the dugouts in rhythm. The chanting paid off as LaSalle still had one more counter to deliver.

“I teach the kids to live in the moment and never think the game is over,” Coach Adames said.

A single, a hits batsman, and a walk led to a bases loaded situation. LaSalle’s Marcano drew a walk to score catcher George Fernandez. With the bases loaded and no outs, Fortuny hit a groundball and Ledesma couldn’t make the play, resulting in two runs and runners on second and third. McCormick came up to bat representing the tying run as his team trailed 12-9. In one crushing swing, he tied the game with a bomb to left field to lead things to extra innings.

Pitchers on both sides slowed down the offenses until Arenas kicked off the inning with an infield single. Sanchez, the team’s cleanup hitter, laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him to second. Two outs later, Ledesma stepped up to the plate hoping to end the game in walk off fashion.

Both managers conceded the positives and negatives of such a competitive game early on in the season. Adames mentioned how a playoff atmosphere game can have a positive impact on the rest of the season.

“Pace is a great team, and you can see the fight in them and in ourselves,” Adames said. “My guys just have to learn how to finish the game. I’m proud of my team, however. It is good to have this type of game early on the season to step it up and get ready for district play and the regular season as well.”

Even so, the district game was a battle of attrition and heart.

“My team did a great job of battling and battling,” Ledesma said. “That’s what makes good teams great – the will to not want to lose and win.”

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