Clouds hung over the varsity diamond with slices of sun tracing the third base line. Parents sat, students clamored, and leadoff hitter Cannon Billingslay stepped into the Chino Hills High School batters box.
Senior Matthew Yarc, certified ace, lunged down the hill and practically forced strike one on a 90 mile-per-hour fastball. And then he did it again; strike two. The dirt in the box was practically sinking; with two strikes on the count, Yarc pulled the string on a curveball that waved at Billingslay as he watched it for strike three.
Such was the fate of nine batters on Tuesday evening, a line that Yarc carried to his best outing of the season against his cross-town rivals. Unfortunately, we’re not there yet.
Barks and banter carried from both dugouts across a spotless first five innings from both sides. The lefty on the mound for Chino Hills navigated traffic throughout the game and tossed his first six innings without putting a run on the board.
Yarc’s spotless line was matched through six, grinding his cleat into the rubber for a seventh inning he was determined to throw scoreless; the umpire’s eye had different plans. A leadoff single put Yarc in the stretch, five pitches into his final inning. His ninth final strikeout of the night delayed a balk call that would send the runner from first to second; head coach Brad McGuire walked out, but no contest would change the decision. Another seeing-eye single, another paper cut from the lineup card, ended Yarc’s outing with nothing but kind words to the Chino Hills dugout. What a game! he presumably exclaimed as he strutted back to the home trench.
Caleb Trugman, as he does, took over for Yarc and allowed both inherited runners to score before ending the inning and closing the book on Yarc’s outing—nothing short of impressive, 6.2 innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts and a walk. Still, Ayala had only three outs to score a minimum of two runs.
Taking Andrew Torres’s place, Bryan Yang trotted to the plate for his first appearance in the game and made it count. On four ill-advised pitches, Yang was awarded first base and brought the tying run to the plate. Two batters later, hopes dwindled. Jaden Valenzuela, nine-hitting left-fielder who was hoping to turn the lineup over, instead had, perhaps, the swing of his life. With two fastballs riding up and in to even the count at 2-2, a backed-up slider ran into the barrel of the bat, finding it so repulsive that it decided to flee all the way past the right field fence. I believe the youngins call that one a home run.
In the blink of an eye, the game was tied and the momentum was flipped on its head. Duarte flew out to left, but energy was replenished in the dugout. Trugman had no problem handling the middle of Chino Hills’s lineup, setting the first two down on strikes and including an easy ground ball to get Ayala back in the box.
The sun had begun its descent, leaving the bottom of the eighth as the last inning, regardless of the score. Nevertheless, the boys wanted to win.
Such a win never came to be. The game ended in a draw, an acceptable outcome considering how close to a loss they were at one point.
A matchup against La Mirada (2-2) will put this game into the rearview mirror as this slow start for Ayala will hopefully turn out to be just that. Contributions from young players have given life and hope to a team that is looking to exceed expectations this year.
