Tahquitz makes CIF-SS Division 4 baseball Championship on fifth try

WEST COVINA — Tahquitz junior pitcher Jahred Butler, a Cal State Fullerton commit, had come out of the bullpen most of the season. But Titans pitching coach Jeff Prickett talked coach Ron Savage into starting Butler against Nogales in Tuesday’s CIF Southern Section Division 4 semifinal, and the rest is history.

Butler battled five innings, and Brendon Dixon closed out the final two to lead Tahquitz to a 5-3 victory and trip to Friday or Saturday’s championship at UC Riverside against Grace Brethren, a 7-1 winner over Victor Valley

For Tahquitz (24-5), it’s the school’s first trip to the championship after reaching the semifinals four times, and losing in the semifinals last year.

“We’ve knocked on the door quite a bit,” Savage said. “We knocked last year and other times, I guess this is the group, this is just the group.

“The camaraderie on this team is unspeakable. The timely pitching, hitting, and defense, I couldn’t ask for any more. I couldn’t ask for a better group to go to the finals with.”

Butler allowed three runs on only three hits, and Dixon made a big play in the sixth that might have altered the game.

“Butler’s been coming out of the pen for a while,” Savage said. “And our pitching coach makes decisions on matchups. He really felt that Butler was the right guy for this game based on what we saw off scouting reports.

“It wasn’t a perfect game for him (Butler). He could have got frustrated and there were times when I think anyone would have been frustrated. But he held it together and managed to get the big outs and Dixon came in and slammed the door shut.”

Caleb Farmer gave Tahquitz a 1-0 lead in the first singling home Clayton Ellis, and the Titans added two more in the third to go up 3-0.

Nogales came back in the bottom half.

After Jonathan Guardado’s fly out to right scored Bryce Patricks-Wills from third, Steven Ordorica’s bloop infield single scored Joe Robles, and a play at third to get Juan Guardado was thrown away, allowing Guardado to score to tie the game, 3-3.

Nogales coach Donald Montanez was hoping to grab the lead over the final few innings so he could bring in pitcher Jonathan Guardado, a senior going to the University of Arizona who is 14-0 and only has allowed four earned runs all season.

Guardado pitched in the Nobles’ quarterfinal win, so Montanez didn’t want to over use him. But Guardado nearly gave Montanez the chance to put him in when he hit a deep fly to left in the fifth inning that the wind kept from being a solo shot and 4-3 lead.

“I thought it was out of here, but when the wind blows in it’s tough to get out,” Montanez said. “He hit the base of the fence, if we get that and take the lead he’s coming in to close it out, but it didn’t get to that point.”

Two big plays in the sixth changed the momentum.

It appeared Tahquitz would ground into an inning-ending double play, but Nogales’ shortstop threw the ball into right field, leaving runners on the corners. After a walk loaded the bases, a hit batter scored a run, then Kyle Weatherby’s single scored Brendan Castillo to go up 5-3.

“If we make that (double play), we’re still playing,” Montanez said.

Nogales had a huge chance to get back in it. After getting the first two runners on in the sixth, Christian Flores’ sac-bunt attempt went to Dixon, who gambled and hurried the throw to third to get the force out.

It appeared that Titans’ third baseman Ellis might have been off the bag, which Montanez complained to no avail.

“That play changed the complexion of the game,” Montanez said. “Only myself and the Tahquitz third baseman know the truth. He sold it, I know it, he knows it, but sometimes a baseball is a game of inches and it happened that way.”

Savage knew it was a big play too.

“We work a lot on bunt defense and we trust our guys,” Savage said. “We talk about going after the lead out and Dixon is one of the best pitchers coming off the mound I’ve ever seen in my life. “There’s been many plays like that where he’s come off the mound and gets the lead out. He doesn’t get that out it’s bases loaded and no outs, it was huge.”

Huge because Dixon ended the inning on two strikeouts and closed out the seventh without a sweat.

Nogales ends its season 27-3, and was hoping to reach its first championship since 1974.

“Just wasn’t meant to be,” Montanez said. “We battled like we always do. It just didn’t happen for us today, give them credit.”

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