It’s no surprise that La Quinta High School’s defense again led the Blackhawks to victory Thursday. What may have at least raised some eyebrows was how explosive La Quinta’s offense also looked in an 11-3 statement win over Heritage.
A Blackhawks team that hadn’t exactly been dominating teams at the plate this season looked ready and poised to make another postseason run as the bats came alive in front of a crowd of more than 200 in the first round of the CIF Southern Section playoffs.
Eight players got on base for La Quinta, with eight also recording runs. The Blackhawks were 14-for-30 at the plate with four walks and eight RBIs.
It was just the fourth time this season that the Blackhawks scored double-digit runs, with two of those games coming against Palm Springs, a squad that was winless in the Desert Empire League. La Quinta, instead, won a number of close games.
“It’s nice to have a lead of more than two,” said starting pitcher Javy Vasquez, a junior who threw six shutout innings and struck out seven. “We played a lot of extra innings this season, so we’ll take a win like this.”
La Quinta (20-7) has now won seven of its last eight games. The Blackhawks will play Paraclete (Lancaster) on the road Tuesday.
Following a scoreless first inning, La Quinta scored a pair of runs in the second when junior Max Mora drove in senior Noah Fernandez and sophomore Cash Sutton with a shot into left-center field.
Holding a 2-0 lead, Vasquez then pulled himself out of a crucial situation in the fourth. Heritage had loaded the bases with a pair of singles and after a batter was hit by a pitch, but Vasquez then struck out the next two batters to retire the side and keep the Patriots scoreless.
La Quinta then scored four runs in the fifth inning and five runs in a dominating sixth.
With no outs and runners on first and second, senior Alex Toribio bunted to load the bases for senior Victor Balbuena who hit a run in. After another run came in on a wild pitch, Balbuena scored after Heritage attempted to pick off a runner headed to second base.
"We tired to keep the energy up as much as we can," Balbuena said. "We try to pick each other up and once we did that we got the bats going."
The Blackhawks got into a bit of trouble in the final inning, after Vasquez went to the bench. Relief pitcher Robbie Hernandez took the mound for the save, yet allowed Heritage to score a pair of runs and loaded the bases. After the Patriots scored a third run, Hernandez struck out a second batter to close out the game.
"This was what I've been waiting for," La Quinta head coach Brian Wisler said. "But what we know we can do is pitch, and Javy threw a phenomenal game for us."
Stars of the game
In addition to Vasquez, who was 2-for-4 at the plate with a pair of RBIs, the play of Balbuena and Fernandez and Mora was particularly important.
Balbuena was 2-for-4 with a triple, three RBIs, a stolen base and a run. Fernandez finished the game 3-for-4 with a double, a run and a stolen base and Mora was 2-for-2 with a walk, two RBIs, two stolen bases and two runs.
Four more wins
La Quinta won a CIF-SS Division 4 championship in 2018. The Blackhawks went on another postseason run in 2022, when they beat Woodcrest Christian, Monrovia, Riverside Poly and La Sierra, which was their last playoff win.
They now have a shot to go on another playoff run. La Quinta needs four more wins to claim a CIF title.
“Four more wins,” Vasquez said. “That’s how we’re looking at it. Celebrate this win for a minute, then get ready for the next one.”
Andrew John covers sports in the Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: La Quinta's bats come alive in 11-3 statement win over Heritage in CIF playoffs
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