Moorpark, Camarillo reach CIF-SS baseball finals with dramatic semifinal victories

The Moorpark High baseball team found a special way to end its long wait without a sectional final.

Derek Nickels pitched three innings of shutout relief and Cameron Johnson 3 for 3 for with two RBIs and a run scored as the Musketeers climbed out of a five-run hole to edge visiting Chino Hills-Ayala, 7-5, Tuesday afternoon in the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 semifinals.

“That’s a testimony to this team right here,” Moorpark first-year coach Aaron Garcia said. “Not one pitch off. They are pitch by pitch and they are game by game, and look where it’s got us.”

Moorpark (19-10-1) will play Newhall-Hart on Friday night for the Division 2 title at Lake Elsinore Storm Stadium.

Shockingly, it will be the first sectional final for a proud program riding on 17 straight winning seasons.

“We’ve gotten better every day,” Garcia said. “For us to be here means the world to us.”

Leo Chavez was 2 for 2 with two RBIs and AJ Mai and Carson Cerny both scored two runs for Moorpark, which scored three in the fourth inning and four in the fifth after trailing 5-0.

After Mai, Cerny and Johnson singled to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth, Robert Perez opened the scoring for Moorpark with an RBI single off the pitcher. Cerny also scored on a throwing error on the play and Chavez followed with an RBI bunt single.

“We never feel like we’re out of it,” Johnson said. “We can do that. We can put up four, five, six in an inning.”

Down 5-3, Moorpark batted around in the bottom of the fifth to take control.

Taylor Busch was hit by a pitch, Michael Leddy singled to center field and Mai walked to again load the bases without an out.

After Cerny reached on an error to bring Moorpark within 5-4, Johnson delivered a two-run double down the left-field line to give the Musketeers their first lead.

“Just trying to put together a team at-bat to help the boys win,” Johnson said. “There were dudes on base. Just trying to drive a ball. I was seeing it well all day.”

Chavez followed with a sacrifice fly that plated Cerny and pushed the lead to 7-5 after five.

After Ayala loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth, Nickels responded with a strikeout and a ground out to escape the jam.

He then put Ayala down in order in the seventh to complete the historic comeback.

Camarillo reaches Div. 4 final

Nick Tostado went the distance, allowing four hits, two walks and two earned runs as Camarillo held off visiting Culver City, 6-4, Tuesday in the CIF-SS Division 4 semifinals.

“We played team baseball,” said first-year Camarillo coach TJ Foreman. “These guys don’t give up. They fight to the very end and find a way to get it done.”

Nate Tostado reeled in a potential game-tying home run with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning to lock up Camarillo’s first sectional final appearance since 2007.

“It was neat to see the look on his face,” Foreman said.

Trotter Enright went 3 for 4 with two runs scored, Boston Bateman finished 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBIs, and Tommy Goodin was 1 for 2 with two RBIs and a run scored for the Scorpions (23-5), who will face St. Francis on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Lake Elsinore Storm Stadium for the Division 4 title.

The Scorpions took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first when Bateman followed Goodin’s RBI triple with a two-run blast to right field.

“It’s good when we’re able to throw up a zero in the first inning and go up three runs right off the gate,” Foreman said.

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Blaise Meylemans’ squeeze bunt plated Nate Tostado to put Camarillo up 4-0 in the second.

After Culver City reduced the lead to 4-3 in the top of the fourth inning, Camarillo responded with a Goodin sacrifice fly and a Bateman RBI single in the bottom of the fourth.

“We were able to come through when it mattered most,” said Foreman. “We were able to score first. We were able to answer back in innings when they put up a run or two.”

Pacifica falls in semis

Making its first appearance in a semifinal, Pacifica’s sectional run was undone by four rally-killing double plays in a frustrating 4-0 loss at Santa Monica.

“It was a rough one,” Pacifica coach Bryan Willson said. “We out hit them.”

Devon Wilkes was 2 for 3 and seven other Pacifica players had hits as the Tritons outhit host Santa Monica, 9-5.

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Santa Monica (21-7) rode its glove luck after a three-run first inning. Pitcher Eddie Jennings, who struck out three and did not walk a batter, completed the shutout.

“We were the better team, I thought,” Willson said. “We just didn’t play as well as them.”

Down 4-0 after three innings, Pacifica turned to ace Alex Villicana, who pitched three innings of hitless relief, striking out six.

“Alex came in and shut it down,” Willson said. “They couldn’t hit him.”

But Pacifica couldn’t capitalize at the plate. The Tritons left seven on base — two on in the second, one on in the third, two on in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the sixth — and hit into double plays in the third, fourth, sixth and seventh.

Pacifica (18-12-1) now awaits word of Sunday’s regional pairings.

Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com . For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter , Instagram and Facebook .

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Moorpark, Camarillo reach CIF-SS baseball finals with dramatic semifinal victories