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California high school wins state on overturned call at first

Courtesy Serrano Baseball/Twitter
Courtesy Serrano Baseball/Twitter

A California high school baseball coach just made a case for all the managers who have ever stormed out of the dugout to argue a call.

Serrano (Phelan, Calif.) High held a 1-0 lead heading into the seventh inning of the state final game against South Torrance. South Torrance rallied back with an unearned run in the top of the inning, nearly taking the lead but eventually leaving the go-ahead run stranded at third, according to The San Bernardino County Sun.

Serrano loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, a golden opportunity to take back the run and the title. Daniel Brodie grounded to the second baseman, who flipped the ball to the shortstop to catch the runner heading to second. The shortstop threw it to first base for the double play.

A runner crossed homeplate, but it didn't matter. The double play negated the run. It looked like the game was heading to extra innings, until Serrano coach Joe Knowlton came out to argue that the shortstop's throw had pulled the first baseman off the bag.

The four umpires consulted, then reversed the call. Brodie was safe. The run counted, and Serrano had just won the state title – in the most anti-climatic finish the players have probably ever known.

“From our side it looked fairly clear that the first baseman came off the bag,” Knowlton told The Sun. “I know it’s a tough, tough pill to swallow, but in the end I think it was the right call.”

It's a bitter pill to swallow for the South Torrance team, especially in such a competitive state championship game.

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Danielle Elliot is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact her at delliot@yahoo-inc.com or find her on Twitter and Facebook.