Lindsay stuns top-seeded Woodlake in pitcher’s duel
WOODLAKE − It has been a long road back to the Central Section championships for the Lindsay High School baseball team.
The Cardinals last won a section championship in 2018. And now, the 2024 version of the Cardinals will get a chance to write their own story.
No. 5 Lindsay defeated No. 1 Woodlake 2-0 in the Central Section Division VI semifinals on a warm Tuesday afternoon in Woodlake.
Lindsay will play No. 2 Cesar Chavez in the championship game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Valley Strong Ball Park in Visalia.
“We have seven seniors who have been with us since they were freshmen,” Lindsay coach Brett Kendig said. “They probably shouldn’t have been with us that long but due to Covid, we had seniors leave the program for one reason or another and these guys were rushed. It’s been a long ride for them. It is so cool to see them get a chance to go to Valley because they’ve been hearing a lot about the 2018 team and now they get to write their own story.”
Top-seeded Woodlake saw its season come to an end one game sooner than it would have liked. The defending Division VI champions had an impressive season, posting a 21-9 overall record and earning a share of the East Sequoia League championship.
“It’s been a good run,” Woodlake coach Juan Gamez said. “We’ve had three good years where each season we improved in some way. My first year, we got back on the winning side of things and we were able to turn things around. The second year we had our Valley title run. This year, we came a little bit short but we added a league title to our program.”
The Tigers defeated Lindsay twice during the regular season and Gamez knew it would be a tough challenge to knock off a good team like Lindsay for a third consecutive game.
“It’s very true. We beat them twice and it’s difficult to beat a good team three times in a row,” Gamez said. “My hat’s off to Lindsay. They showed up and played really good baseball.”
Lindsay was led by senior pitcher John Mosqueda, who tossed a complete-game shutout against Woodlake. The right-hander gave up just one hit and struck out 10.
“I was just out there pumping strikes,” Mosqueda said. “I was trying to get my fastball by them.”
Kendig said Mosqueda has a very good curveball but has been struggling to get it over for strikes recently. It didn’t seem to matter Tuesday because Mosqueda got all his pitches over for strikes and had some really stellar defense behind him.
“They hit the ball hard but they weren’t able to elevate the ball,” Kendig said about Woodlake’s offense. “Everybody in our infield made some plays — I mean — every single guy made a big play.”
Lindsay was able to use small-ball to its advantage, manufacturing both of its runs.
The Cardinals struck in the fifth inning for one run when Bryan Martinez reached on an error to lead off the inning, advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by No. 8 hitter Nate Lopez.
Lindsay added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning — again, thanks to the leadoff batter reaching base — this time on a walk. Diego Jauregui advanced to second base on a passed ball, was moved over to third base on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly by Martinez.
That was more than enough as Woodlake went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“We have some contrasting styles with some power guys early in our lineup and speed at the bottom,” Kendig said. “We’re really fast at the bottom. I always tell people if our 7-8-9 hitters come through, we’re going to win and today they did.”
Woodlake senior ace Ismael Pena had an impressive performance on the mound. He tossed seven innings, gave up two runs — one earned — on four hits and struck out five.
The outcome wasn’t what Gamez wanted but he is excited about the future prospects of his program.
“There’s a lot of interest in baseball here now,” Gamez said. “Baseball is starting to pick up quite a bit. The stands are full. We’ll start working as soon as we can and move forward.”
For Lindsay (19-10), a showdown with No. 2 Cesar Chavez is on the horizon. The Titans (18-12) advanced to the championship game with a 5-3 win over South (Bakersfield).
“I have a lot of respect for Woodlake,” Kendig said. “This was a first-class game — all the way from their players to their administrators — I really appreciate it. “We’re going to go out and try to represent our East Sequoia League and see if we can get back-to-back championships for our conference.”
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Lindsay stuns top-seeded Woodlake in pitcher’s duel
