St. Geneveive, Saugus baseball showed resilience in late push to grab postseason berths
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Every season has a turning point, but the difference for each team is how sharp the turn is. For two local high school baseball programs — St. Genevieve and Saugus — the turning point was 180 degrees.
The resilience and character shown by both teams earned each a playoff berth with a new attitude.
St. Genevieve, a small school in Panorama City, started the season by losing nine of its first 15 games. Coach Edgar Maldonado said his team’s turning point came after a loss to Verdugo Hills on a Saturday afternoon in April.
“I think they just got tired of losing,” Maldonado said.
The Valiants have eight football players and three basketball players on their team. Maybe that’s how it started, but after winning nine of its last 10 games and earning a wild-card round game in the CIF Southern Section Division 7 playoffs, it’s a team full of baseball players now.
“I told them they had 10 games left in the season. That’s it,” Maldonado recalled. “It was up to them and what they wanted to do with those 10 games.”
St. Genevieve (14-10-1) has a wild-card game game at Eisenhower (5-15) on Wednesday at 3:15 p.m. If St. Geneveive is victorious, it will take on Lennox Academy of Inglewood on the road Friday afternoon.
Senior pitchers Marco Correa and Nate Sanchez led the charge in the final 10-game stretch, going a combined 5-1 with 43 2/3 innings pitched and striking out 47 batters.
Maldonado says Sanchez can throw in the high 80s, which could be a real weapon in Division 7, the lowest division in CIF-SS.
Correa is the team’s leadoff hitter, batting .378 this season.
Senior Mario Luna leads the teams in hits (33) and RBIs (21), and sophomore JR Zavala is a name to keep an eye on. He stars on the school’s football, basketball and baseball teams. The center fielder has 23 hits and 17 RBIs in 17 games this season.
CENTURIONS’ ONE-LOSS MONTH
Saugus (13-15) had a similar run to the postseason. The Centurions’ turning point came after a bad start in the Foothill League.
“We started league 0-6,” Saugus coach Carl Grissom said. “We got punched in the mouth.”
Two of the losses were to Valencia, 13-0 and 18-0.
“It was a healthy dose of medicine for us,” Grissom said.
From March 9 to March 25, Saugus lost nine games in a row. From April 1 to April 29, the team went 8-1.
The one-loss month earned the Centurions a playoff berth in CIF-SS Division 3. They play a first-round game at Woodbridge (21-7) Friday at 3:15 p.m.
“We took a deep breath and turned it around,” said Grissom, who alluded to spring break. “It was a good reset.”
This one was special for me!! Go ahead home run in the bottom of the 6th in a one game playoff, with the winner heading to CIF playoffs. What a game @Cents_Baseball, we’re not done!! @SoCalGiants @UACoachHale @TobyDemello @TripCouch11 pic.twitter.com/td4LU0IBuR
— Zach Plasschaert (@ZPlasschaert) April 30, 2022
Colin Yeaman and Zach Plasschaert have had the hot bats through April. Yeaman leads the teams with 31 hits. Plasschaert has a team-leading 19 RBIs along with Michael Durham. Connor Bates and Carson Knapp are the arms on the mound that will be leaned on this postseason. Both are seniors.