Granada Hills Charter baseball can’t find big hit, falls to Bell in Open Division semifinals
MALIBU — Granada Hills Charter pitcher Alex Schmidt pitched a gem Tuesday afternoon in the CIF Los Angeles City Section Open Division semifinals against Bell, but the top-seeded Highlanders lost 1-0 when they couldn’t produce the hit they needed when the moment counted.
Bell (21-6) will play Birmingham in the Open Division championship game at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
“My heart breaks for them,” Granada Hills coach Matt Matuszak said. “There’s no easy words. You sit there and you’re stunned. We had a lot of guys on base and I never thought our bats would go cold like today.”
Schmidt, a junior, struck out 12 hitters and allowed one hit as he went the distance at Eddy D. Field Stadium at Pepperdine on Tuesday.
“He was the reliever for us early in the year and he’s just worked his way up,” Matuszak said. “He’s worked really, really hard and he’s been really good for us and he threw a hell of a game today.”
Bell leadoff hitter Luis Melendez was walked in the first inning and sophomore David Gonzalez drove him in with a single to left field — the only hit that Schmidt gave up. That run was all the Eagles needed to punch their ticket to Dodger Stadium.
Granada Hills (21-9) continuously put men on base but could not come up with the big hit to put runs on the scoreboard. The Highlanders were walked eight times total and logged two base hits.
Jack Donohoe singled in the first inning and Easton Hawk was hit by a pitch but both of them were left on base, signaling a trend for most of the game.
Jackson Lyons was hit by a pitch, Donohoe was walked and Alexander Schmidt was intentionally walked to load the bases in the third inning, but a pop out to right field ended the inning for Granada Hills.
The Highlanders loaded the bases again in the fourth inning but did not score.
Catch by Bell third baseman Jayden Rojas for the final out of the fifth inning. Good hustle from catcher Nomar Solis, too. Granada Hills leaves two stranded.
Bell 1, Granada Hills 0 pic.twitter.com/Awd1jR48mJ
— Haley Sawyer (@haleymsawyer) May 21, 2024
“It’s weird,” Matuszak said. “We just couldn’t get a big hit. With all the guys left on base, we just couldn’t get a hit when we needed to.”
Granada Hills left 11 men on base overall. Runners were left on first and second in the sixth and seventh innings.
The West Valley League champions will lose nine seniors to graduation after this season. There is a possibility that the Highlanders could accept a bid to the CIF SoCal Regional playoffs.
Whether they choose to continue the postseason or not, Matuszak wants his returners to remember the semifinals.
“Learn from the environment, learn from the experience, learn from the moment,” he said. “This is why we lift weights at 6:30 in the morning in July. It’s for days like today.”