Sports
Redlands High Baseball Praises 'Overachievers' in CIF Loss
With one senior and a bunch of sophomores, the Terriers made it to the CIF-SS Division 2 quarterfinals
Redlands baseball coach Estevan Valencia wasn’t about to hang his head after Thursday’s nine inning loss to Etiwanda.
Especially not after registering a season in which his Terriers defied the odds.
The 3-2 extra innings CIF-Southern Section Division 2 quarterfinal loss stung.
Still, it was a season to remember.
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“To me, the season is like 'we shocked the world',” Valencia said. “I took a bunch of sophomores and one senior, and a great group of seniors in the dugout, and defied the odds in my opinion.”
Redlands (24-5) won the tough-to-win Citrus Belt League title, opened Friday’s game with an eight-game winning streak and came agonizingly close to advancing into the semifinals.
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“REV (Redlands East Valley) and Yucaipa are the big dogs on the block,” Valencia said. “I told the team back in February I would take them and win the championship. The guys believed me and we did it.”
Friday's game went into extra innings tied at 2-2. But Etiwanda put it away in the ninth when Mike Meija doubled in Mike Bradley for the game-winning run.
“It was a good game, both teams battled,” Valencia said. “It was a tight ballgame and unfortunate that one team had to lose. Etiwanda was just a little better than us.”
Redlands took a 1-0 lead in the first when Etiwanda couldn’t handle a Brian Buhm shot toward second, allowing leadoff batter Sean Smith to score.
Then Redlands went up 2-0 in the fourth when Darryl Miller homered over left field.
Miscues cost Redlands. A fielding error helped Etiwanda get on the scoreboard in the fifth, and that provided some needed momentum for the Eagles. They tied the game in the sixth and Eagles' pitcher Justin Davis handled the rest.
“Davis was a competitor,” Valencia said. “We thought we had him on the ropes. Then he made some adjustments and we were not able to make any. I have to tip my hat to him.”
Davis held Redlands to just two hits the last five innings.
"We only lost five games all season,” Valencia said. “I think we won five or six one-run ball games and have come back before. We were fighting to the end.”
