In baseball, the team that scores first winds up winning the game over 65 percent of the time, and that was precisely the case on May 12 in Colusa when the No. 1 RedHawks put three runs on the board in each of the first two innings to dismiss No. 8 Willows 6-1 in the first round of the Northern Section CIF Division IV playoffs.
Coming into the game, the Honkers (8-18) seemed unlikely to pose much of a threat to Sacramento Valley League champion Colusa (24-3-1), however, with the previous meeting on Apr. 20 ending in a narrow 1-0 victory for the RedHawks, there was cause for concern.
Friday’s contest, similar to the one three weeks ago, featured the same marquee pitching matchup between two of the Northern Section’s best, as Luke Kalfsbeek toed the rubber for Colusa, while his counterpart Adrian Figueroa took the mound for Willows.
While in the last go round, the two lefties matched each other pitch for pitch, Kalfsbeek, this time, outshined Figueroa, turning in an efficient performance over five and two-thirds innings where he allowed just one hit and struck out five.
On the other hand, Figueroa struggled early with his location, allowing the RedHawks to jump ahead.
After Willows went down in order, in the top of the first, Colusa got its licks in, loading the bases, as Joel Magallon led off with a single, Sutter Moss was hit by a pitch, and Kalfsbeek drew a walk, which then brought clean up hitter Will McCoy to the plate.
McCoy, the former Honker, who has come on strong of late, wasted no time in lining a single to right field to plate Magallon and Moss.
The RedHawks then tacked on one more run in the frame, when Kalfsbeek scored on a wild pitch, before Figueroa found the zone and restored order.
Still, it didn’t take Colusa long to get back in the dugout as Kalfsbeek needed just nine pitches to close out the top of the second.
Bo Coronado started off the bottom of the frame with a double, advanced to third on another wild pitch, and came in to score on a Magallon ground out.
Colusa then continued to capitalize on Willows’ miscues, as Moss reached on a dropped third strike, stole second, and advanced to third on yet another wild pitch, while Kalfsbeek drew his second walk of the game and moved into scoring position, as the ball went through to the backstop.
With McCoy again in the batter’s box, and runners on first and third, the RedHawk catcher laced a single to center to drive in both base runners, accounting for Colusa’s final runs of the game.
McCoy, part of the team’s exceptional core of juniors, is hitting .342 this season and is second on the team in RBIs with 34, something his coach, Eric Lay, is pleased to see.
“Against good teams, he’s had some really big at-bats for us,” said Lay. “He’s gotten better behind the plate as well, but today those first two at-bats against Adrian were huge for us.”
Yet, despite a commanding lead, the RedHawks got complacent at the plate and after Kalfsbeek vacated the mound, things got a little sloppy as Lay explained.
“Our first two innings were maybe the best of the season so far,” Lay said. “We had great energy, but we lost it after the second and made some mistakes. We know that we can’t do that against good teams and get away with it, so we’ll work hard to get better.”
The letdown did allow the Honkers to rally for a run in the bottom of the seventh, and while they were looking for more, reliever Landon Humphrey closed the door on any hope of a comeback after he stranded three Willows base runners by inducing the game’s final out.
Colusa faced No. 4 Winters in a second round game on May 16, with the winner moving on to the championship on Saturday against either No. 2 U-Prep or No. 3 East Nicolaus. ■
