Baseball: Montgomery to play for program's 1st section crown after 9-8 comeback victory

Montgomery High School's baseball team has faced its fair share of lopsided deficits this season, especially early in the year, but those situations proved to be a key factor in how the Vikings were able to extend their season Tuesday night and move to the cusp of making history.

Facing a 7-0 hole after a disastrous first three innings, Montgomery somehow rallied back to force extra innings and eventually stole a dramatic 9-8 win over St. Patrick-St. Vincent in the semifinals of the North Coast Section Division 5 playoffs.

The victory, sealed by a walk-off triple from Joel Silva in the bottom of the ninth, sends Montgomery (17-10-1) to its first section title game since 2005 in pursuit of its first NCS pennant in program history.

"Super proud of the boys," Montgomery head coach Zac Ward said afterward. "In the playoffs, runs add pressure and it's magnified by what the outcome could be, and I thought our guys just stayed with it after being down seven and the game working against them a bit. We made some errors early that didn't help, but they kept grinding through it and kept on believing in themselves and came out on top. Real proud of the boys."

The top-seeded Vikings will face seventh-seeded Sonoma Valley (15-12) for the NCS Division 5 title on Saturday at Cardinal Newman. The Dragons will be playing in their first NCS championship game since 2008, when they won the 3A Redwood Empire title for their only section pennant in program history. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

To say it wasn't pretty at Russ Peterich Field on Tuesday might be underselling it a bit. The Vikings and the 13th-seeded Bruins (18-11) combined for 10 errors, seven of which came from the hosts and most of which happened early.

The Bruins took advantage of four defensive miscues from the Vikings over the first three innings to race out to a 7-0 lead. They scored two runs in the first on a pair of errors, got three more runs in the second after the inning started with an error and then made it 7-0 on an errant pick-off throw with two outs in the third.

While far from ideal, facing a substantial deficit was not unfamiliar territory for the Vikings and a scenario they appeared somewhat comfortable in at times this season. They rallied from an early 4-0 hole in their playoff opener against Branson last Friday before coming back to win 14-4 and trailed far more than they led in their winless start to the season in their first eight games.

If there's any team still alive in the playoffs that's good at playing from behind, you could say it's Montgomery.

"It feels familiar - it makes it so that it doesn't feel like our first time and we're not getting scared by it," Silva said. "We can overcome it."

The rally started in the bottom of the third. Adam Cramer scored Benny Olivarez, who led off the inning with a double, with an RBI single. A bit later in the inning, Cramer and Silva both scored on a passed ball that the Bruins' catcher was unable to locate along the backstop.

In the fourth, Cramer roped a ground-rule double with runners on base to cut it to 7-4 before Silva laced a hard-hit ground ball up the third base line for a two-run double to make it 7-6.

Both teams tightened up as the game wore on. Montgomery starting pitcher Chace Russell kept St. Patrick-St. Vincent off the scoreboard over the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to keep things close. He finally got some help from his defense, too, as catcher Vince Prosser threw out a runner trying to steal to end the fifth.

Russell took a no-decision but fired seven innings with three strikeouts, 12 hits and one walk, with just two of his eight runs being earned.

"Chace kept us in the game," Ward said. "He's a third-year playoff pitcher; he's been here before and he really did a good job controlling his emotions and keeping us in it."

The Vikings had a prime scoring opportunity set up in the bottom of the sixth, but Silva ran into an out at third trying to take an extra base after advancing from first on a single. That play cost his team a run as the next batter followed with a hit and the Vikings came away from the inning empty-handed as a strikeout ended the threat.

The Bruins took advantage in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with one out before adding to their lead with a groundout.

Now facing an 8-6 deficit, the Vikings' season came down to the bottom of the seventh, but their prowess in playing behind showed up again.

They loaded the bases with two outs on an error, a hit batter and an intentional walk, setting up Silva to be the hero. It looked like the comeback would fall short as he rolled a ground ball to shortstop, but the ball slipped under the fielder's glove and two runs scored to tie the game at 8-8.

The Vikings had new life as the game went to extras, but the game stayed locked at 8-8 heading to the ninth. St. Patrick-St. Vincent looked poised to break the tie in the top half of the inning as they got two runners on with two outs and appeared to load the bases on a ground ball to Russell - now playing at short - that was bobbled.

However, Russell told the infield umpire that the ball hit off the Bruins runner heading for third and after a brief conference between the three officials, the runner was called out and the inning was over.

The Vikings wasted no time capitalizing on another lifeline. Cramer drew a one-out walk and Silva launched the first pitch he saw over the head of the center fielder, allowing Cramer to score all the way from first. Silva, who finished the day for 2-for-5 with three RBIs, was mobbed by his teammates in the infield.

"Never felt something like that before," Silva said. "I didn't know what to do. I wanted to cry, but I was happy at the same time."

Cramer also deserves credit for his big day on offense, finishing 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored. Salvador "Bug" Pedroza earned the win in relief, giving up three hits over a final two scoreless innings.

"The fight was there the whole game," Russell said. "There's been a lot of games where I go out and the team has a bit of a rough start behind me, but I know my guys and I love my guys and I know they got my back. They came in, they did their job at the plate, limited the errors, got outs. It's the great part of Montgomery baseball; we've really come together as a family."

Montgomery's program has churned out its share of baseball royalty in the area, some incredible teams led by legendary players and coaches, but never in nearly 70 years of existence have the Vikings been able to hang an elusive section pennant. That could very well change this weekend.

"I think that all speaks for itself," Ward said. "Montgomery has a rich history, so to add to that history would be amazing - but we've got to take care of business."

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