Pintos shut out Buffalo, advance to district title

Senior Trevor Myers (left) hits a two-run home run to give the Pintos a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Buffalo.
Senior Trevor Myers (left) hits a two-run home run to give the Pintos a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Buffalo.

On Monday night, a new season began for the California Pintos when they took on Buffalo High School in the Class 4 District 9 Tournament at Versailles. California was in control of the game from the beginning and defeated Buffalo 10-0 in six innings.

California clinched a first-round bye and the Bison got past the Osage Indians 12-2 to advance to the semifinals.

Head coach Steven Stock didn't have to tell his team much going in Monday night's game to motivate them as it was the time of the year that California had been looking forward to for weeks. Stock said that every player needed to make their presence known during the game, and he felt that his team did what they needed to do to take care of business against the Bison.

"I told them to just simply go play," Stock said. "At this point, if you're not hungry now, then why are you here? So we just challenged them. Put your game on the field and go play as best of a game as you can and whatever happens happens. Everybody contributed and that's how you win championships. Everybody has got to have a little part in it. When one day somebody doesn't have a good game, somebody picks them up. The kids did that today and this is where we want to be."

In the bottom of the first, senior Drake Schlup led off with a double to right field. Then senior Calen Kruger followed that with a single to left field and scored Schlup from first to give the Pintos the first run of the night. Two batters later, senior Trevor Myers took a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left field for a two-run home run and gave California an early 3-0 lead.

Junior Hunter Berendzen got the start on the mound for the Pintos and made life difficult for the Buffalo batters. Berendzen would go on to pitch a complete game with seven strikeouts. And what Berendzen couldn't do on his own, the rest of California's batting lineup made sure nothing came easy for the Bison defense. The Pintos offense continued to keep the pressure on the Bison by putting up two more runs in the third and another three runs with two outs in the fourth inning to increase their lead to 8-0.

Berendzen and the Pintos did run into a bit of trouble in the top of the fourth and fifth innings when the allowed two Buffalo runners to reach first and second base. But each time, California was able to keep Buffalo off the scorecard and kept the shutout alive.

In the bottom of the sixth, California started off the inning with back-to-back singles. Calen Kruger then stepped up and walked on eight pitches to load the bases. Berendzen then came up to bat and followed up Kruger's walk with a bases-loaded walk and California added a ninth run to their total. Trevor Myers, the young man who hit the two-run homer in the first, was next up and had a chance to end the game by putting the Pintos up ten runs in the sixth. Myers did just that when he hit a 1-1 fastball to left field and capped off a good day for the Pintos. In the 10-0 win over the Bison, Myers went 3-for-4 from the plate with three RBI and a home run.

When asked whether the difference in the game was Buffalo's lack of pitching or California strong hitting, Stock claimed the Pintos were able to hit the ball because of Buffalo's pitching selection. The Pintos were able to put the ball in play and gets their hits to fall into open areas. Something that Stock also said the Pintos have to do on Monday if they're going to have a chance to win the district title.

"He (Buffalo starting pitcher Cole Potter) threw the ball in the middle of the plate," Stock said. "It wasn't overpowering and our kids did a nice job of staying back and putting the ball in play well. When you do that, good things are going to happen. Buffalo wasn't bad. Again, their pitching was not overpowering and our kids handled it well. We've just got to come out and play on Wednesday. Our pitching has got to be good, we've go to find a way to score a few runs, and play good defense. If we do those things, I like our chances."

California will go for the Class 4 District 9 crown tonight when they take on the Eldon Mustangs in Versailles.

photo Junior Hunter Berendzen pitched a complete shutout game for the Pintos with seven strikeouts on Monday night.
photo Junior Ian Peterson hits a ground-rule double to right-center field in the fourth inning against the Bison.
photo Senior Kaden Bax looks to score a run for the Pintos in the sixth inning against Buffalo on Monday.