Carrara’s Single Paces Reseda Over Cleveland

RESEDA —  Cleveland High’s baseball team learned a hard lesson against Reseda on Tuesday in a first-round game of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs: It isn’t how you start but how you finish.

Bobby Carrara’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Alfredo Saenz to give host Reseda a 4-3 victory.

Reseda (14-8), the Mid-Valley League champion, will face Poly in a quarterfinal Thursday.

Cleveland pitcher Mike Schultz (6-4), who gave up only two hits through the first six innings, fell apart in the seventh.

Saenz, who homered in the second, led off the inning with a single and Leo Rosales followed with a bunt that Schultz fielded cleanly but threw wide of second base after slipping.

Schultz balked the runners to second and third and then intentionally walked Frank Casaccia to load the bases.

Schultz fell behind on the count to Carrara, 3-and-1, before giving up the game-winner up the middle.

“I was thinking fastball all the way,” Carrara said. “If he was putting it there, I was swinging.”

Cleveland (16-12), which finished second in the North Valley League, was kicking itself for putting Reseda in a position to win.

The Cavaliers, who led, 2-0 and 3-2, had chances to break a 3-3 tie in the seventh, but mental mistakes and poor base running cost them.

Pinch-hitter Greg Walter ripped a drive to the left-field fence and should have turned it into an easy double, but he was just rounding first base with his helmet in his hand when Casaccia’s throw was relayed to second base.

Then Junior Brignac beat out a bunt to put runners at first and second with nobody out, but Walter was thrown out trying to steal third. Kelvin Delgado flied out to center for the second out.

Brignac, who was trying to advance to third on a wild pitch, was thrown out by catcher Oscar Cardona.

“I think they might have lost some focus there,” said Reseda pitcher Brian Menkin (11-5), who allowed eight hits and struck out six.