Estancia bats come alive for bottle-popping finish in Division V regional final
Between the start and the finish of the season finale, the Estancia baseball team probably could not make up its mind which it liked best.
The Eagles struck for eight runs in the first inning, then ended Saturday afternoon by popping bottles and spraying each other with sparkling cider following their 11-2 win over Baldwin Park in the CIF State Southern California Regional Division V championship game in front of a packed house at home.
Shortstop Jack Moyer went four for four with two runs scored and two runs batted in out of the leadoff spot. Moyer, one of four seniors in the lineup for the career-capping title game, had two hits — including a two-run double — in the first inning, when the Eagles sent 12 batters to the plate.
“We worked all year for the CIF game, but this is just the icing on the cake, so it feels so good to win this game,” Moyer said, calling the playoff run in its totality something he dreamed of entering every season.
Junior right fielder James De La O had three hits, two runs scored and a run batted in for Estancia (31-5). Senior left fielder Tyler Humphries had two hits, scored two runs and drove in a pair, and senior starting pitcher Trevor Scott also had two hits for the Eagles at the plate.
The first seven batters reached for Estancia, which chased Baldwin Park starter Jordan Davis from the game after retiring just one batter. Andrew Coyotzi walked following a Moyer leadoff single. Scott and De La O each singled in a run.
After Cole Lefebvre was hit by a pitch, Miles Moyer reached on a sacrifice-bunt attempt, and Humphries’ run-scoring single bookended the streak of batters to reach base safely. Andrew Mits’ single through the left side of the infield made it 6-0, and Jack Moyer’s double put the finishing touches on the big inning.
“The first inning, it’s a lot of adrenaline, it’s scary pitching in the championship,” Scott said. “Then eight runs, you can just throw strikes and just let your defense work at that point. It’s so much easier to pitch that way.”
Scott earned the complete-game victory, allowing two runs (one earned) on nine hits. He struck out three and walked one.
Seemingly every Estancia player took a turn dousing Eagles coach Nate Goellrich in the celebratory cider.
“It was awesome,” De La O said. “We’re not 21 yet, so we got to use this sparkling cider. None of us expected it. We had to win first, got the win, and then got to have fun. I’m all sticky, but it’s worth it.”
Estancia ended the season on a 13-game winning streak, one that began immediately after the Eagles had dropped the Battle for the Bell series with crosstown rival Costa Mesa.
Since that time, Estancia has gone on to win the program’s first CIF title — in an extra-inning classic against Anaheim in the Division 6 final — and its first regional crown, won against Baldwin Park (22-12), the reigning Division 7 champion.
Goellrich, who had a previous stint as the head coach of the Eagles, had left the dugout during his time as athletic director at the school. The Eagles, who endured an 7-16 season a year ago, experienced a monumental turnaround with Goellrich back in the fold.
A desire to see the program bounce back from a tough season, combined with a key endorsement, got Goellrich to put the uniform back on.
“I stepped down as [athletic director] with no intent on coaching,” Goellrich said. “I was planning on spending the year off with family and just kind of refocusing with things, and we didn’t have a coach anymore. I agreed to do the summer, so the kids had a summer.
“It was my wife, [Janell]. My wife said, ‘You’re going to be bored at home. You need to go coach,’ and so that gave me the blessing to come back, and I’m appreciative that she gave me that. I was just intent on … filling in until they hired somebody for [the job], but our administration was pushing me, and then my wife just gave me that push to accept it that the kids need me.
“Last year was seven wins, and that was eating at me, to just bring this program back to as strong as it can be. To do it in one year, did not expect that, but it’s been a great journey with these guys.”
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