Central Catholic 1 of 3 California baseball teams to win 3 titles. Here’s how it did it

It was obvious that leadoff hitter Braxton Thomas was not going to get a good pitch to hit in his first two at bats. And why would he?

Thomas is the state’s leader in home runs (14) and boasts some of the best on-base percentages and slugging percentages in the Sac-Joaquin Section.

Visiting Oakmont High School of Roseville starting pitcher Ayden Dringenberg knew to pitch around the Cal Poly-bound slugger in the CIF NorCal Division III Championship on Saturday afternoon. In his first at bat, Thomas saw three straight high pitches before he was hit for a four-pitch walk.

But that’s why Central Catholic High School baseball coach Danny Ayala has senior Joel Roberts batting second.

“That’s why Joel is there — to protect Braxton,” Ayala said. “That’s a great program. They’re great coaches and they did their job. They’re not going to give Braxton an opportunity to beat them and so we had other guys who stepped up all day, and Joel was the first.”

Roberts got every bit of a 1-1 pitch, pulling his third home run of the season over the left field fence, giving the Raiders an early 2-0 lead. Central Catholic scored runs in the first, second and fourth innings en route to a 5-2 win over Sac-Joaquin Section school Oakmont, winning the school’s first ever NorCal Regional Championship.

Roberts, who will play at Delta College next season, wanted to make the Vikings pay for putting Thomas on base.

“Whenever Braxton walks, I have to make an impact because that’s a free bag they’re giving us. If I don’t, then they’re going to just keep walking him the whole game,” said Roberts, who finished with a pair of hits and three RBIs. “Whenever they walk the guy in front of you, it’s extra motivation to show that they shouldn’t be walking him as if I’m an easy out. … When you get that hit after they walk someone, everyone’s more pumped up.”

Turning the page

The Raiders played in one of the last high school sports events of the year. From practices that started in the winter to games that ended in June, they were driven by last season’s Sac-Joaquin Section semifinal series loss to Vanden High School. They took the Vikings to three games, but dropped the final matchup, 1-0.

“Last year, after losing to Vanden, these boys got in the weight room, these boys really took it personal,” Ayala said. “They knew we had a good team coming back. We felt like we got beat by a team we should have competed with. Our goal was straight and focused: Get a league title. We checked off that goal. A section title, it was a hard game, but these guys got after it.”

Central Catholic finished the year with 24 wins, the most in 10 years, a Valley Oak League title, Division III Sac-Joaquin Section title and a NorCal Division III title.

Of the 10 regional champions from Southern and Northern California, just three completed the sweep, winning their league outright, a section title and a regional title: De La Salle of Concord, Lowell of San Francisco and Central Catholic.

“Once we got to that finish line, we got to reset a little bit and put our last season together,” Ayala said. “That last season, these guys came to work … these guys were focused and they took care of each other. They weren’t going to be beat.”

Said Roberts: “We didn’t really look to NorCals until after the Section (Championship) game. Once that was over, it’s like now we can just keep it rolling. It’s like nothing else really mattered. We just played to win every game and every pitch and that’s what we did.”

Ace in the hole

Junior Adrian Garcia started, but by rule could pitch only six innings.

High school pitchers have a pitch count of 110 pitches in a game, or 30 outs (10 innings) in a week. Because he pitched four innings (12 outs) in Tuesday’s 10-4 win over Colusa, he had 18 outs to work with before his season on the mound was over.

He made the most of his time, throwing six shutout innings, striking out 11 and giving up just three hits and a pair of walks.

“I was just trying to give my team the best chance to win,” Garcia said. “I knew we were gonna hit and we put up five runs, so I was just trying to keep their score to a minimum.”

The Vikings worked the bases loaded against the Raiders’ first reliever, which led Ayala to bring in an unassuming closer: catcher Fernando Alaniz.

The junior played in all of the team’s games this season and did not throw a single inning. He says he had not pitched in a game since before high school.

“Yesterday at practice, (Ayala) told me I might have to close, so I was pumped about it,” Alaniz said. “So I got my bullpen in yesterday and then he was like, ‘You’re gonna come in this game.’ I’m so happy I got to shove it for my team for the last three outs.’

Oakmont scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh, but Alaniz pitched well, giving up just one hit, earning the save and getting the final three outs to secure the win.

“We knew we had a closer the whole time, he was our ace in the hole,” Ayala said. “We work him out during the week and he’s just full of confidence. He throws a lot of strikes and he’s a competitor. He’s been a beast all year long. In the sixth we got him loose, just in case. (Oakmont had) a couple of hits and we knew we had a guy to come in there and go. He’s a bulldog.”

Alaniz and Garcia are among the many players who will return next season. TP Wentworth, who had a solo home run in the fourth inning, and Xavier Deep. who added a pair of singles, also are among key returners.

Central Catholic will lose just three seniors in Thomas, Roberts and reserve Jaelen Nichols, who will play football at MJC in the fall.

“I’m really excited because we have our two best guys on the bump coming back next year and our freshman class that will be sophomores will hopefully be up here with us because we got a bunch of ball players out here,” Alaniz said. “So we’ll be out here again and trying to compete for another section title and another NorCal title.”