Cypress baseball shuts out Pacifica, forces tie for first in Empire League – Orange County Register

CYPRESS – Empire League baseball will not have co-champions this year.

Cypress beat Pacifica 4-0 in a championship game Tuesday at Cypress High to create a tie for first place.

Cypress and Pacifica are 8-1 in league play. They play Thursday, the last day of their regular season, in Pacifica at 3:15 p.m.

Cypress has been an Empire League champion every season since 2013 (there was no league champion in the COVID-truncated 2020 season). Pacifica is usually the Centurions’ main competition in the six-team league.

The Mariners and Centurions were league co-champions last season with a 9-1 record.

Cypress junior left-hander Wyatt Rosales pitched 6⅓ scoreless innings Tuesday. He allowed four hits and two walks with three strikeouts.

Rosales lowered his ERA to 0.60 and raised his record to 4-1-1. He only walked 10 batters in 50 innings.

Centurions senior catcher Nick Montgomery hit a two-run homer, his third homer of the season. Sophomore left fielder Noah Johnson had two hits with an RBI. Senior right fielder Antonio Lujan had two doubles.

Rosales, who was assisted by two double plays from Cypress on Tuesday, slipped numerous strikes along the outside edge of home plate toward Pacifica’s right-handed hitters.

“I was painting it,” Rosales said. “The separator was working fine today.”

Cypress manager John Weber said Rosales wasn’t the strongest pitcher, but just threw strikes and struck out batters.

“He doesn’t throw 93, 95 (miles per hour) with the dirty hammer and the dirty shift,” Weber said. “But he competes hard and makes pitches when he needs to.”

Cypress took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning.

Justin Tillar led off the third with a single that just went past Pacifica second baseman Spencer Groff’s diving effort. Tillar advanced to second on John Short’s deep fly that bounced over the left field fence for a double. Johnson’s hard-hit ground ball crossed the middle for a base hit that drove in Tillar.

Centurions sophomore Jake DeLaquil led off the fourth inning with a single and after an errant throw moved DeLaquil to second base and Jackson Pohl’s sacrifice bunt advanced to third. Montgomery, who struck out on three pitches, including a third, followed with an arcing shot over the left-field fence, a few yards inside the foul pole, for his third homer of the season .

“I had a little hanging curveball that I managed to stay fair in front of,” said Montgomery, who signed with Arizona State.

Garrett Rodriguez scored Cypress’s third run of the inning, the final run of the game, on a wild pitch.

Pacifica had Jacob Zanaboni, who patrols center field very well for the Mariners, on third base in the fourth inning with one out. Rosales got a strikeout and a strikeout to end this inning.

Another takedown by Rosales in the fifth inning stranded Pacifia’s Jayson Juarez at third. The Mariners had runners on first and second with one out in the top of the seventh inning when Rodriguez replaced Morales and got a strikeout and a groundout to end the game.

Cypress-Pacifica is one of the best rivalries in Orange County baseball. Rosales and Montgomery said they have known several players on the Pacifica team for a long time.

“It’s awesome,” Montgomery said. “The parents created a rivalry, the teams, the coaches. It’s fun every time we come out to play on the field.

Weber earned his 400th career coaching victory and Pacifica’s Mike Caira earned his 300th career coaching victory.

Short, who leads Cypress in RBIs with 27, pulled a hamstring while swinging at a pitch in the fourth inning. Weber said the shorts may not be available Thursday.