It’s important to take advantage of opportunities in baseball.
And despite the numerous runners the Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs had on base in the early innings of Saturday’s playoff game, they couldn’t plate anyone who got past first after the opening frame.
Butte College, meanwhile, had one player who was clutch in the late innings.
That made the difference in Butte’s 4-3 12-inning victory in Santa Rosa, putting an end to the Bear Cubs’ time in the California Community College Athletic Association’s regional tournament.
Playing as the visitors on their home field following an earlier 4-3 opening-game loss to Butte on Friday night, the Bear Cubs got a go-ahead solo home run from Cal commit Max Handron in the top of the ninth to take a 2-1 lead.
But Butte’s Donelle Daniels responded almost immediately in the bottom half of the frame, sending a solo shot into the netting in left center to send the game into extra innings.
Three innings later, Daniels came up in the bottom of the 12th with the bases loaded and hit a game-winning single into right field, ending the best-of-three series and SRJC’s season.
“They fought their way into the playoffs. We got it to where we can basically play at home and they ended up playing better than us,” Bear Cubs coach Damon Neidlinger said of Butte. “Every time we punched, they counterpunched. They keep doing that and you don’t do the same, eventually they’re going to land the knockout blow and they did.”
With the score 2-2 in the top of the 12th, SRJC’s Andrew Lombardi singled, advanced to third on a single by Bryce Cannon and then scored on a wild pitch for 3-2 lead.
But SRJC’s excitement at retaking the lead came to an end on the very first pitch in the bottom of the 12th.
Butte’s Aidan Moore took the pitch from Evan Johnson and hit it out to even the game again at 3-3.
With one out, Butte pinch-hitter Logan Meyers hit a double that kissed the foul line in left field. Austin York was intentionally walked and then Lance Gomes walked before Daniels’ game-winning single into right field.
Both teams were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the contest. The Bear Cubs had the bases loaded with no outs in the fifth and failed to get anyone across. SRJC was 5-for-22 with runners on.
“The game shakes out the way it does,” Neidlinger said. “Somebody eventually has got to have what it take to step up and do exactly what he did. And you saw a lot of opportunity and not a lot of guys actually doing it. (Daniels) actually delivered the blow … there was no response after that swing.”
Had the Bear Cubs (25-16) won Saturday, they would have forced Game 3 later that afternoon for a chance to advance to the “Super Regional” round.
Butte’s Daniels said he stayed cool, calm and collected when he came to the plate during both of his big at-bats.
“I was just staying relaxed,” he said. “Looking fastball. Kept my composure, kept my breathing nice and stayed relaxed pretty much.”
To his memory, the Maui native can’t recall another time when he’s had clutch hits like that.
His coach, Anthony Ferro, said Butte is taking the playoffs one pitch at a time. He said Daniels went through a little bit of a lull during the middle part of the season but is back to the strong hitting he was displaying early on.
“I tell these guys all the time, good players step up and make big plays, and he was able to do that today for us,” Ferro said.
