Smiley wills Crescenta Valley baseball past Glendale in Pacific League opener
Crescenta Valley’s Will Smiley pitches against Glendale High.
In a small jam in the fourth inning, Will Smiley stepped off the mound and took a brief walk to collect his thoughts.
The Crescenta Valley High starting pitcher stepped back on the mound with one out and two runners on base and immediately got out of trouble.
Things worked out rather well for Smiley, who struck out seven, scattered four hits and threw a shutout to lift visiting Crescenta Valley to a 6-0 win against Glendale on Tuesday in a Pacific League opener for both teams.
“I couldn’t find the zone and gave up those two hits,” said Smiley, a right-hander who struck out the next two batters to escape the situation. “So I had to slow down and I took a short walk and came back knowing I had to be a little bit sharper.
“I got out of it and felt good going the rest of the game. My slider worked and I had them swinging at some pitches in the dirt.”
Crescenta Valley (12-1) will have a chance to sweep the two-game season series against Glendale (1-10) at 7 p.m. Friday at Stengel Field.
On Tuesday, Crescenta Valley, which split the league championship last season, looked in control against inexperienced Glendale.
The Falcons, who won the Babe Herman Tournament on Wednesday against Cleveland, saw Smiley retire 11 of the last 12 batters. He had four strikeouts in that stretch, including the final one for the last out of the contest.
“He’s pitched well all season,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Phil Torres, whose team is ranked ninth in CIF Southern Section Division II. “I still believe he’s got even better games ahead of him.
“He’s pitching with confidence and getting ahead in the count. It’s led to the defense playing well. We’ve got a very good and deep pitching staff. It’s big to start off league with a win. There’s going to be some very tough teams in league and that’s going to make it fun over the next few weeks.”
Crescenta Valley scored two runs in the second to take a 2-0 lead.
Max Meyer led off with a single against Glendale sophomore starting pitcher Trent Lousararian and stole second with one out. Charles Weinmann then blooped a single to short center field, sending Meyer to third. Weinmann advanced to second on the throw home and then kept running to third. The Glendale catcher threw the ball to second in an attempt to cut down Weinmann. The second baseman then threw home late to try to get Meyer and Weinmann made it to third. Weinmann then scored on a sacrifice bunt by Will Rees.
The Falcons made it 3-0 in the fourth on a ground out by Weinmann that scored Nico Arredondo.
Glendale mounted it best threat in the fourth, as Andrew Tinoco and Nolan Wong reached on singles with one out. Smiley then struck out the next two batters.
“That was a good chance to get right back into the game,” Glendale first-year Coach Kevin Chan said. “We just needed to be in position to execute there and make some things happen.
“We have a pretty young team in that we are inexperienced at the varsity level. I thought Trent pitched very well and kept us in the game. I like the way we’ve competed against some tough teams like La Cañada and CV the last couple of weeks. We’ll just stay at it.”
Crescenta Valley scored three runs in the seventh. Rees had an RBI single to make it 4-0. Kewin Ledesma drove in a run with a double to extend the lead to 5-0 before a run-scoring single by Will Grimm capped the scoring.
Lousararian, a right-hander, went six innings. He struck out four and yielded four hits.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
