SUNSET BASEBALL: Sadovia’s at-bat sparks Gorman to region title

Cadyn Grenier drove in the go-ahead runs for Bishop Gorman’s baseball team on Saturday afternoon.

But the senior shortstop knows his at-bat wouldn’t have been possible if not for sophomore Jordan Sadovia.

Sadovia came through with a 10-pitch at-bat, singling home a run to tie the game 4-4, and the Gaels went on to defeat Arbor View 7-4 for the Sunset Region title at Desert Oasis. Gorman had beaten Arbor View 9-1 earlier Saturday to force a second game in the double-elimination tournament.

“That’s one of the best at-bats I’ve ever seen,” Grenier said of Sadovia’s battle with Arbor View ace Sam Pastrone. “I’m so incredibly proud of him. That’s probably the first time he’s seen a real D-I type pitcher, a guy with a very good fastball and throws hard. Just the at-bat he had, fighting off a bunch of pitches, a lot of tough pitches, and then coming through with that huge base hit to really get us going, that’s got to be the at-bat of the game.”

Gorman (29-3) advances to the Division I state tournament, which begins Thursday at Durango. Arbor View (25-10) plays Sunrise Region runner-up Coronado (19-16) at 3:30 p.m. Monday at Desert Oasis for the final berth at state.

Arbor View led 4-2 going to the bottom of the sixth, but Austin Cram and Grant Robbins started the inning with back-to-back singles to chase reliever Ryan Brown.

Ben Cutting came on for Arbor View and gave up a single to Matt Hudgins to load the bases. Blake Sanchez hit a slow chopper to second to score a run and put runners at second and third with one out.

Arbor View brought in Pastrone to face Sadovia, and the sophomore fouled off four two-strike pitches before delivering a line drive to center field to tie the game.

“I told him, ‘You’ve got to have no fear,’ ” Gorman coach Gino DiMaria said. ” ‘If you’re going to be on this team, you’ve got to play with no fear.’ He battled, and battled and battled, and I tell you what, he grew up today.”

Gorman tried to squeeze home a run, but Pastrone fielded the bunt bare handed and tossed to catcher Wyatte Velasco to get the second out and bring up Grenier, who was hitless in his last 11 at-bats.

That streak ended when he singled up the middle to bring home two runs and give the Gaels the lead.

“I didn’t think about any of the at-bats in the past,” Grenier said. “All I was thinking about was to battle off the tough pitches and try to get one if he makes a mistake and just don’t let the guys down.

“Pastrone threw a great pitch and I just made contact and it ended up going to the right spot.”

Beau Capanna added an RBI single to bring home an insurance run.

“It all goes back to Jordan’s hit,” Grenier said. “I really think that started a chain of events that just went up and up and up. It just ended up great for us, and I’m very, very happy with our performance today.”

Arbor View had rallied for nine seventh-inning runs in an 11-10 win over Gorman on Thursday, so the Gaels had to beat the Aggies twice Saturday to claim the title.

Junior left-hander Brian Coffey threw a five-hitter with five strikeouts in the opener, and the Gaels scored five runs in the first and rolled to the win.

The region title was Gorman’s first since 2012.

“The last couple years we haven’t had a team like this,” Grenier said. “And the passion on this team is incredible. This whole week has been a little bit of ups and downs, but luckily it ended on an up note.”