ST. HELENA >> Aiden Skinner ran the Middletown Mustangs into an undisputed North Central League I varsity baseball championship on Wednesday night while the St. Helena Saints ran themselves into a 2-1 loss in the league and regular-season finale for both teams at St. Helena High School.
Middletown (12-2 league, 18-3 overall) needed a victory to avoid sharing the league title with Fort Bragg (11-3) and the Mustangs came through in the most dramatic fashion possible as head coach Jeff Mielke could only marvel at his team’s ability to avoid a final-game letdown to the Saints (4-10), who held a 1-0 lead through four innings.
“Their pitcher had been cruising,” Mielke said of the Saints. “We really hadn’t done much against him. It didn’t look good.”
It appeared as though the top of the fifth wouldn’t be any different as St. Helena recorded one out with just one pitch. That’s when No. 8 hitter Jon Hoogendoorn Jr., who hasn’t played much for the Mustangs this season, got things rolling with a single.
“The kids were cheering on the bench,” Mielke said.
Skinner came up next and drove a 1-1 fastball over the center fielder’s head for a RBI double that tied the game, Hoogendoorn running hard and beating the throw home. Representing the go-ahead run, Skinner broke for third as St. Helena’s pitcher attempted to pick him off second, Skinner arriving safely at the bag.
“He did it on his own,” Mielke said of Skinner’s decision to steal third base. “It was one of those moments where all I could do was watch and hope that he made it.”
And if Mielke’s heart wasn’t beating hard yet while standing in the third base coaches box, it was nearly beating out of his chest just a few seconds later. That’s when a pitch bounced away from the St. Helena catcher at home plate although it didn’t roll very far.
“I was saying, ‘No! No!,’ but Aiden took off running and the ball was there ahead of him,” Mielke said. “He made a headfirst, swinging slide and somehow managed to get his hand in there for what turned out to be the winning run.”
While Skinner’s aggressive baserunning wasn’t exactly baseball by the book, it got the job done, according to Mielke.
“He gave us the shot of life that we needed,” Mielke said. “Both him and Jon. We’re going to need more of that if we want to make a deep run in the playoffs.”
Skinner’s go-ahead run almost was for naught when the bottom of the seventh inning rolled around. As exciting as the Middletown fifth was, the St. Helena seventh contained even more thrills.
With Keegan Cutting working his second inning in relief of starting and winning pitcher Luke Holt, the Saints put runners at second and third with no outs – the potential tying and winning runs. Mielke brought his infield in all the way around as St. Helena’s No. 3 hitter stepped to the plate. He hit Cutting’s first pitch so hard it ricocheted off Cutting rear end to shortstop Isaiah Perez. St. Helena’s runner at third broke for the plate but then retreated back to bag as Perez threw home. The Saints ended up with two runners at third and the Mustangs tagged out the lead runner after a brief rundown. That would have been good enough for Middletown except that the second runner got trapped retreating to second base and was tagged out as well.
“We went from having runners at second and third with no outs to having a runner at first with two outs,” Mielke said.
St. Helena’s surviving baserunner promptly stole second base. Mielke had Cutting intentionally walk the Saints’ cleanup hitter and the game ended when the next batter grounded out to shortstop.
That final out touched off a pretty good Mustangs celebration as the league title was all theirs.
“We gave out some hugs,” Mielke said. “We wanted the league title. That’s been our goal since the beginning of the season.”
Now the Mustangs can focus on their next assignment, which is the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs. First-round games are Wednesday and Middletown will learn on Sunday where it is seeded in the field and who it will be playing in the opening round. The Mustangs are currently ranked No. 1 in the section.
Hoogendoorn and Justin McDowell each went 2-for-3 as Middletown finished with six hits. Skinner and Drake Harbison had the others.
Prior to Wednesday’s regular-season finale, the Mustangs had scored double-digit runs in five straight league games.
“It was like a lot of the games we played earlier this season that were one-run games,” Mielke said. “It might be a good lesson for us. Maybe we’re not as invincible as we think we are.”
Whether they are or they aren’t, the Mustangs most certainly are the 2018 NCL I champions after an intense league race that wasn’t decided until the final game.
“That’s a good feeling for sure,” Mielke said.
