All photos by Benjamin Becher

SYLMAR – With a playoff atmosphere, the showdown between the top two teams in the Valley Mission League delivered the kind of intensity and precision baseball you’d expect from rivals that mirror each other in style and identity.

In its debut season in the Valley Mission League, Poly kicked off the series with a 2-0 win over Sylmar on March 24. Sylmar answered back on Monday with a 2-0 shutout of its own, powered by a dominant complete game from junior Alex Martinez. Fittingly, the rubber match arrived with the teams deadlocked. Not just in results, but in style: disciplined, gritty, and defense-first baseball.

“It’s the Poly Way,” said Coach Gabriel Cerna, referring to his philosophy built on pitching, defense, and small-ball execution. The same could be said for Sylmar’s Coach Ray Rivera, whose team mirrors that ethos.

The game played out like a heavyweight bout, each team landing jabs, each inning a tense round. There were no easy frames for either side, especially not for Spartan starter Luis Mendoza. Tall, stoic, and seemingly unshakable. Mendoza wriggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first inning, striking out Brenis Mayorga and inducing a lineout from junior Andrew Flores to keep Poly off the board.

But Mendoza’s opposite number, Parrot starter Mateo Torres, faced his own early storm when sophomore Timothy Sepulveda opened the bottom of the first with a line drive single to left. Rivera immediately went to his small-ball playbook as Mike Andrade dropped a textbook sacrifice bunt. A hit batter and a base on balls loaded the bases. Torres then gave up a sacrifice fly to junior Matthew Torres, putting Sylmar ahead 1-0. Despite surrendering another walk, Torres regrouped to retire Victor Espinoza and limit the damage.

Poly tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third inning when Jacob Escalante reached on Sepulveda’s throwing error. Escalante would score on Mayorga’s fielder’s choice. It was an unearned run, but one that fit Poly’s playbook: capitalize on mistakes, do the little things, and grind out offense however you can.

In the bottom of the third, Torres hit Andrade with his first pitch to get himself into more trouble. A reliever began warming. But Torres never relinquished control, striking out sophomore Rickee Luevano and getting out of a first-and-third jam without yielding a run.

Sylmar’s Alex Martinez singled off Torres with one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, stole second, and came around to score on Sepulveda’s clutch two-out hit, giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead.

The lead didn’t last long, as the Parrots manufactured a run “the Poly Way” in the top of the fifth. Diego Mercado led off with a double, prompting Coach Cerna to pinch-run with speedster Sebastian Ortega. In a daring move, Ortega tagged up from second on Gael Garcia’s shallow fly to center and beat the tag with a headfirst slide into third. The gamble paid off when Mayorga followed with a single, easily scoring Ortega to tie the game at 2-2.

After Mendoza recorded the second out, Luevano took the mound but quickly found trouble. Entering with just three hits allowed over 20 innings, he hit the first batter and walked the next, loading the bases with two outs. But Luevano regrouped and struck out Parrot junior Brian “B. Dog” Marquez to escape the jam and preserve the 2-2 tie.

Poly senior transfer Isaac Cerpa opened the sixth by smashing a hot-shot misplayed by Alex Martinez at third, who was playing in on the grass. Escalante followed with a deep double over center fielder Andrade, setting up runners on second and third.

Mercado got hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. His frustration showing, Luevano’s next pitch sailed past the catcher. Cerpa broke for home. Luevano recovered the ricochet, quickly flipping the ball to catcher Danny Martinez for the first out.

But the Spartans had been playing with fire all day and Garcia made them pay with a single to right that scored Escalante for a 3-2 lead. Mayorga followed Garcia with a base hit to left, plating Mercado to go up by two runs. Junior Isaiah Guzman relieved Luevano to get the last two outs of the sixth.

Despite the traffic he’d navigated all game, Torres strode out for the bottom of the sixth like a boxer answering the bell. Could he hold the lead? Despite hitting his third batter of the game, Torres cruised to his easiest inning of the afternoon. Cerna on Torres: “He pitched in big games as a travel ball kid. He was the guy to go to. He’s been our closer all year but (Sylmar) hadn’t seen him. And I knew I could count on him to throw in big games.”

Guzman handled a quiet top of the seventh, and with a 4–2 lead, Torres returned to face Sylmar’s 2-3-4 hitters and close out what he started. He induced Andrade to ground out for out number one. Luevano stepped to the plate looking for redemption and he launched the second pitch he saw deep, but foul, down the left-field line. Now downright angry, Luevano unleashed another powerful swing, this time sending a towering shot over the left-center field fence for a solo home run that cut the deficit to 4-3.

Even after surrendering the home run, no one stirred in the Parrot bullpen. This was Torres’ game to win or lose. And he calmly induced Mendoza to pop out and struck out Matthew Torres to preserve the victory.

Afterwards, Rivera pointed to execution as the difference in the game: “They did a good job getting two-strike hits,” he said. “They weren’t crushing the ball, but they put it in play, sprayed it around. We just didn’t execute offensively.” Sylmar falls to 17-5 (8-2) and faces Palisades this Saturday, May 3, at 10:00 A.M.

Poly improved to 17-6 (9-1) and faces Verdugo Hills this Saturday, May 3rd @ 3:30 P.M. Cerna praised the gritty performance at the plate of Mayorga, who drove in three of the team’s four runs: “Mayorga had been in a slump. He broke out of it today.” Torres finished with 7 IP 5 H 3 R 3 BB 3 HBP 2 K and, most importantly, the W.

With the win, Poly takes control of the Valley Mission League as the season enters its final stretch. Both teams have the tools and toughness to make a deep run. As Cerna summed it up: “It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.” And for these two talented squads, the finish is still wide open.