El Dorado Hills wins District 54 Major championship, 9-8, over Lakeside

Baseball is a crazy game. Teams can be so close to winning a game but the second they think they have it, they don't. El Dorado Hills Major All-Stars were two simple outs away from wrapping up the District 54 championship, leading Lakeside 9-4. Next thing you know, Lakeside got three consecutive singles from Colin Pipal, Carson Howard and Hudson Peters to load the bases for Joseph Long, who blasted a grand slam to make the score 9-8. If that didn't open the eyes of El Dorado Hills' All-Stars, nothing would. EDH turned to JJ Filippini to get the last two outs, an enormous ask after what just happened. "I was just trying to lock in and win every pitch," Filippini said. "I was trying to get ahead in counts and retire batters so we could win the game." Filippini got the first out with a groundball to shortstop, and it looked the like EDH had the game won when Kyle Henning hit a slow roller to second baseman Colton Cagle, but he bobbled it and then rushed the throw to first baseman Matt Gabbard, who couldn't catch the throw and Henning made it all the way to second, a base hit away from tying the game. "At that point, I just thought that I was going to go get the next batter," Filippini said. Filippini succeeded, as he struck out Jack Sullivan to end the game and give EDH its second consecutive District 54 All-Star Championship having won the 10-11 tournament a season ago. "Lakeside was the champions two years ago and they can hit the ball," El Dorado Hills Manager Jason Reichard said. "They're a good, well-coached team. We were down 3-0 and then came back and tied it up 3-3 and then they went up 4-3 and then we had a big inning and took a 7-4 lead and pulled away a little bit. That's baseball. We did a good job battling back. You want to come here and smash and 10-run everyone and it's just not going to happen. It's a tough road." Austin Henning and Kevin Koch had RBI doubles in the second inning surrounding the team's second run on an error by El Dorado Hills. El Dorado Hills answered immediately in the bottom of the second when Gabbard doubled, Wilson Center was hit by a pitch and Fhalen Keegan singled to load the bases. Cole Gibbons singled to drive in Gabbard before Brady Gill, who had a great game with three hits, singled in Center. The team's final run of the inning came on a sacrifice fly by CJ Ard. Lakeside took a 4-3 lead in the third when Kingston Redin hit a leadoff double and later scored on Howard's base hit. El Dorado Hills went right back to work in the bottom of the inning scoring four runs, starting with a leadoff home run by George Bergamo. Filippini doubled and eventually scored when Keegan walked with the bases loaded. Gill then drove in two runs with a hit to put El Dorado Hills up 7-4. The key inning of the game was the top of the fourth inning. Long and Rayyan Khan started the inning with base hits and one out later Sullivan walked to load the bases. Bergamo, however, struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning and keep his team in front 7-4. El Dorado Hills tacked on two runs in the bottom of the inning on RBI hits by Bergamo and Jack Trier that put EDH in front 9-4, setting up the thrilling finish. El Dorado Hills has achieved its first goal of winning a District 54 championship, but the team wants a lot more. "I feel like the kids have put pressure on themselves because they know what's at stake and they want to make another run," Reichard said. "Most teams just win the District 54 title and that's it. What we did last year was special and we're out here trying to do it again, but it's not easy. "What I really liked about these guys is that they grinded this week after the scare we got from Folsom American. They stayed extra at practice and got extra reps in and it showed today." Filippini, like the other boys, is thinking about getting to Williamsport to play in the Little League World Series. "My goal is to make it to Williamsport," Filippini said. "I'll do anything to get there. I think we've got a great shot, but we've got to win a lot of baseball games to get there." For starters, the team must win their second consecutive Section 4 championship, which starts on Thursday in Rocklin.