GARDEN GROVE – For Garden Grove baseball, winning is all about respect.
With their second round playoff victory over Paloma Valley, 3-1, at Garden Grove High on Tuesday, the Argonauts secured a spot in the CIF-SS quarterfinals and a shot at gaining the recognition they believe they deserve.
“We got a good team. We’re just not getting a lot of respect,” Coach Ricardo Cepeda said. “We’re out there to let everyone know about Garden Grove baseball (and) try to get some respect for our kids. We’ll play anybody. We’re just going to go out there and do the best we can.”
The Argonauts (23-3) got on the scoreboard early when Andrew Pactwa led off the first inning with a single. One batter latter, Chris Williams ripped an RBI triple to deep right-center field for the first run of the game.
With one out in the inning, Rafael Ceja grounded into a fielder’s choice to drive in Williams and give Garden Grove a 2-0 lead. Ceja’s RBI would prove to be the deciding run in the game.
After being held scoreless through the first four innings, the Wildcats (21-8) picked up a run in the top of the fifth. Jeramy Smith reached base on a fielding error and came around to score on a seeing-eye single off the bat of Bryce Macy.
The unearned run was the only one allowed by Garden Grove starting pitcher Eddie Carranza.
Carranza, who pitched a complete game for the Argonauts, nearly shut out a Paloma Valley offense which scored 12 runs in their first-round playoff game against Segerstrom last Thursday. He gave up eight hits while walking two batters and striking out two.
“(My strategy) was just to throw strikes, keep it low, and throw a lot of breaking balls,” Carranza said. “I told myself to keep calm. I trust my defense. That’s what helped us win.”
Garden Grove will be on the road against Serra of Gardena at 3:15 p.m. on Friday with an appearance in the CIF-SS semifinals on the line.
