SAN BERNARDINO – Woodbridge had its chances.
The Warriors did not get a clutch hit when they needed one Saturday and lost to Redondo Union of Redondo Beach, 2-1, in the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 championship baseball game at San Manuel Stadium.
The Warriors left three runners in scoring position during the first four innings.
“We hit the ball hard,” Woodbridge coach Tim Murray said. “But the ball just didn’t fall in for us.”
Redondo Union (31-2) was the top-seeded team in the division. Woodbridge was seeded third.
The Warriors finished 23-8 and were Pacific Coast League champions. They carried a nine-game winning streak into their second CIF-SS final.
Redondo senior Sean Reynolds pitched a complete game. The 6-foot-6 right-hander who signed with Rice, allowed five hits and two walks with four strikeouts.
“He’s definitely one of he better ones we faced all year,” said Woodbridge pitcher Jake Larson.
Larson, a senior right-hander who signed with Valparaiso, went the distance and took the loss to finish 9-3. After having walked only 19 over 80 innings going into Saturday, Larson gave up six walks to Redondo. He had not allowed more than three in any game before the final.
“I did what I could,” Larson said. “They’re just the better team.”
Redondo took a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Woodbridge tied it in the top of the fourth inning. Larson reached on an infield single, advanced to third base on Spencer Watson’s double into the right-center field gap and scored on Ryan Santa Cruz’s sacrifice fly to center.
The Sea Hawks scored the winning run in the fifth. The left handed-hitting Reynolds pulled a double into the right-field corner and scored on Danny Zimmerman’s single into left field.
Reynolds (11-0) retired 10 of the final 11 batters he faced.
Reynolds also started the game-ending double play. In Woodbridge’s half of the seventh, Shoma Yoshida reached safely on a one-out infield single. Jared Kaleikini followed with a line drive that Reynolds snagged for the second out before throwing to first to force out Yoshida there for the final out.
“Sometimes you can play great and still end up on the short end of the stick,” Murray said. “That’s what makes this game what it is, it makes it brutal. Sometimes you play well and you don’t win.”
The temperature was 101 degrees for the 1 p.m. first pitch. Larson did not mind.
“I love the weather like this,” Larson said. “It makes it easy to get loose and you don’t have to worry about getting cool.”
Murray said he would miss Larson and the Warriors’ other seniors. Including Larson, Woodbridge had six seniors in Saturday’s starting lineup.
“This was a special group,” Murray said. “The is one group I’m going to miss for a long time. These kids gave it everything they had and you can’t as more than that from your kids.”
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com