TEMECULA – Kyle Molnar winced and limped, and Aliso Niguel’s baseball coaching staff and fans anxiously held their breath.
Their young flamethrower had leapt off the mound in pain after a pitch in the fourth inning, and he was favoring his left leg as he gingerly circled the mound.
After circumventing the mound, a few deep breaths, a discussion with Coach Craig Hanson and a few warmup tosses, Molnar elected to stay in the game – and immediately threw two 94 mile-per-hour fastballs.
“I slipped on the mud and hyperextended my knee, it didn’t feel good,” Molnar said. “I just walked it off and felt good after that.”
It was that kind of a day for the Wolverines. Their bus broke down on the way to the game, their ace had an injury scare, and they still came away with a 3-0 win over top-seeded Great Oak of Temecula in the CIF-SS Division 2 quarterfinals on Friday afternoon.
Aliso Niguel (22-9) will face La Mirada in the semifinals on Tuesday.
The injury scare turned out to be a minor blip in what turned out to be a career day for Molnar.
The junior right-hander pitched all seven innings, allowed five hits – all singles – didn’t walk anyone and struck out seven in a dominant effort.
“It’s a big park, so I was just trying to throw strikes knowing if they hit it, it wasn’t going out,” he said. “I hit my spots with my fastball and used my changeup to get my strikeouts.”
He had help from his defense, which made numerous impressive plays in an errorless performance, and Nick Grimes provided all the offensive support needed with an RBI double in the fourth inning.
Aliso Niguel scored two more later in the frame on a two-out throwing error, and Molnar made sure Great Oak (21-6) couldn’t mount a comeback.
“He was throwing all his pitches for strikes and got better as the game went on,” Wolfpack senior Eli Lingos said. “He didn’t really let up the whole game.”
The bus breakdown, which delayed the game’s start 30 minutes, also threatened to disrupt the Wolverines. Instead, like Molnar’s injury scare, it became part of the game’s lore.
“I thought it was kind of a pleasant distraction,” Hanson said. “Guys got to focus not completely on the game and just be teammates and have fun with it.
“Once we got here I felt we were pretty loose and ready to play.”
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