The 2024 San Diego Section baseball playoffs wrapped up a memorable spring season with seven divisional championship games May 23-25 at the University of San Diego and UC San Diego.
East County was represented by two champions: the Valhalla Norsemen in Division III and the Mt. Miguel Matadors in Division V.
The division title was the first in school history in the sport at Mt. Miguel while Valhalla added to its 2019 Division III championship. The Norsemen also won the Division III title in 2006.
Second-seeded Mt. Miguel defeated the fifth-seeded Kearny Komets, 5-3, in exciting fashion as senior Jeremiah Castillo clubbed a game-winning walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Top-seeded Valhalla, this year ’s Grossmont Valley League champion, shut out seventh-seeded Mira Mesa, 3-0, behind a one-hitter by senior pitcher Colton Stinkeoway.
Red and Black
“Hitting the ball hard, making routine plays and pitching carried us though the playoffs,” first-year Mt. Miguel head coach Joey Gonsalves said.
Senior pitcher Matthew Barton settled down after the Komets had taken an early 3-1 lead. Barton retired the final 14 batters he faced before yielding to senior reliever Tyler Kelly in the eighth inning.
Barton kept the Matadors in position to score the history making win by throwing 104 pitches, striking out seven batters while giving up four hits and one earned run. Kelly faced five batters to keep his team within striking distance.
The game’s hitting star proved to be Castillo, who went two-for-two, scored two runs and drove in two runs. He tripled in the first inning and scored Mt. Miguel’s first run. His clutch two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning iced the comeback victory.
Seniors Xavier Reyes and Kelly each were credited with one RBI.
Senior James Cibrian scored what proved to be the game winning run after drawing a walk prior to Castillo’s history making home run.
Castillo placed the first pitch over the right field wall.
“I was trying to put the ball into play and put us on top,” Castillo said.
“I knew it would either be a home run or double to win the game,” Gonsalves said.
It’s been some kind of 2023- 24 school term at Mt. Miguel High School. First, the school’s football team won the San Diego Section Division IV championship during the fall, then the Matadors claimed the Division IV boys basketball championship during the winter. Mt. Miguel captured the San Diego Section Division II boys track and field championship on May 11 and the Division V baseball title on May 23.
If one is counting, that’s four-for-four. In baseball lingo, that’s a perfect 1.000 batting average.
Castillo and Barton have been together for two CIF championships this school term. Barton was the quarterback (3,592 passing yards, 48 touchdowns) and Castillo (1,249 receiving yards, 17 touchdowns) was a receiver on the football team. Barton continued to throw the ball as a pitcher this spring while Castillo knocked the cover off the ball.
“It’s amazing,” Barton said. “It’s a great feeling to be CIF champions in football and baseball. It’s the chance of a lifetime.”
Between the two titles, Castillo said baseball was his favorite.
“At the beginning of the season (in football) we knew we could take it,” he said. “In baseball, however, we had a lot of doubters. It feels good to be on this side.”
Orange Nation
Ryan Wheeler has coached the Norsemen since 2017, winning the 2019 Division III championship and four league championships.
“We’ve hit on all cylinders,” the VHS coach said. “We have defense, pitching and hitting. COVID changed a lot of history for our program. We were down for a couple years and rebuilding to get to this point.”
Junior Mace Wheeler, the cach’s son, earned honors as the Grossmont Valley League Player of the Year while Stinkeoway was the league’s pitcher of the year. Senior Julian Jerjees also was a key player, according to the elder Wheeler. Stinkeoway faced 25 batters – four over the minimum – while tossing 93 pitches (65 of them strikes). He struck out eight batters, walked two, hit one batter and allowed one hit.
The left-hander retired the Marauders in order in the first inning. It was a sign of things to come.
He attributed the team’s success to “team chemistry and team bonding.”
“I went out there with the mind-set to do the best I can,” the VHS hurler said. “I trusted my team. They hit some balls to the outfield. A one-hitter — that’s about the best we could have played.”
The Norsemen (24-6) scored the only runs they would need in the bottom of the first inning as senior Nate Moulton and Mace Wheeler each singled, junior Tanner Lough reached safely on a bunt and Jerjees picked up a RBI with a basesloaded walk.