DANVILLE, Calif. — The Walnut Creek Crawdads found themselves in a tight spot in the eighth inning of their home opener against the Alameda Merchants at Monte Vista High School. The Crawdads’ once five-run lead had shrunken to just one, and the Merchants were threatening to take it away entirely. 

Alameda rallied to score three runs and had two runners on base when Crawdads head coach Brant Cummings decided to bring in right-handed reliever Kam Croghan to try and secure the four-out save. The 6-foot-9 righty rose to the challenge and excelled in the stressful environment.

The righty needed just one pitch to induce an inning-ending groundout to shortstop in the eighth and continued his perfection in the ninth, setting the Merchants down in order with two groundouts and a strikeout to close out the game. 

“(My) sinker was just sinking the way I wanted it to,” Croghan said. “Guys were getting late and getting ground balls early.” 

Croghan didn’t let the 11 free-pass, 10 earned run struggles of his teammates, or the Merchants’ offensive success get into his head. He kept his composure and executed his pitches effectively, shutting down Alameda (3-2) and securing the Sunday evening rubber match win for Walnut Creek (2-1). 

“I just wanted to do my own thing,” Croghan said. “No matter what the score was or how many numbers are on that board, I just always try to do my best. I don’t try to let other possible factors affect what my game is, and just get my job done.” 

The Pepperdine arm wasn’t just coming into a tense situation; he was coming off an outing where he didn’t have his best control and gave up two earned runs in two innings of work in an exhibition game against the Alameda Anchors. 

His routine of visualizing repeated success in his mind before his outing, alongside his strike-throwing ability, allowed him to bounce back and be the stopper that the Crawdads needed. Cummings believed Croghan’s dominance was enough for him to be recognized as the player of the game.

“He threw the ball over home plate, and his movement gets guys out,” Cummings said. “.. It’s beautiful, he comes in and gets four outs and we get a win.” 

Despite the 11-10 win, the Crawdads’ offense didn’t carry the team. The lineup only recorded six hits, but was gifted 19 free passes by Alameda’s arms. Walnut Creek took advantage of the sloppy pitching by laying off balls and allowing the Merchants pitchers to beat themselves. 

The Crawdads’ six-run rally in the fourth inning featured four walks and a hit-by-pitch. However, that’s not to say that there weren’t big hits. Center fielder Trey Johnson hit an RBI double that took a weird bounce past Merchants third baseman Chase Ditmar and catcher Brandon Clizbe’s single into the 5-6 hole gave the Crawdads a 7-6 lead that they wouldn’t give up. 

Clizbe, who played for Monte Vista High School, wasn’t trying to do too much in the right-handed batter’s box that he called home for his high school years. He was looking for a fastball he could hit, and was carried by the confidence of hitting in the middle of a rally. 

“It’s so much easier to hit when the guys in front of you, and also the guys behind me, I have confidence in both sides,” Clizbe said. “I’ve just got to do my thing, and they’ll do their thing, and it’ll help the team out.” 

The backstop also led off the sixth inning with a single, kickstarting a three-run rally that provided necessary insurance for the Walnut Creek bullpen. Alameda right-hander Victor Valle walked four Crawdads after Clizbe’s single, bringing him in to score. A fielder’s choice and a wild pitch — the latter of which was given up by fellow righty Will Bonini — kept the momentum going and scored two runs to cap the rally. 

“The momentum comes from their inability to throw strikes that followed that hit,” Cummings said. “… It’s simply, with them, and with us at times, they just couldn’t throw strikes. … Momentum comes from when good things happen. It could be a walk, it could be a hit batsman, it could be an error, just things that go your way.” 

The Crawdads will take the momentum — and the win — any way that they come about. The team’s two wins have come in unusual fashion, with an improbable comeback and a messy high-scoring affair that can only be categorized as strange. Still, all wins count the same in the record book.  

What doesn’t show up in a record book is how wins make teams feel. The Kam Croghan-sized bandage stopped the bleeding and ensured that the good vibes and momentum from piecing together back-to-back wins, no matter how unusual they were, were headed toward the Crawdads’ dugout. The team is bonding and feels that this could be the start of something special.

“I love these guys that I’m here with,” Clzibe said. “We met about two weeks ago, but I would die for any of these guys. I love them. It was great to be back (at Monte Vista) and the energy was high today.

It’s a bunch of confidence that we’ve built up. We struggled a bit at the start, but we’re kind of on a roll now and we feel great. We’re ready to carry it on.”

By Ethan Ignatovsky