Walnut Creek secures a playoff berth behind White’s dominance and strong offensive output
DANVILLE, Calif. — After weeks of tumultuous baseball, the Walnut Creek Crawdads got hot at the right time. The team rattled off three wins in a row after a tough loss to start the final week of CCL play, putting them one win away from clinching a playoff spot in the penultimate game of the regular season, and the last at Monte Vista High School.
If the Crawdads didn’t win, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. They would have a chance to clinch a playoff spot Sunday, but they’d have to win on the road against the Alameda Merchants, a task that’s easier said than done. Head coach Brant Cummings knew it was go time and played his best card Saturday afternoon against the Menlo Park Legends: ace left-handed starting pitcher Aiden White.
White started the game off by inducing a weak pop-up into shallow left field, and didn’t stop there. The southpaw retired the next 14 batters he faced, and took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, allowing just three total base runners. Walnut Creek’s (22-15) offense jumped out to a sizeable lead behind his dominance, defeating Menlo Park (15-22) 7-3 when it was all said and done. The Crawdads still need to win — or hope the San Luis Obispo Blues lose — Sunday to lock themselves in as the No. 2 seed in the CCL North, but the team left the field upbeat, knowing that they had clinched a playoff berth off the back of White’s spectacular start.
“It just seems like (White) gets better every week,” Cummings said. “It’s been really cool to watch him command three pitches. He’s tough on lefties, he’s tough on righties. He struck out 10 today. He’s been really good, and if we make it to (the CCL Championship) next weekend, he’s going to give us a chance to play to win.”
White one-upped Friday’s starter, right-hander Carson Timothy, who also set down 15 opposing batters in a row, by having his streak start at the beginning of the game. With every batter that White sent back to the dugout, the feeling in the Danville air seemed to get more and more special.
The southpaw was getting plenty of weak contact, but he was also striking opposing hitters out at an impressive rate. White mixed his pitches masterfully, and it helped lead to seven of his first 15 outs coming on strike three. Whether he was freezing his opponents or getting them to swing, they couldn’t touch him.
“In this day and age, these guys, it’s a doubles (or) home run environment,” Cummings said. “Most of the time, these hitters don’t two-strike adjust, and they have really long swings and they miss pitches a lot. (White) throws it around home plate, which encourages hitters to swing the bat (and) a lot of these guys swing and miss.”
It was only after the fifteenth out that White started to realize he was doing something special.
“It was kind of surreal,” White said. “After about the fifth inning, I realized I didn’t have a hit on the board. I was trying to not focus on that and just continue to put the ball in the strike zone.”
As soon as the sixth inning rolled around, White walked Legends second baseman Russell Filter after the two battled into a full count. The perfect game bid was over, but White struck out the next three batters he faced to keep the no-hitter alive another inning.
The Legends finally got their first hit and run of the game in the seventh inning, after their third baseman Cal Zemaitis roped a single into left field, scoring shortstop James Bose, who reached on a walk. White was able to get out of the jam, though, and exited the game with seven otherworldly innings under his belt and one strikeout away from tying the Crawdads’ single-game strikeout record, set by Jack Ben-Shoshan in 2022.
“I really give all the credit to my catcher Zach Justice,” White said. “He was absolutely great calling pitches behind the plate. Really knew how to sequence these hitters, so I was just following his lead the entire outing.”
Justice helped White out on the mound, but he also helped the pitching staff in the batter’s box. The backstop hit his team-leading fourth home run in the bottom half of the seventh inning, a 356-foot, 101 MPH solo shot to just left of dead center field.
Justice takes pride in his defense, but has come through time and time again with the bat. He’s become a force to be reckoned with in the heart of the Crawdads order, taking his game to the next level in the wake of key players departing the team.
“I obviously love to hit,” Justice said. “I love catching, and I also love hitting. It feels nice to get the stick going after a slow start.”
Justice’s home run was the seventh and final Crawdads run of the game, capping off another strong offensive performance. The team scored the bulk of its runs in the fifth inning with a rally of singles and free passes, taking advantage of opportunities, which is something that the team will need to continue to do in the playoffs.
“Honestly, feels like we scored more than seven today,” Justice said. “Kind of felt that way in the past, we’ve been hitting the ball very well and a lot of it’s just not going our way, so we’re just going to keep on that and hope it goes our way down the stretch.”
The Crawdads’ bullpen slammed the door on the Legends after relieving White of his duties in the eighth inning and getting a boatload of run support from the offense. Left-handed pitcher Max Cohen ran into some trouble, giving up two runs, but righty Noah Zirkle and fellow lefty Ryan DeLaney were able to hold the Legends at bay, clinching a playoff spot for the Crawdads.
The team still has a long way to go to accomplish the greatest goal of them all: winning a championship. Still, the team has reason to celebrate; they’ve checked off the first box, now it’s just a matter of seeding and what the team can accomplish from that position.
Only time will tell how things go, but if the Crawdads can keep playing this brand of baseball, the sky is the limit.
“Player progression and player development is a part of this thing,” Cummings said. “But they turn the scoreboard on for a reason. The more we do (what we did today) the more games we win, the more opportunities we get to play and these kids get to play even more. In the end, it’s not Omaha, Nebraska, but it’s what we have, and it’s a fantastic feeling, in my opinion, to go out there and compete for this thing and potentially win it all.”
By Ethan Ignatovsky