It's a clincher! Walnut Creek clinches top if CCL North in win

It's 9-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Right-handed pitcher Alex Gomez is one out away from securing Walnut Creek's first place in the CCL North on the road against Sonoma. Gomez delivered his pitch the same way he's done a multitude of times before. As the ground ball bounces its way to shortstop Kevin Parker Jr, he takes it himself to the second base bag, recording the final out and securing first place.

Right after, the dugout erupted. Filled with smiles and happiness, an audible "yeah" was heard from right-handed pitcher Noah Zirkle, who is one of the longest-standing Crawdads on the roster. For the other guys, they went into the post-game huddle with a sense of calmness, making sure not to get too high, acting like they've been here before. Walnut Creek's 9-4 victory on Saturday against Sonoma could be the final bout of the year between the two rivals. By locking up the one spot, Walnut Creek will not have to travel to San Luis Obispo or Sonoma for a playoff game. In its 9-4 victory, nearly everything went right. The biggest takeaway for clinching first was mentioned by coach Brant Cummings.

"It feels good for several reasons," Cummings said. "One, we don't have to travel, and two, I really like playing at our place. I like our chances."

Pitching stayed consistently solid, as it has the entire year. Opening the game, right-hander Hudson Aber went 4.2 innings, allowing two hits, three walks and striking out four. Aber, pitching his final game of the summer on Saturday, mentioned how impactful the day was for him and how he felt about his season overall.

"I was a little upset that I didn't finish that inning," Aber said. "But I had some really good ABs. I lost focus a couple times, but it was a pretty strong finish, throwing up some zeros."

Left-handed pitcher Austin Bilello went 1.1 innings, emerging as the first guy out of the bullpen. In that workload, he allowed one run on one hit, two walks and one strikeout.

Gomez, who closed the game out, was the second University of San Francisco pitcher to go. Left-hander Paul Wheeler went two innings, allowing three runs before Gomez allowed one baserunner via a walk and recorded a strikeout to seal it.

Hitting continued to find its stride, as well. Three Crawdads' hitters recorded multi-hit games while two of them, alongside catcher Brandon Clizbe, registered double-digit RBI. Outfielders Daniel Polasek and Shane Aldridge, alongside third baseman Aidan Robles, were the three to record multi-hit games.

Polasek went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, two RBI and two walks. Robles went 2-for-6 with an RBI and Aldridge went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, two RBI and one walk. Polasek, who mentioned recent struggles he's felt he's gone through, talked about how doing the little things contributed to the offensive success today, especially for him.

"When there's runners on base, doing anything in my power to make sure I do the job is important," Polasek said. "If there is a runner on third, instead of strikeout, make sure (I) put it on the ground, get a sac fly,. They're small things, but it goes a long way for the offense."

Despite clinching, the Crawdads have one more regular season game to play. It will be against Menlo Park on Sunday, July 26 at Monte Vista High School at 4:00 p.m. PDT.