LODI — The sting of defeat may linger for John DeVisser, Ripon Christian’s fiery baseball coach who endured his fair share losses for the Knights as a player in the late 1990s.
But it may take him even longer to get over the loss of a special senior group that just completed the program’s most accomplished season. On Monday, Southern League rival Mariposa fended off an inspired late-innings rally from Ripon Christian and won the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship game 11-7 at Zupo Field.
Mariposa (18-7) threatened to clinch its fifth section banner much earlier, holding a 10-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth. The Knights (23-6) fought off their backs and gave themselves a puncher’s chance in the end, only to fall short with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate.
“This is maybe one of my most favorite teams I’ve ever coached, and I’ve been doing this for 17 years,” DeVisser said. “They did things historically this school has never done.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow when you’re dealing with baseball, and the finality of it is just gut-wrenching,” he added.
DeVisser, a 2000 Ripon Christian graduate, never won a league game until his senior year. The 2016 Knights are the program’s most decorated after claiming the outright SL crown and ending Mariposa’s streak of six years with at least a share. Ripon Christian was ranked sixth among Division V schools in the state by Cal-Hi Sports going into its first-ever section final.
“We’re a program that’s putting guys through a college,” DeVisser said. “We’re a program that’s competitive every year. This group came in with expectations and that can be deadly, and they just said, ‘We’ll take your expectations and raise you this.’”
It was perhaps fitting that fourth-seeded Mariposa and No. 2 Ripon Christian settled the score in the section title game. They split their league games, with both teams winning come-from-behind, one-run thrillers in the bottom of the seventh. There was a chance of it happening in the rubber match.
“(The lead) is never (wide) enough when I’m coaching against these guys,” Mariposa’s Justin Kleinsmith said.
Injured senior Morgan Hughes stopped the bleeding and began the celebration.
Hughes earlier tagged a bases-clearing double in the Grizzlies’ decisive nine-run rally in the second, and in the seventh he struck out the only batter he faced in relief.
The Knights trailed 11-2 to start the home half of the inning and managed to scratch across five runs with just one hit. Jadon Vander Molen and Brian Thomas each had RBI walks, Michael Cummins drove in one while reaching on an error and Dominic Darretta plated another with a fielder’s choice.
Travis Zuidervaart drew a two-out walk — the fifth of the inning and 10th overall for Knights — to flood the bases again. Hughes, with a clear hobble in his gait, replaced Joseph Freitas (1 2/3 innings) on the mound, worked a 2-2 count against Connor McGovern and struck him out looking in the lefty-on-lefty match-up.
Ripon Christian No. 3 batter Willem Hoekstra was on deck with Westmont College-bound standout Travis Vander Molen in the hole.
Hughes played with a strained MCL sustained in a collision at the plate during the Grizzlies’ second of three semifinal games against top-seeded Bradshaw Christian. He’s their No. 2 pitcher behind ace Jake Williams (five innings, six strikeouts, five walks, three hits) and typically bats second in the order. He was placed in the No. 7 spot Monday.
“He’s definitely been a gamer for us this year,” Kleinsmith said. “It’s tough (dropping) him in the lineup, he’s one of our better hitters. He came up with some clutch hits, and coming into the seventh he wanted it. He told me ‘I’m ready coach.’”
Ripon Christian also proved to have gamers after a mistake-filled second inning put them in an insurmountable situation. Five walks, a hit batter and an infield throwing error helped Mariposa build its early 9-0 lead, but the Grizzlies also had big hits. After Williams was intentionally walked to load the bases, clean-up hitter Quinn Horvath laced a two-out, two-run single to left-center field. Hughes went 2 for 2 with four RBIs in the inning. Michael Medinas walked twice and scored twice.
Ripon Christian didn’t answer until the fifth when McGovern knocked in Darretta and was later plated on Travis Vander Molen’s fielder’s choice. Four Ripon Christian pitchers combined to walk nine and hit two but were also done in by three errors.
“The game can speed up if you’re not careful,” DeVisser said. “Once we got into a groove we were fine and we outscored them 6-2 after that extended inning. Once we settled into it we were good, but it just took a little bit.
“The problem is when you get into this game and you have to take a little bit to get into it you get what we got — a nine spot. We calmed down eventually and we got the tying run up in the last inning.”
And it was DeVisser’s last inning on the field with this special group of players.
“That’s what’s so much fun about this group, because they were little when we first started getting good. 2008 was the first time we made the playoffs in 10 years and only the second time in the history of our school. These guys were 8 or 9 coming to these games, so they grew up in this environment.
“I couldn’t be happier for the program and for these guys. We just have to keep churning this thing out.”
