A monster two-run home run to right field in the top of the first, coupled with 11 strikeouts through six innings on the mound from junior Jayden Badhesha, led the Woodland Christian baseball team to its second consecutive CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title game following a 5-1 win over Bear River Tuesday.

After taking home the CIF SJS D7 title last year with a win over Valley Christian, the Cardinals (26-6, 14-0 Sierra Delta League) ran it back in D6 this season, ending the year with back-to-back section championships.

“It feels really good to win,” Jayden Badhesha said. “We have been working all season to go back-to-back. Now our goal is to do it again in the NorCal state tournament.”

Following a season as assistant coach for the Cardinals last year, Nelson Randolph was promptly promoted to head coach after former head coach John Rodegerdts retired as head man last June.

While Randolph may have been new to Woodland Christian, he was not new to winning or being in charge of a program, having built a dynasty over at Capital Christian, winning seven section championships while also coming in runner-up four other times.

While he made it eight championships on Tuesday, it was not in any way less special.

“Coming off of last year, it was one of those things, where we asked ourselves, ‘Are we able to go back-to-back?’” Randolph said. “Only my title changed, but it was still a good feeling finding out that I still had it as a head coach. When you are an assistant, you do a lot of things and maybe don’t get the credit, but this year was very rewarding.

“This title is special because of the kids you have and the work you put into it. It was more teaching here because a lot of the kids didn’t play high-end travel ball. So winning it all again and continuing the turnaround was very rewarding.”

The Cardinals rode into Tuesday evening’s title game at Sacramento City College following a 14-2 road win over Colfax last Wednesday, capping off a tidy two-game series sweep in the D6 semifinals. Before that, they endured a tight 5-3 game one home win on Monday, May 12, to set up the sweep.

In the quarterfinals on May 8, the No. 2-seeded Cardinals dispatched the No. 7-seeded Summerville 10-0 after a 15-1 win over Humphreys Able Charter in the D6 opening round on May 6.

Bear River (19-8-1, 6-5-1 Pioneer Valley League) came into the matchup as the D6 No. 1 overall seed following a third-place finish in the PVL behind Lincoln and undefeated champions Oakmont. They used that seeding to enjoy home playoff games throughout the playoffs, starting with a 17-4 first-round win over No. 16 seed Leroy Greene Academy, a 4-3 quarterfinal win over No. 8 Gustine and a 2-1 victory over Amador in the semifinals.

“We didn’t know much about them, but I knew they had a tough lefty that was going to pitch,” Randolph said. “They also played in a D5 league, and their competition was tough. We knew all the little things we wanted to work on, and they came to fruition during the game.

“I have to give some credit to my assistant, Danny Mann, who gives us ideas of what the pitcher and catcher like to do. He gives us an idea of everyone we are playing.”

In the top of the first, before even throwing a pitch, Jayden helped out his own cause in the most explosive way possible with a 2-run home run, driving in himself and junior Jordan Villanueva to instantly take a 2-0 lead.

“It was a breath of fresh air,” Randolph said. “We knew who we were going up against. Once he hit it, it was a huge sigh of relief. It was kinda like in “Rocky IV” where Rocky finally makes Ivan Drago bleed. Their pitcher was something special on the mound, but when we hit that home run off him, we saw that he could bleed and that he was hittable.”

“It felt so good,” Jayden recalled. “I imagined it the day before, thinking, ‘What if I hit a home run?’ Then I did it. It was huge to get those two RBIs in early. It was a fastball up and in. I just tried to get a barrel on it and did so. It was a really good at-bat and I’ll never forget that home run.”

A few batters later, fellow junior and Jayden’s brother, Armaan Badhesha, reached base on an error that managed to score senior Jandro Torres to make it 3-0.

In the bottom of the first, Badhesha got to work on that punchout total with two in the first and one in the second. In the top of the third, Armaan would hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring senior Jeffrey Nannini to give the Cardinals a 4-0 lead.

While he managed to pitch in with an RBI, Armaan also served a critical role for the Cardinals’ defense as the team’s tried and trusted catcher, a role that seems increasingly hard to fill due to the day-to-day grind of the position.

As brothers, the sheer amount of innings pitched together could go a long way in creating any type of competitive edge out on the diamond.

“When Jayden’s just hitting his spots and painting the corners, it makes my job a lot easier behind the plate,” Armaan said. “I try to help him by stealing a few strikes with framing or by blocking any ball for him if he needs to throw a pitch in the dirt. All of the pitchers can trust me.

“I’ve been catching him my whole life, and we are basically one. I know how his pitches move, and they are so nasty so we like to try to stay one step ahead of the batters.”

After Badhesha racked up two more strikeouts in the bottom of the third, the Cardinals once again got an insurance run in the top of the fourth after Villanueva doubled to left, scoring sophomore Billy Flowers to go up 5-0.

Villnueva finished with a game-high 2 hits, along with an RBI and a run scored. Torres also had 2 hits to go with his run scored.

Badhesha went on to strike out the side in the bottom of the fourth and then get two more in the bottom of the fifth before his 11th and final strikeout in the bottom of the sixth inning, where he ended up giving up a run on a sac fly to left field that made it 5-1.

“I was nervous in the first inning, but the more runs we got, the more confident I got,” Badhesha said. “Once I realized they couldn’t hit my change-up, I kept throwing it. I don’t think about strikeouts, I just move on to the next batter and try to focus on that.”

Badhesha finished his six innings with the 11 strikeouts mentioned above, allowing 3 walks, 1 run, and 3 hits.

“He was awesome,” Randolph said. “He was unflappable. He’s a special kid. He’s very crafty out there, mixes his speeds very well, and makes a good move to first base.”

The senior duo of Kyle Misner and Wyatt Traffican came on to slam the door shut in the bottom of the seventh, with Traffican striking out the final batter, leading to a huge celebration on the mound as the Cardinals once again became section champions.

Up next will be the NorCal State Tournament, which the Cardinals also managed to win last season. Matchups, seeding, and locations will be announced later next week.

“We are not satisfied,” Jayden said. “We’ll go right back to work tomorrow and go for it in the state tournament. We just need to work harder than the other team we are going to play.”