Walk-off by Horn puts Panthers in 2nd round

PREP BASEBALL

Chico prevails in back-and-forth battle with Pleasant Valley in section playoff regionals

Pleasant Valley High’s Colton Fleck doubles to right field in the second inning during round two of the Northern Section Division II Super Regional playoffs against Chico on Friday at Skip McDonald Field in Chico. BEN MOTA, ALL AXIS SPORTS — CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

Pleasant Valley High’s Scotty McKeown, right, dives head-first into home plate but is tagged out by Chico catcher Ryan Heym, left, on Friday.

Pleasant Valley High’s Colton Fleck, left, is called safe at home to tie the game 4-4 as Chico catcher Ryan Heym, right, makes his case to the home plate umpire in the seventh inning Friday.

Chico High’s Alex Schukei hits an RBI single for a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning against Pleasant Valley on Friday.

Chico High’s Luke Henderson knocks in a run with a base hit in the bottom of the first inning on Friday.

Pleasant Valley High infielder Braedon Tatreau winds up to throw to first base for an out in the bottom of the second inning Friday.

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By Justin Couchot

jcouchot@chicoer.com

CHICO >> A line drive walk-off single by Chico High’s Tanner Horn pushed the Panthers to the second round of the Northern Section Division II Super Regional Playoffs on Friday afternoon at Skip McDonald Field in Chico.

The top-seeded Panthers defeated cross-town rival and No. 4 Pleasant Valley 5-4 in the double-elimination bracket.

With the score tied 4-4, Pleasant Valley pitcher Trent Soinila walked Jaxxon Tweedt to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning. Miles Humbert and Blake Bettencourt both reached on bunts to load the bases before Horn’s line-drive single up the middle scored Tweedt with the game-winning run.

Chico head coach Brian Thomas praised Tweedt’s at-bat to lead off the inning, saying “He had a great at-bat fouling off numerous pitches and getting deep into the count before drawing a walk.”

Chico (26-1) now advances to the semifinals, where it will face No. 2 seed Red Bluff (18-11). Pleasant Valley (15-15) falls to the losers’ bracket and will face No. 6 Foothill (11-15) in an elimination game. Red Bluff defeated Foothill 2-0 on Friday.

Thomas said Carter Miles will start the 1 p.m. game Tuesday against Red Bluff. Should Chico win they will advance to the championship game Saturday, and if the Panthers lose they will fall to the losers’ bracket and play again at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

The Vikings took an early lead, scoring twice in the top of the first. Chico scored once in the bottom half of the inning.

After that it was a pitcher’s dual between Chico’s Vince Boatwright, a sophomore, and PV sophomore Brayden Borges until the sixth inning.

Boatwright allowed one hit and one walk in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings combined. Borges allowed one hit and two walks in that same timespan.

In the bottom of the sixth Chico scored three runs and appeared to take control. Luke Henderson led off with a single to left field, Blake Bettencourt reached on a sacrifice bunt and an error by Borges, Horn reached on a sacrifice bunt that the umpire called the second baseman covering first off the base, and then Abrahan Medina singled to right field to score the runner from third and tie the game at 2-2.

Alex Schukei hit a hard ground ball to Pleasant Valley shortstop Lucas Benson, who got a bad hop. The ball went into center field and scored two runs to give the Panthers a 4-2 lead.

The Vikings responded with two runs of their own in the seventh inning to tie the game. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases and forced Thomas to change pitchers from Boatwright to Jaden Neugebauer.

Neugebauer got the first batter to ground out to third base, but Scotty McKeown singled up the middle to score Braedon Tatreau and Holden Franks. Neugebauer then got Brayden Wynkoop to strike out with runners at first and second before Benson struck out looking and was ejected for arguing with the umpire.

Northern Section commissioner Scott Johnson said an ejection is between a one-to-three game suspension depending on the severity. That determination will be made Monday, Johnson said, if the umpires turn in an ejection report.

Neugebauer pitched one inning and allowed one hit and struck out two, throwing 18 pitches. Boatwright pitched six innings and allowed six hits, four earned runs, three walks and struck out five while throwing 98 pitches.

Pleasant Valley starting pitcher Borges threw 74 pitches in six innings of work and allowed five hits, four runs (one earned), walked two and struck out two.

Henderson had a team-high two hits for Chico. Schukei had two RBIs. Henderson, Medina and Horn had one RBI each.

Dominic Borges and Colton Fleck had two hits each for PV, and Giuseppe Bianchi and McKeown had two RBIs each.