HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Helix, Brady Take Their Turn at Grossmont Tournament Title

El Capitan High had already unveiled its surprise in the inaugural Grossmont Conference Baseball Tournament.

Friday, in the championship, it was Helix’s and Jason Brady’s turn.

Brady, a right-handed hitting junior first baseman, broke open the deadlocked game in the top of the seventh inning with a two-out, bases-loaded, two-run single to lift the Highlanders to a 5-3 victory and the title.

For Brady, who bats eighth and had been lifted in favor of a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning, these were RBIs Nos. 4 and 5 in his varsity career.

They couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. Helix had stranded eight runners to that point, including three in the third and two in the second without scoring in either inning, and El Capitan had the top of its order due up in the bottom of the seventh.

“We knew what we had to do, and I was just fortunate to be in that position,” said Brady, who finished with two hits in three at-bats. “I like batting in that situation. I wasn’t nervous at all.”

Prior to Brady’s heroics, Brad Werdick reached first on a fielding error to begin the seventh, and Mario Sanchez singled to right. After a foul out and a balk call on reliever Ben Kindreich (1-1), Adam Bright was walked intentionally and Ryan Smith struck out.

Brady, who entered Friday’s game with a .278 average and had re-entered after Cole Holland batted for him earlier, lined the second pitch he saw into center field.

Helix Coach Jerry Schniepp said he had Holland hit for Brady to lead off the fourth because Holland is quicker and left-handed, and the Vaqueros had a right-hander, Mike Henderson, on the mound.

With the game on the line in the seventh, Schniepp said he never hesitated going with Brady. “He’s the kind of kid who loves working in that situation,” Schniepp said.

El Capitan loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with one out, but Sanchez, Helix’s left-handed sophomore reliever, struck out the next two batters to earn his third save. Sanchez was called on in the seventh after Smith, a senior left-handed starter, walked the first two batters. Smith improved to 4-1.

Helix (9-5) won its fourth consecutive game since losing to El Capitan, 9-3, during the 2-A vs. 3-A round-robin competition.

El Capitan (8-5) had won all five of its round-robin games, including a 7-3 victory over Grossmont on Wednesday, which was Grossmont’s first loss in 29 games over 370 days.

“We passed up too many opportunities today,” El Capitan Coach Steve Vickery said. “And we gave them one too many.”

Said Schniepp: “To be honest, I don’t think we played that well today. We played really hard, though, and sometimes that’s enough. The key was we battled.”