Josh Clavel started on the mound for Canyon Hills.  Clavel survived a rugged first after walking the leadoff hitter, but then picking up two quick outs with a 6-4-3 double play.  He didn't fair so lucky as the 3rd Creekside hitter of the game lined a home run over the right center fence.  Facing a back-to-back homerun situation, Canyon Hills was brought to its feet as Wes Nelson crashed through the right field fence to end the inning.

Down 1-0, the hitting game started slowly for Canyon Hills but with a lot of noise as the first four batters hit line drives during their at-bats without anyone reaching base, before Josh Thomasson's single with one out in the second.  However, fly balls off the bats of Nelson and Jon Box were hauled in to end the threat.

With Clavel holding Creekside to their first inning run, Canyon Hills took control of the game with an 11 run 3rd inning.  Following a walk to Gabe Bernardo and Clavel being hit by a pitch, Jay Schellin singled and Chase Deushane doubled, giving Canyon Hills a 2-1 lead.  An intentional walk to Trent Rangel, a 2-run single from Steven Ortiz, and another walk to Nelson gave Box another chance to drive in a run.  He didn't disappoint as he hammered the first pitch deep over the right field fence for a grand slam homerun.  But the bottom of the third was not quite over.  Bernardo and Clavel were once again walked and hit by a pitch, with Jay Schellin following with his second hit of the inning, before a fielder's choice off the bat of Deushane, another walk to Rangel and another 2-run single from Ortiz gave Canyon Hills an 11-1 lead.

In the 4th inning, Nelson's second walk was followed by a walk to Ricardo Martin and a 2-run single from Clavel.  But Canyon Hills didn't know that it wasn't through for the evening, as a wild 5th inning was yet to occur.

Struggling to close out the game, Canyon Hills allowed Creekside to claw back into the game with a 7-run top of the fifth, as the plate suddenly became elusive.  But there was no holding down the Canyon Hills batters in the bottom of the fifth.  With one out, Collin Lee walked before Vahe Michaelian hammered a massive shot deep over the left field fence, raising the score to 15-8.  A walk to Drew Dufresne, a single by Bernardo, and a walk to Clavel loaded the bases, with Schellin forcing in a run with another walk.  Sean Santos, who had stopped the damage in the top of the inning, brought in a run hitting the ball up the middle, but with Clavel trying to score from second, the Creekside shortstop recovered the ball in time to just throw him out at the plate., But the game ended on the next pitch as Rangel singled in Schellin for an 18-8 victory.

Going into the top of the sixth inning, down 4-0 and having a no-hitter pitched against them, Canyon Hills came to life.  Ricardo Martin broke up the no-hitter with a bunt single, followed by singles from Jay Schellin, and with 2 outs Trent Rangel to cut the Montclair lead in half.  Running for Rangel, Collin Lee got the crowd in a frenzy as he stole second and took third on the misplayed throw. With Vahe Michaelian at bat, Lee took a huge lead from third and broke for the plate with Montclair's starting left-hander going through a full wind-up with his back to the runner.  As the pitch was made, the Montclair catcher rose for the ball, but missed it as Lee stole home!  After 5 1/2 innings Canyon Hills was back in a one run game.

After Deushane pitched 5 gritty innings, Josh Thomasson took the mound in the bottom of the 6th and keep Canyon Hills alive going to the 7th.  With one out, Wes Nelson got the crowd to rise with a drive to the right field corner that was chased down for the second out.  Next Jon Box brought the crowd back to life as he singled to become the tying run on base.  Out of the dugout once again, Lee was running the bases.  Martin followed with a single.  With the tying and go ahead runs on base, Lee broke for third, but was blocked by the third baseman short of the bag.   The ball arrived, the tag was applied, and the game was over.*****

*****In an effort to display sportsmanship, the editor may have tried to downplay the ending of the game.  || read ||

Down 1-0, and then 3-1, Canyon Hills would then only get one hit in each of the 4th, 5th, and 6th innings off the bats of Ricardo Martin, Drew Dufresne, and Josh Thomasson, with Sean Santos adding a walk in the 6th, but nothing to cut the deficit.

While the hitting stalled, the pitching kept Canyon Hills' hopes alive as Thomasson held UN to 3 runs through 3 innings.  Santos then relieved, striking out the first 4 hitters he faced and allowing only 1 hit in two plus innings.  But in the bottom of the sixth, Santos walked the first 2 batters before being relieved by Rangel.  Rangel struck out 2 to get out of the jam after allowing one runner to score, giving UN a 4-1 lead.

With their tournament lives in jeopardy, Canyon Hills unpacked their bats to start the 7th inning.  Three straight hits from Vahe Michaelian, Dufresne, and Deushane got scored one run, and an error off the bat of Rangel got Canyon Hills within 1 run with no outs.  Ortiz then grounded out to bring in Deushane and tie the game.  Next, Thomasson's grounder to third brought in Rangel with the lead run.  The rally ended, but the lead had changed.

In the bottom of the 7th, Thomasson returned to the mound to close the game.  Striking out the first batter and getting a strike on the second, Thomasson's momentum was blocked as Canyon Hills was flagged for putting Rangel back behind the plate.  Following a lengthy delay, and the position correction, Thomasson hit a batter and walked another before getting the final 2 outs on a sacrifice bunt and a grounder to Jon Box.

In the third inning, Deushane tripled and then scored on a passed ball, with Josh Thomasson later doubling and scoring to cut the OE lead to 5-4.  The fourth inning saw Canyon Hills take a 6-5 lead as Gabe Bernardo walked and scored on a Michaelian double, Schellin later followed with a home run as Canyon Hills was back on top.  But OE scratched back to tie in the bottom of the fourth, and despite a Steven Ortiz home run to lead off the fifth, OE put up 5 runs in their half of the inning to go up 11-7.  Wes Nelson and Trent Rangel pitched the first 5 innings for Canyon Hills, but were continually victimized by miscues and the harsh sun in the eyes of their fielders.

Singles by Deushane and Ryan Esse got Canyon Hills a run in the sixth, with Ortiz shutting down the OE hitters.  Entering the seventh down by 3 runs, Canyon Hills once again rose from the dead in a feverish comeback.  Singles to start the inning from Nelson, Sean Santos and Gabe Bernardo, were followed by a walk to Michaelian, a sac fly from Schellin and a single by Deushane to tie the game.  Next, Esse took the first pitch of his at bat over the left field wall for a three-run home run to give Canyon Hills the 14-11 lead.  Ortiz shut down OE in the seventh, and Canyon Hills escaped to play another day.

Down 3-0 in the third, Canyon Hills started to fight back.  A Deushane single, Rangel walk, and singles from Josh Thomasson and Nelson got Canyon Hills 3 runs and a tie game. But Montclair jumped back up by 3 in the top of the fourth.

Canyon Hills struck back in their half of the fourth with a single from Santos and a double double from Vahe Michaelian for a run, followed by singles from Jay Schellin, Deushane, and Steven Ortiz for another run.

With Santos taking the mound and holding Montclair in check, Thomasson walked in the bottom of the fifth, stole second, advanced to third on a bunt single from Jon Box, and scored on a Santos ground out to tie the game at 6.

Tied in the bottom of the sixth, Canyon Hills loaded the bases with no outs as Schellin was hit by a pitch, Deushane singled, and Ortiz walked.  But with two outs, Canyon Hills still had not scored.  Wes Nelson worked a full count on the Montclair pitcher before drawing a walk to give Canyon Hills a 7-6 lead.  But a wild pitch saw the end to the threat as Chase Deushane was called out attempting to score.

Montclair fought back in the seventh, scoring the tying run in a 7-7 game.  In the bottom of the inning, Canyon Hills put together a one out rally.  Santos and Michaelian singled, and with two outs Deushane collected his fourth hit of the game, driving in Santos with the game winning run, advancing Canyon Hills to the Championship Round.