West Ranch Baseball made history Saturday night, securing its first-ever Division 2 CIF-SS Championship with a 2-1 victory over Mater Dei at Cal State Fullerton’s Goodwin Field, in the midst of their head coach’s retirement tour.

The win marked a monumental moment for the Wildcats, who not only took home the title but also etched their names into the school’s history books as the first baseball team to win a CIF championship.

Remarkably, just a day prior, the team’s seniors were walking across the stage at graduation.

“It’s funny because it doesn’t even feel like we graduated, because we are still playing,” said starting pitcher and UC Irvine commit, Hunter Manning. “This is the biggest game of our career at West Ranch, and we all knew we had to be ready for this moment.”

For Head Coach Ryan Lindgreen, the championship served as a fitting finale to a long and successful tenure.

“These seniors are super talented, and we have a lot of them, and they have been battling through playoff run after playoff run, and for them to capture that is amazing,” said Lindgreen.

Adding to the emotional weight of the win, both Lindgreen and assistant coach Casey Burrill will be stepping down after this season.

“When they announced that we knew we had to do something special for them, and this was our main goal,” said Manning. “First, it was the league championship after coming in second place for like nine years in a row, and once we won that, our minds were on the CIF championship.”

Despite the personal milestones, Lindgreen downplayed his departure by saying his leaving is just a footnote and chose to focus on the players’ achievement.

The Wildcats wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Landon Hu scored at the top of the first inning. Their second and final run came in the fourth, when Ryan Oh hit an RBI double that brought Mikey Murr home.

Mikey Murr at bat for West Ranch during the CIF-SS Division 2 Championship. Photo by Mitzi Mandel.

Mater Dei threatened throughout the game with solid contact, but West Ranch’s defense was consistently sharp. 

In the fifth inning, Mater Dei’s Lawson Olmstead nearly homered, but his hit bounced off the back wall. Thanks to a heads-up play from the outfield, the Wildcats held him to just a double.

“Defense has been our backbone, and when we play clean baseball on defense, we feel like we can compete with anybody, especially with Hunter on the mound,” said Lindgreen. “The only ball that was really difficult was in the seventh, but every time we needed a defensive play, we made it.”

Hunter Manning pitching at the CIF-SS Division 2 Championship. Photo by Mitzi Mandel.

Manning delivered a stellar performance on the mound, striking out six batters – three of them in the first three innings. With Manning keeping hitters in check, the defense took care of everything else.

“It’s the best feeling to have guys that you can trust on defense and pitch to contact and not be scared of guys hitting the ball,” said Manning. “There was a couple of hard-hit balls by Mater Dei, and to have a centerfielder like Ryan Oh track down some balls, or to have Ty at shortstop and Omar at third, Mikey at left and everybody else is great.”

West Ranch remained in control until the bottom of the seventh, when Mater Dei scored its only run and had two runners on base, including one at third. With tension high, the game ended on a fly ball that was fouled and caught by none other than Manning himself.

Hunter Manning catches the game-winning ball. Photo by Mitzi Mandel.

Until that final inning, Mater Dei hadn’t had more than one runner on base at any time.

“It just shows that Hunter is that dominant and that when he’s going to throw three or four pitches for a strike, he’s going to make it really difficult for any hitter,” said Lindgreen. “To know that, that was their first two runners on base shows how good [Manning] is.”

Despite their championship win, West Ranch will not be advancing to the CIF SoCal Regional Championships. Mater Dei, however, will continue its season and face Crespi on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

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