.png)
COVINA, CA - In a day that began with mutual frustration all around the baseball field, the Pirates dugout ended up with the brunt of it, with a double digit loss in a playoff game that was delayed over an hour due to the umpires' late arrival.
Once things finally got underway at Charter Oak High School, it was a pitchers' duel for the first few innings, with no runs and just three hits between the two teams. Ventura County starter Derek Potts had warmed up, cooled off, warmed up again, and then thrown for three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four Inland Valley Pirates batters. In the fourth inning, Ventura County were just a few feet short of striking first, but instead the inning ended on a baserunner being thrown out at home on Ian McIntyre's double. The Inland Valley side then batted around in the bottom of the inning, scoring seven runs on five hits.
Ventura did respond with a couple runs in the fifth, as Jason Ajamian drove in Andrew Tovar, and Bradley Chesterton scored Dante Zamudio on a sacrifice fly to center field. Unfortunately Inland Valley responded with three runs in the bottom half, and after Kyle Soberano scored in the sixth off McIntyre's RBI single, Inland Valley responded with yet another three runs and held on for a 13-3 win. The victory earned the Inland Valley Pirates a berth in the inaugural Best of the West Division Championship, while Ventura County will face the Long Beach Legends once more, with the winner heading to the championship for a best of three series.