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Comeback falls short as Pride bow out of playoffs
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Pitman's Brandon Leon pitches against Rio Americano during the playoff semi-final game Thursday afternoon (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

One of the deepest playoff runs in the history of the Pitman High School baseball program has come to an end, as the Pride’s 2023 season wrapped on Thursday after a 4-2 loss to the Rio Americano Raiders in the third and final game of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division II semifinals.

After a dominant 10-1 victory in the opening game of the series on Monday, the Pride offense was kept at bay by Rio Americano pitching. In game two on Wednesday, Fresno State-bound lefty Andrew Balentine’s six innings of four-hit, two-run, nine strikeout ball was outdone by Raiders righty Chase Christenson, who pitched 6 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball enroute to a 2-0 win.

On Thursday, Rio Americano’s Caden Beloian displayed similar dominance on the mound at the Pitman High ballfield, pitching a complete game and not surrendering a run until the sixth inning, when the Raiders held a 4-0 lead at the time.

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Cristian Jacinto heads home to score the first run for the Pride on a single by Aidan Garcia in the sixth inning of Thursday’s 4-2 loss against Rio Americano (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Pitman starter Brandon Leon gave up all four runs in 5 1/3 innings of work. The runs came across via RBI singles by Brady Wilson, Kyler Benton and Aiden Monnette (2). Wilson was arguably the most impactful of the bats, as the leadoff man had Leon pitching from the stretch throughout the day after reaching base all four plate appearances with two walks and two hits.

The Pride broke their streak of 12 innings of scoreless ball when Aidan Garcia slapped an RBI single to score Cristian Jacinto, who led off the sixth with a double. After cutting the deficit to 4-1, the Pride brought their second run across after a sharp grounder off the bat of Hunter Arellano ricocheted off the glove of Wilson at second base to score Karson Valenti, who also hit a leadoff double. A strikeout and fielder’s choice quickly extinguished any last-inning spark left in the Pride.

With the 4-2 loss, the Pride drop the best-of-three semifinal series to the Raiders 2-1. While the Raiders prepare for the Section championship game next week, the Pride will have a week of reflection ahead of them before turning in their uniforms and equipment to head coach Andy Walker and staff. And though the season didn’t end with the Pride lifting a blue banner in Sacramento, Walker believes that this year’s squad should be proud of what they have accomplished.

“The hard part of the playoffs is that there are 16 teams that enter, and 15 teams will feel the way we do. Only one can celebrate at the end.” Walker said. “You can’t hang your hat because this is just the way it goes. That’s the part about making it into the playoffs. It’s a lot of fun, but you can lose any day, and when you’re done, you’re done.”