After a 16-11 regular season and 4-6 showing during the Bucs’ first season in a difficult Eastern League, Mission Bay had done enough to earn a spot in the CIF playoffs con the No.11 seed en Div. III.
As the second lowest seed in the tournament, Mission Bay would need to embrace the role of underdog if they wanted to make a deep push this postseason. Still, even as the No.11 seed, the Bucs had plenty of reason to believe they could knock off the top teams in Div. III. In their final game of the regular season, they beat Div. II playoff team Coronado.
For their opening round bout, Mission Bay would make the 25-mile drive south to take on the No. 6 seed San Ysidro, the regular season champions of the Metro South League.
Mission Bay would play the six-seeded Cougars tight, but ultimately they would fall in the opening round 3-2, eliminating them from the playoffs.
bucs head coach Kenny Hood would give the elimination game start to junior Van Playman. Playman, a pitcher who thrives on pitching and inducing soft contact, would give his team an excellent start. The right-hander worked five innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits and one walk while striking out three.
Playman would also receive some quality defense behind him, as shortstop Mason Gallego would keep busy, recording four assists in the afternoon. While in the outfield, Owen Oswald would remain active as he would track down fly ball after fall ball, recording five total put-outs on the day.
While Playman dealt on the mound, Mission Bays bats would not provide much run support. The Bucs collected six hits on the afternoon. The only multi-hit performance came from Ruben Gallego, who would go 2-for-4 with two stolen bases. Mission Bay had one extra-base hit, a ringing double from Gavin Marzion.
The lone RBI on the afternoon would be provided by Oswald, while the other Mission Bay run would come via an error that scored Marzion. Even with the lack of hits, the opportunity for more runs was there. Mission Bay left seven men on base.
Mission Bay kept eso at 2-2 heading to the sevenel. Following Playman’s five quality innings on the mound, Mission Bay would turn to Kaden Jones, who worked a quality 6th inning. With two outs in the bottom of the 7th, the Cougars connected on a walk-off base hit to win the game.
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