Cate capped a come-from-behind win with a walk-off sacrifice fly by freshman Declan Forest in the bottom of the seventh to beat Thacher 9-8 in Frontier League action at home on Thursday.
A six-run sixth inning by the Toads for a 6-2 lead was answered in the bottom of the inning, as the Rams scored four to tie the game. Thacher answered with two runs in the top of the seventh to take an 8-6 lead, setting the table for Cate heroics in the bottom of the frame.
First, Ram sophomore Emmett Mack reached on an error, and senior Daniel Panadero hit a single. Mack came around to score on a wild pitch with some aggressive base running to cut the Toad lead to one. With Panadero at second, John Endres singled to bring in the tying run.
Endres then stole second and forced the Thacher pitcher into a balk, moving to third, before Forest’s deep sac fly to left sent him home.
“There isn’t much to say about this game other than ‘wow.’” Cate coach David Soto said. “We had every reason to hang our heads and quit, but this group refused to give up and battled back. The heart and effort we showed in the late innings was inspiring and will hopefully springboard us the rest of the season. I’m so, so, so proud of this group.”
The undefeated Rams travel to Ojai on Saturday to take on OVS with a 2 p.m. start.