The first game of the best-of-three playoff series between 8th-seed Cuesta and 17th-seed Los Angeles Valley was a ten-inning stalemate that, eventually, went to Cuesta. Cuesta Starter Jackson Cloud dominated the first few innings of the game by striking out the first nine Monarchs he faced in order. He issued a walk to start his second swing through their line-up, but carried his shutout into the 8th inning, when he was relieved by Robinson Lardner. Lardner held their combined shutout in place for the next three innings, while striking out four more Monarch. He earned the victory after the Cougars finally scored a run in the 10th inning. Cuesta's offense struggled to get a run past LA Valley Starter Danny Veloz and stranded runners in seven of the first nine innings, including twice with the bases loaded, but came through in the 10th frame. The Monarchs went to the bullpen in the 8th inning and after two more scoreless innings, Cuesta's All-WSC Centerfielder Ethan Royal (pict) finally crossed the plate. Royal opened the 10th with a single and was advanced to second by Third Baseman Robert Mansour's sacrifice bunt. A few moments later, he came around to score the winning run on All-WSC Rightfielder Mattias Sessing's walk-off, RBI-single to right-center gap to end the game, 1-0. The contest's four pitchers, two for each team, were all at the top of their game and did not allow any batters to collect more than one hit on the day, while doubles by LA Valley's Max Aude and Cuesta's Aidan Weinstein represented the only extra-base hits allowed. The Cougars take their one-game lead into the series' final day with the hopes of reaching the second round for the first time since 2016.
The series shall continue tomorrow with Game 2 of the best-of-three series starting at 11 AM. If LA Valley wins the morning contest, the deciding Game 3 will begin thirty minutes after the last out.
