James Bose, here against Santa Rosa in January, drove in the game-winner Saturday
West Valley was trailing by one and down to its final out when James Bose singled in Karter Wong and Alan Ramirez to lift the Vikings to an 8-7 win at Cabrillo Saturday. The victory was the 17th straight for WVC (26-6, 12-0 Coast-South) heading into this week's crucial three-game series with second place Ohlone.
Saturday's win in Aptos saw the Vikings climb out of 6-2 and 7-6 holes and, once again, demonstrated the "it's not over till it's over" attitude of coach Bobby Hill's squad.
Cabrillo (13-18, 6-6) put four across in the bottom of the second for the 6-2 lead, but the Vikings closed to within 6-4 with a two-spot in the third. WVC scored twice in the seventh to knot it up at 6-6, but the Seahawks snared the 7-6 advantage with a run in the eighth.
Wong and Ramirez both reached on one-out walks in the ninth and would come home with the tying and winning runs on the Bose single past Seita Shiratori at short. Dillon Haftorson came on to pitch the bottom of the ninth and, after surrendering a one-out single to Shiratori, got Nico Hilger to line out to Bose at short and Anthony Karaginnopoulos to fly out to Logan Stelling in right to end it.
Bose finished 3-for-5 with three RBI, including an RBI double in the third. Jayce Dobie went 2-for-3 with two RBI, while Ryan Lordier had two singles and scored twice. Haftorson picked up the win, and Adrian Valdez hurled a strong 4 2/3 innings of relief, striking out five, giving up one run and scattering four hits.
The Vikings and Ohlone (21-11, 8-4) take the field for game one Tuesday (4/9) in Fremont, with first pitch slated for 2:30pm. The series moves to Valhalla Thursday (2:30pm) and then back to Ohlone Saturday (1:00pm).
