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SIMI VALLEY — Pitcher Isaiah Magdaleno acknowledged he was nervous Friday morning ahead of Crespi baseball’s first-round playoff game against Grace Brethren.
Most of his teammates were feeling the same. The Celts were bounced in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 3 playoffs last season and here they were again, but this time in Division 2.
But once Crespi got onto the Lancers’ field, the nerves faded and the Celts cruised to a 9-0 win thanks to Magdaleno’s 6 2/3 hitless innings and nine strikeouts.
The Celts will host Simi Valley on Tuesday in the second round of the Division 2 playoffs.
Sidearm pitcher Caleel Shulman came in for the final out in relief.
“I was a little nervous all day at school, there’s that feeling of if you’re going to do well or not,” Magdaleno said. “But once I got to the park, we felt confident. I knew that all I had to do was execute my pitches and they were gonna make plays. It took my nerves away.”
Christopher Arce finished 3 for 4 at the plate with two RBIs and two runs. Magdaleno went 2 for 4 with four RBIs and Ethan Kodama was 2 for 4 with an RBI and two runs.
Crespi quickly put up three runs in the first inning. Arce bunted to get on base, then Landon Hodge followed up with a single. Magdaleno drove them both in with a single and Nathanael Lopez bunted later in the inning to score Kodama, who also reached first on a bunt.
“Our program is based on execution and we’re going to bunt until we find that it doesn’t work,” Celts coach Mike Glendenning said. “But I find that when we execute, it puts us in a good position and the game starts to slow down a little bit and it puts pressure on the defense.”
Arce added a run in the second inning on an RBI single and Crespi plated three more in the fourth inning. Kodama had a hand in two of them, first when he hit an RBI single and later when he…
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