Cabrillo outlasts St Joseph in 12 innings in CIF semifinal showdown

LOMPOC, Calif. - It was quite a birthday celebration for Cabrillo.

Ray Hernandez made sure his entire team had fun on his 17th birthday as he singled in Blake Gregory in the bottom of the 12th inning to set off a wild celebration as the Conquistadores edged St. Joseph 2-1 in a CIF-Central Section Division 2 semifinal.

Cabrillo will play #1 seed Bakersfield Christian in the championship game on Friday, May 26 at Valley Strong Ballpark in Visalia starting at 7:30.

Bakersfield Christian beat Lompoc 5-1 to advance to the title game.

Conquistadores ace Gage Mattis and St. Joseph lefty Omar Reynoso were outstanding on the mound as they traded strikeouts and put up zeros on the scoreboard.

Cabrillo snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth on a catcher's interference call.

The game stayed 1-0 until the top of seventh inning.

The visiting Knights were down to their final out but Charlie Ward extended the season with a run-scoring single to plate Erik Furness.

Mattis left the game after eight innings striking out 8 batters.

The Righetti-transfer Reynoso struck out 9 in nine innings of work.

Cabrillo had a runner thrown out at the plate in the eighth inning.

But in the bottom of the 12th inning Hernandez finally ended it with the walk-off hit to send Cabrillo into the finals.