The Cerritos College Birds secured a crucial playoff victory, advancing to the next round with momentum and confidence.
Derrick Valdez went through seven innings with seven strikeouts limiting the opposition to just one run, even as pressure mounted in the late innings.
“I feel good. I’m just glad we won,” Valdez said after the game, brushing off his individual stats, “At the end of the day, we could eat some good barbecue right now.”
Valdez faced trouble early in the first inning as opposing hitters managed to get on base, but he quickly adjusted by leaning on his fundamentals.
“I knew that if I executed my pitches and trusted our defense, we were going to be okay,” he said, “Early on, I was trying to do too much.”
That trust paid off. Valdez settled in, keeping runners out of scoring position for most of the middle innings. Even when fatigue began to set in during the sixth and seventh innings Valdez dug deep.
“In the playoffs, you have to do as much as you can. I knew if I kept us in it, our offense would click,” he said.
Head coach of the Falcons, Nate Fernley praised his ace. “He’s the guy we want in a big game,” Fernley said. “He just battles. I’ve seen it for two years now—it’s going to be sad when he’s gone.”
Offensively, the Birds struggled early, something Fernley acknowledged. “We were a little undisciplined at the plate,” he said, “We’ve worked all year on staying in the zone, and I think the playoff emotions got to us a little.”
Despite the slow start, the small-ball strategy helped swing momentum. In the fifth inning, Cerritos executed two successful bunts to set the table, one of which was initiated independently by the hitter.
Then came Brody Cuellar’s game-changing moment—a bases-loaded, three-run double that gave Cerritos the lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“It felt really good,” said Cuellar, who had been sidelined with an injury for three weeks. “We’ve been thinking about this since the fall—getting one step closer to a ring. Just trusting the process and what I’ve put in for the past eight months.”
Cuellar, despite an earlier base running miscue, rebounded with confidence, “It looked like a beach ball up there,” he said of the pitch he drove down the line. “I was ready to hit the whole time.”
Looking ahead, both Cuellar and Valdez emphasized refinement. “We need better team at-bats,” Cuellar said. “There were too many ball fours we didn’t take.” Valdez echoed a focus on command: “I’m looking to throw more first-pitch strikes and work down in the zone.”
With momentum and lessons learned, Cerritos is ready for the next round. As Valdez summed up with a grin: “Go Birds.”
Isaac Cordon contributed to the story.
