-Blade Contributing writer Central Arizona College Baseball beat

It was 103 degrees (but it's a dry heat!) on May 14th, 2022., and it was very comfortable and quiet in the new Central press box.

The final game of the best-of-three, The Cochise Apaches and the Central Arizona College Vaqueros. The series was 1-1, Cochise winning game one, 3-1, and Central winning game two, 9-4.

The winner of this day's game heads to the District Finals in the upcoming week, and from there, it's the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, CO.

The press box consisted of the P.A announcer Jeff Schapira, the father of Calvin Schapira, a Central fireballer in the 2019-20 season, the year, if you recall, that didn't count. Calvin is now pitching at Purdue. Pinal Central Sports beat writer Ed Petruska, with his scorebook, was in attendance, myself with my Canon 70D, also, Chuck Schnoor, the newly-retired Central Athletics Director. He was a New York Met as an infielder from 1980 until about 1984, mostly minor league work.

And the Central player of the day, didn't catch his name, who keeps the scoreboard updated. The balls and strikes, the outs, the score, etc.

And since this player had to pay attention to every second, he was pretty much excluded from the conversation.

The Press Box Conversation in the bottom of the sixth started after that run scored, and lasted until the top of the ninth.

The score was 2-1 Central, and they had just inched ahead when Kiko Romero scored on an infield ground out.

Please pause to think of that.

Three bases including home, starting at first, on an infield ground out.

With no errors.

They don't put mental errors in the box score.

But even today, we "baseball savants" are not even sure there was a mental error.

With the score 1-1, with one out and Romero on first after tying the game with a single to center scoring Jaylin Rae, Blake Avila steps to the plate, and head coach/third base coach Anthony Gilich gave the "run and hit" signal, so the speedy Romero will be running, Avila will be swinging.

Avila hit a chopping routine grounder to third on the next pitch that Aaron Marsh played nicely and threw Avila out, but Romero kept running, right through second base, there was nobody covering third base, and for all we know, Romero probably would have still gone anyway, knowing him.

This is Romero's call, he doesn't have time to look at the third base coach for direction, it's an instinct decision.

"That's his call entirely" the head coach affirmed afterwards.

This is a decision that will earn a player accolades beyond all accolades for player IQ when it works, but if it doesn't, then the savants will say "why did he take that chance when he's already on second base and a base hit will score him?"

Because hits were at an absolute premium with the pitcher of the year, Marco Ozuna on the mound.

That's why.

Central managed just two hits off him in six innings, while he was striking out seven.

Romero got up from his slide, noticed, all in a split second, that nobody was at home as the catcher, Connor Caskanette, had run down to cover third because nobody was there, and Marco caught on at the last second and raced for home from the mound, but it was too late.

Romero scored standing up, and Central had the lead at 2-1, and in this game, that's a big lead.

Avila was given an rbi on a groundout to third with a man on first.

With Drew Sommers on for Central and Ozuna still on for Cochise, the score remained 2-1 until the top of the ninth.

But while Ozuna and Sommers were striking everyone out in the meantime, The Press Box Conversation continued, and human nature is to find someone who is at fault for nobody being at the plate.

Or third.

Who made the mental error?

You can't fault the third baseman, he is making a play.

You can't fault the shortstop for not covering third really, because he is playing the shift towards second against the left-handed Avila. 

Can you fault the catcher for heading to third because it was empty? I've seen pros do that at least twice in this situation.

Can you fault Ozuna for not heading to home and cover when Caskanette took off to third?

 Not really, kind of. Because when, ever in his life, has the catcher not been on the plate for a play?

All this is happening in maybe three seconds.

Schapira: "That kind of play happens once in a blue moon. How do you coach that?"

Schnoor: "That shortstop has to get to third"

Me: "Maybe the catcher yells at the pitcher "COVER HOME" while he's running to cover third.

Petruska: "The catcher should never leave home plate open in this situation."

Unknown Central player manning the scoreboard stares straight ahead with impish grin, says nothing.

In the end, two things remain clear, and the first is, there's really no fault to be assessed. But I can assure you this; each one of those infielders and the pitcher is saying to himself "I should have...."

The second is, it was just an all-out heads up play by a "High IQ player" as Gilich calls him.

"I'd like to take credit for sending him, but he noticed even before I did" said Gilich about home plate being uncovered.

What followed in the top of the ninth, is the likes of which I have never seen in my fifty plus years of baseball. 

I've never even heard urban legend stories about this kind of play. Maybe even Ty Cobb never did this. 

With Central still leading 2-1, Cochise had runners on second and third with one out and Sommers got the biggest K of the game for the second out.

Somehow, the next Apache batter worked Sommers to a full count, and in the stretch, pinch-runner on third Leobardo Melendez took off.

Sommers stepped off when he noticed Melendez running, fired a nice throw home, catcher Trey Newman applied the tag, and the call was safe.

Now, I promise to you, that I saw the out signal coming from the umpire, before he transitioned his arms to the safe call. That's how close this play was. 

"Oh he looked safe. He was safe" said Gilich.

A steal of home with two outs and two strikes and a base open. In the top of the ninth, with your season on the line.

If that runner is out, you jump on the bus for the last time.

What a call. 

Gutsy beyond gutsy.

But then again, what other choice do you have when the pitcher is striking out all your batters?

After plays like this, you all of a sudden start asking yourself who the Cochise head coach is.

Todd Inglehart.

"I wish nothing but the best to CAC" he said afterwards.

"Until next February."

The tension between the fans and players and coaches couldn't even be cut with a knife, the entire game.

And I forgot my pillbox.

But, so fans of baseball, this has been two layers of a baseball game that had many more layers than two.

The called seven pick-off throws to first base from Gilich to finally pick off the speedy Melendez who was certainly going to steal.

The choice of Vinnie Lagatta to pinch hit in the bottom of the fifteenth, who knocked it over the oleanders in right. He was told to get on base, that's it. And he bought it hook-line-sinker. That's when they go out isn't it?

The way Tyler Griggs got the whole crowd completely fired up by himself in the ninth.

The completely unexpected (from me anyway) brilliant 5.1 innings from starter Jose Velasquez. The question was asked whether Inglehart would start their ace Meza on a day's rest, or even Ozuna, then bring in Meza.

Because you just never know.

And it ended in a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the fifteenth. 

"We had Vinnie in the cages maybe ten times getting ready for a pinch-hit situation" said Gilich.

"We even talked about Logan Valencia pulling a Kirk Gibson for us" he continued with that classic half-smile.

Valencia got off to a hot start at the beginning of the season before getting injured shortly after.

As Schnoor has said and it has stuck with me since he said it many years ago, "the toughest part of winning this JUCO World Series is getting out of the conference."