Mustangs one and done

COSTA MESA — All game, Nick Pederson faced the same pitch.

In his final plate appearance with the Costa Mesa High baseball team, Pederson told himself it was coming again. Look for the outside fastball.

With a runner on first and two runs down, one swing of the bat ties the game and keeps the Mustangs’ season alive. An out ends it Thursday.

“He’s been throwing me fastballs all day,” Pederson reminded himself in the bottom of the seventh inning. “I knew he was going to come back.”

Palm Springs pitcher Chris Truitt came back with the heat, but he stopped Costa Mesa’s comeback.

Pederson was a tad late. The senior fouled out near the right-field line, a couple of feet away from the fence.

Instead of rounding the bases with a home-run trot, Pederson threw his helmet while on his way to second base. No need for it.

Pederson and the Mustangs were done at home. Palm Springs held on to win, 4-2, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs.

“I just missed it,” Pederson said. “If I hit that clean, it’s a whole different game.”

Costa Mesa’s clean-up hitter had the opportunity to possibly send the game into extra innings. Instead, the Mustangs’ opening playoff game ends just like the previous two, one and done, a disappointment.

Coach Jim Kiefer said his team had three goals this year, win a league championship for the first time in 31 years, set a school record with 20 victories, and reach the quarterfinals of the playoffs.

The first two accomplished in Kiefer’s fourth season at Costa Mesa (20-7). The last goal is now for next year.

Kiefer had a tough time in trying to get his first playoff victory. The situation became bleak in the first inning.

Palm Springs (14-8) jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to a three-run home run by Matt Burnside. The lefty clobbered the ball so hard it got the attention of the police officer on campus.

He could’ve turned the sirens on because the Mustangs were in danger early on in the playoffs again. They began last year’s wild-card game at home the same, falling behind early.

Starter Tyler Peterson settled down after a rough first inning. Peterson (7-2) held Palm Springs scoreless for the next six innings, striking out seven batters along the way.

The problem was Truitt (7-2) kept the Mustangs off balance with a curveball. In the fourth, singles by Brandon Kelly, Mikey Molina and Brian Waldron allowed Costa Mesa to cut the advantage in half. The Mustangs missed on a chance to even the score, or go ahead.

With runners on first and second, P.J. Maloney grounded out for the third out.

Truitt retired the Mustangs in order in the fifth and sixth. The seventh proved much harder.

Molina led off with a single. The next two batters were ahead in the count, but Truitt battled back and struck one out looking and the other swinging, giving him six strikeouts before facing Pederson.

“You had your best power hitter at the plate in the seventh inning. If they ask you that at the end of the game, you want that,” Kiefer said. “[He] just missed it, just missed it.”

CIF Southern Section

Division IV playoffs

First round

Palm Springs 4, Costa Mesa 2

SCORE BY INNINGS

Truitt and Olson; Peterson and Hirsch. W – Truitt, 7-2. L – Peterson, 7-2. 2B – Truitt (PS). HR – Burnside (PS).