3A high school baseball: Juan Diego soars into 3A semis

DRAPER — Juan Diego's Steve Cramblitt has been coaching for nearly 25 years and has more than 400 wins under his belt. So when he called it one of the best pitching performances he had ever seen, Caleb Olson's performance on the mound must have been something special.

It was.

In picking up a 3-0 win in the 3A playoffs over Morgan Saturday afternoon, the lefty allowed only two hits, struck out 16 batters and faced only three hitters over the minimum.

"That was probably the best game I have ever pitched," said Olson. "I don't know what it was, but everything just seemed to be working for me today. They couldn't hit my fastball. My changeup kept them off balance, and my curveball was giving them problems. It was just a great day for me."

It was unfortunate for Morgan starter Parker Winchester that he ran up against the likes of Olson on the day of his perfect-storm performance. The Trojan hurler did his best to keep his team in the game. He scattered six hits over six innings, struck out four, walked only one while giving up the three runs.

"You have to give their pitcher some credit," said Cramblitt. "He never let us get comfortable at the plate, and he didn't let us run against him when we did get on base."

The pitcher's duel was cruising along until the Soaring Eagle's Matt Semancik came to the plate to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. He took a high fastball and crushed it over the left-center fence for the only run Olson really needed. AJ Begay added a couple of insurance runs in the sixth inning when he hit a two-run homer to the opposite field in right.

"When Matt hit that first one I really thought that might be the only run I would need the way I was feeling," said Olson. "AJ adding those two more runs just really gave me the confidence to know we were going to win."

Olson's confidence not only that his team would advance to next week's winner's bracket semifinals, but in his own ability is one of the things Cramblitt said makes the lefty successful.

"He has confidence that he can win, and that is a huge deal for a pitcher," Cramblitt said. "He has a lot of movement on his fastball. He can run it in on the hands or away from a guy. He locates his fastball, and he can throw his curve for a strike."

The three-run margin of victory matched the closest for Juan Diego on the season in its 21 wins. The fact the team could win a close game was encouraging for the Soaring Eagle as they try to capture their first 3A baseball title next week.

"I thought the kids did a good job under pressure," Cramblitt added. "We haven't had a lot of close games, but if you want to win a championship, you are going to have to win a couple of close ones. I was encouraged by how they responded to the challenge."

E-mail: mblack@desnews.com