SARATOGA -- With just eight games remaining in the regular season, No. 25 West Valley fully acknowledges where it stands. After a series loss at the hands of Cabrillo, the Vikings (21-11, 7-6 Coast-South) had all momentum off their side, as losers of 3-of-4 games. Entering the opener against No. 3 Ohlone, which had just come off a series victory of its own against Hartnell, West Valley trailed the conference by five games and trailed second place by a game. Against the Renegades (28-4, 11-2 Coast-South), the Vikings whittled down both of those numbers on their push to a postseason berth, doing so in convincing fashion with a 15-3 victory.

"Going into today with eight games left, we had a discussion yesterday," said head coach Bobby Hill, "and I just told the guys, 'we just got to take one inning at a time, one day at a time, and just play our game'. And if we could play our game and control us, we'll be fine. That's been our mindset since practice yesterday, and then going into today, just take care of what we need to take care of and if we do that, we'll have a shot."

Freshman Apolo Lapiz took the ball for the second-straight Tuesday afternoon and shined from the beginning. Just a week after he had thrown into the eighth inning for the first time in his life, it seemed like he may have run out of gas at the beginning, allowing a hit batter and a walk. With two outs, two on and already nearing 20 pitches in the frame, Ohlone catcher Derek Bain worked a 13-pitch at-bat, with Lapiz mostly attacking the inside corner. In the at-bats' final pitch, Lapiz dotted the outside corner with a perfect fastball, stranding a pair of runners and getting the Vikings some momentum early.

"13 pitches," said Lapiz. "He fouled off a lot of pitches. But, I just kept telling myself, 'don't give up, don't give up. 
Just keep attacking'. Eventually, it's gonna go my way.
And then after that ending, everything was pretty smooth from there."

West Valley went down in order in the bottom of the first inning. Ohlone starter Matthew Foley, who had lasted fewer than two innings in his prior start but has been a rock in the Ohlone rotation over the last two seasons, seemed to find his groove while striking out Parker Kristall and David Estrada. Things got even more difficult when, in the top of the second, Renegade second baseman Joaquin Stuart cranked a ball over the fence in left for his second home run of the season to put the Renegades up 1-0.

Ever the fighter, the Vikings walked their way to tie the game up with clutch hitting in the bottom half of the frame. Foley walked both Joey Damelio and Jordan Montez, with both moving up a base on a wild pitch, before sophomore catcher Ryan Bays ripped a hanger into left to tie the game at 1. Bobby Hill worked a walk to load the bases and Kenji Colston's deep fly to right gave the Vikings the lead. With two down, Eric Altmark took a four-pitch walk and Kristall got beaned by the first pitch he saw to push Foley out of the game. Ohlone brought in Brennan Baptist, who entered the game with the lowest ERA on the team, to face Estrada. The conferences' leader in RBI watched a first pitch breaking ball off the outside edge before muscling a single into right to push the Viking lead to four.

"I looked silly my first at bat," said Estrada, who punched out the only time he faced Foley, "and last year's David would have let that linger to the next at-bat, but this year, I'm really trying to just flush it as soon as possible. I had a job to do, They're not gonna get me twice."

Hill and Colston led off the bottom of the third with singles before Max Ghiglieri's fly ball was dropped by the Ohlone center fielder to load the bases. Altmark's scorcher to left was deep enough to score Hill, and Kristall doubled down the line to bring two more home. Estrada followed with a knock of his own to give the Vikings ten runs in the first three innings against a team that came into the game with a 3.13 ERA.

The Vikings breathed easier in large part due to Lapiz. At one point in the games' middle portion, Lapiz set down nine in a row and finished the day with five strikeouts, four of which were of the looking variety. A freshman, Lapiz acknowledged that these games might mean more to a large sophomore class, but wanted to do his part in any way possible.

"The past few weeks in conference haven't gone how we wanted to," said Lapiz. "We talked with coach yesterday and it really just hit us that these last eight games mean a lot, especially to the sophomores. I think we really just turned it up and played how we know we could play, how we can be playing all season."

Hill noted the same thing. Lapiz was the first name mentioned prior to the season when Hill was asked about potential impact freshmen, saying that he was the "old soul" of the pitching staff. He's been just that over the last two games, combining to throw 13 innings while allowing just five earned runs and walking only two.

"Apolo has been special," said Hill. "We've just been waiting for him to do exactly what he's been doing. 
He threw last week, he gave us seven strong. Walked away with nothing. Today, he gave up the home run, but kept his composure and gave us six strong. Tip my cap.
The kids is a freshman and getting big innings."

Lapiz had a slow ramp-up to the regular season, but made his impact felt out of the bullpen from the beginning. He threw two clean innings against Butte, a top-25 team, in his collegiate debut and still hasn't allowed more than three earned in any of his outings. The transition from the bullpen to a spot in the starting rotation isn't something he necessarily expected, but something he was obviously ready for.

"When I came here, I wasn't really worried about when my role would be," said Lapiz. "I just knew I wanted to play whatever part they had me playing, and just do so to the best of my ability to help this team win. As an individual goal, I knew I did want to be a starter. 
I love starting. So it's been nice to start. I love starting the week off, setting the tone. It adds pressure, but I love the pressure. I love just having to set the tone and yeah, it's fun." 

Hunter Olson entered the game in the seventh with the Vikings still up by eight and shut down the Renegades in order. West Valley's bats rewarded his effort, adding five runs in the latter half. With one out, Kristall was hit on the number for the third time in the ballgame and took offense to it, stealing second and third base on consecutive pitches. The sophomore is now 24-of-28 swiping bags, placing him tied for fourth in a single season in Viking history with still at least seven games to go. Estrada blasted an RBI double to the right-center gap, good for his 48th RBI of the season, a number that matches his freshman total. The Vikings loaded the bases and a single from Bays plus walks from Hill, Colston and Altmark pushed the Vikings to 15 runs. For a team that's had its share of recent heartbreak, Hill was ecstatic to watch them add on.

"You feel the pressure of it," said Hill. "They feel it. Just keep the pressure on them and just keep playing for nine innings. And that's one thing I think at times, we haven't done this year is play a full nine. 
When we do, good results happen, when we don't, it's a one-run game, either a win or a loss."

That energy continued on the defensive side in the top of the eighth. With the Vikings ahead by 13, Ohlone started with a walk and a double to put two in scoring position with nobody out. Chuy Vasquez, Estrada's future teammate at the University of Hawaii, grounded one to Estrada's forehand side. The third baseman dove, threw Vasquez out at first, and retreated back to third in time to tag the runner trying from second to third out. It was a brilliant play at any time, but one that a lesser teammate might not try to make with as much gusto in a 13-run game. For Estrada, even with the lead, his job as a teammate on the defensive end made it more than worth it.

"Anytime I could make a play for my pitcher," said Estrada, "it's the best feeling because they don't have to don't have to deal with the next batter or stress when it comes to having to face another batter. So I try to make every play possible for these pitchers."

Olson worked around a leadoff single with another around-the-horn double play ball and got pinch hitter LT Lindsay to ground out to end the game. It was the first save in Olson's career, in kind of an odd way: he entered with a 13-run lead in the seventh, but completed the three innings necessary to be crowned with the save. For some, it might be difficult to find energy in what, on paper, is an easy spot to come into a game in. But Olson credits the coaching staff for his mentality.

"When we're up that many runs," said Olson, "I just hear my coaches tell me to calm down and take a deep breath, and honestly, being relaxed is where I feel most comfortable. If I'm able to get my body in such a calm state, it allows me to do what I do and stay locked in and focused and trust what I got. I've been working very hard for this moment."

With ten hits, 15 runs and a season-high tying 13 walks, it was a well-rounded effort from the offense. Baseball is so easy to view as an individualistic game: each at-bat is a zero-sum outcome between pitcher and batter. But it was evident that Tuesday's victory was one of the best team games of the season.

"Honestly, I'm pretty excited about these last seven," said Olson. "Our coach was firing us up pretty well and put the right message in our head and we went about it right. And I think with enough momentum, we can go a long way with this team. Everybody needs to be focused from number one, all the way to number 35. At this point, it's a team game."

The Vikings continue their three-game series against Ohlone this Thursday, taking on the Renegades on the road in Fremont at 2:30.