THE TITANS – The Thousand Oaks High baseball team, the Division 2 champion, won their first CIF title in the Southern Section in 18 years. MICHAEL COONS / Acorn Newspapers
Details become blurred.
Some games will flow into others.
Time will slowly pull and fray at the red stitches of the last rope, the last flyball, the last game.
The boys of summer become the men of fall, and some, as they continue to traverse this orbit, become the men of the fall classic.
But let the balance sheet shed light on this one clear truth: The Thousand Oaks High School baseball team is the best local team in a generation and arguably the best of all time.
A historically great team ended a historic postseason by winning the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 Championship on June 19 at Goodwin Field in Cal State Fullerton. It is TO’s second CIF title and the first since 2003.
Thousand Oaks, a supernova in a constellation of celestial beings, overcame two deficits, the occasional sloppy defense and an unusually sluggish offensive to beat Trabuco Hills 3-2 in the final. Myles Weiss set up a full game with six strikeouts, one walk, and no earned runs while scattering four hits in seven innings to claim the win.
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“That Saturday game was my graduation,” said Charlie Saum, the Lancers’ senior catcher, who verbally pledged to play Stanford.
Thousand Oaks finished the season with a 29-1 record. A 2-1 loss to Newbury Park on May 21 was the only flaw.
The Lancers broke several school records, including one-season home runs (42) and one-player home runs: Roc Riggio, a commitment from the state of Oklahoma, sent a dozen baseballs on flights with cracker jacks and extra legroom. Teammate Max Muncy, who is on the road for the University of Arkansas, completed 11 home runs this spring.
Saum, Riggio and Muncy – the “Big Three” of the Lancers – exceeded the hype by living up to it.
All three stars could hear their names during the Major League Baseball draft next month.
“You have some big things ahead of you,” said Jack Wilson, the fifth year head coach, who will now look for other coaching opportunities. “All three have shown that they can play at the next level.”
Peyton Miller and Easton Rulli, both juniors, delivered the biggest hits on Saturday. With Trabuco Hills ace Mason Molina in a groove and 2-1 ahead of the bottom of the fifth frame, Miller hit a two-strike-two-out single to keep the inning alive. After Riggio was hit by a pitch, Rulli’s single brought Miller home; Riggio later scored the starting gun on a wild place.
Weiss would do the rest.
Muncy celebrated the CIF title at the team hotel with a family visit from Utah. He took Father’s Day off, then went straight back to work on Monday and, with the help of his colleague, Senior Michael Welikala, worked on his swing in Wilson’s garden.
Saum boarded a flight to Washington Wednesday morning; He’s spending this summer playing college wooden bat baseball for the Bellingham Bells.
Astronomers still follow Riggio’s home runs in the deepest corners of the Milky Way. Riggio scored three home runs in TO’s 12-1 win over San Dimas in the quarterfinals.
Thousand Oaks finally had the chance to celebrate with a pool party on Tuesday.
The Lancers legacy will resonate beyond the diamond.
“There are things behind the scenes that people don’t see,” Muncy said.
On Sunday, Muncy said he was moved to tears while watching a Twitter video posted by. was posted A thousand oak acorns Editor Kyle Jorrey.
Ryan Davis, a Thousand Oaks sports superfan who joined the Lancer players for Toppers Pizza on Moorpark Road after almost every home win, shouted Saum from the stands.
“Charlie! Charlie!” shouted Davis.
Saum ran to Davis and persuaded the guard to let Davis enter the field.
“Hey, he’s good. Let him come out, ”Saum told the guard.
Davis joined Saum in the celebration after the Lancers game.
“We all love ‘RyRy’. He was there at all of our games. We love the guy, ”said Saum. “It was special for me and also special for him.”
“I told Charlie, ‘Never lose this on you,'” Muncy said.
This moment – along with teammates sharing their gratitude for the previous night in the hotel’s conference room – is what Muncy would like to appreciate on the championship weekend.
How would Wilson want history to be reminiscent of these CIF champions?
“It’s the hardest working team I’ve ever seen and the most determined,” said the skipper. “They were just adamant. They were adamant. They were never satisfied with where they were. “
ROYAL RECEIVES FIRST CIF CROWN
The Royal baseball team captured the first CIF Southern Section banner in program history last weekend.
The Highlanders defeated Rancho Cucamonga on June 19 in Fullerton 3-2 in the Division 4 final.
UC Davis commit Luke Piazza hit a three-run double for Royal in the third inning. RJ Feigenbaum, who will serve at Cal Lutheran, earned the win, while Trevor Hansen scored a save with three failures in his second year.
“It means everything,” said Hansen. “To see Coach Maye down the line when we got our awards, to see him happy, that was really exciting.”
Head coach Dan Maye, who joined Royal in 1990, won his first CIF championship.
Piazza and catcher Troy May, who will continue to play at the University of Concordia at Irvine, are Senior Leaders.
Garrett Westerhouse, a senior outfielder, will continue to play football and baseball at Moorpark College. Daniel Anselmo, senior pitcher, also goes to Moorpark College.
“It’s probably one of the most exciting days ever. It was a thrill, ”Maye said. “I’m just so proud of each and every one of these guys.”
