MARIPOSA’S AUSTIN GARIBAY SWATTED A TWO-OUT, TWO-RUN SINGLE IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH INNING TO SALVAGE A 6-5 WIN OVER LINDHURST IN THE OPENING ROUND OF THE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO BY DAN TUCKER The Mariposa Grizzlies baseball is on the brink of either elimination or advancing to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship contest.

That will be decided Thursday afternoon when MCHS meets Marysville in the second game of a best-of-three series.

Last Thursday the Grizzlies opened the playoffs with a nail-biter when they knocked off Lindhurst in their opening contest on a 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning by Austin Garibay to seal a 6-5 win.

The victory pushed MCHS into the semi-finals against Marysville on Saturday, but Mariposa came up on the short end of an identical score.

At 4 p.m. Thursday, the two teams meet again in Galt Community Park. If Marysville can pull out a win, it will advance to the section championship game. Should the Grizzlies rebound and take the first game, it would force a game three at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to play either Golden Sierra or Vacaville Christian for the title at a location to be announced.

Mariposa got out in front of Marysville early with a single run in the first inning. Senior Kevin Foraker walked and scored on a one-bagger by Garibay.

Marysville responded with a pair of runs in the second inning, and the Grizzlies answered in their half of the inning with another run to tie the score. Jacob Johnson, the losing pitcher, singled and stole second. He scored on a single by Foraker.

The Grizzlies bolted in front in the third inning with three runs, taking advantage of Marysville’s miscues.

Colin Ritter reached safely on an error and Jarrett Miller drew a free pass. Garibay singled to plate two runs in Ritter and Miller. Tommy Stickles sacrificed, and Garibay scored on an error.

Marysville closed the gap in the bottom of the third with two runs, and added a fourth in the next inning to tie the game.

The winning run crossed the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning on an error.

Head coach Bruce Vegely said, “They tried to give it away early with errors, and we turned right around and gave it back the same way.”

In the opening win against Lindhurst, Mariposa got on the board with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. The Grizzlies added a run in the bottom of the fourth when Johnson singled and scored on a one-bagger by Cody Stitt.

The Blazers roared back with three game-tying runs in the sixth, and jumped into the lead with a pair in the top of the seventh, leaving the Grizzlies to depend on last-minute heroics to stay in the playoffs.

In the bottom of the seventh, after one out, A.J. Hall singled to spark the rally. Stitt went down swinging, putting MCHS just one out away from elimination.

Foraker kept the rally alive with a single, and Colin Ritter narrowed the gap with a one-bagger that pushed Hall over the plate. Ritter advanced to second on a wild pitch, putting the tying and go-ahead runs within scoring range. Miller worked a full count into a walk to load the bases and put Garibay, a junior, in the pressure cooker.

He responded with a 1- strike single to score Foraker and Ritter and send the Grizzlies to the semi-finals.

“We’ll find out this afternoon what we’re made of,” Vegely said. “It’s win or go home.”