The 2024 postseason came to an end for the Oakdale High School baseball team in the semifinal round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 playoffs.
Oakdale dropped two straight games to the Central Catholic Raiders in the best of three semifinal series. The Mustangs were outscored 11-1 over the two games by their Valley Oak League foe, unable to get anything going offensively.
The final was 8-1 Central in game one, 3-0 in game two to end Oakdale’s season.
Game one of the series was held on May 13 at Oakdale High School. Central Catholic jumped on the Mustangs early and did not let up. The Raiders scored one run in the bottom of the first inning and then tacked on three runs in the third and four more in the fourth. Oakdale’s lone run of not just the game, but for the series came in the top of the fifth inning when Reid Grandstaff hit a sacrifice fly. Only four hits came for the Mustangs as Carlo Antinetti, Maddox Dias, Griffin Costa and Eric Velazquez each had a single. The Raiders collected 13 hits, including a pair of home runs, as TP Wentworth and Kayden McHenry went yard in the win.
On the mound for Oakdale were Trey Parsons and Ayden Ardis. Parsons pitched four-and-two-thirds innings and gave up 10 hits, five earned runs, walked three, struck out a pair and gave up both home runs. Ardis went two-and-one-third innings, giving up two hits and issuing one walk.
Oakdale’s season came to an end just a couple of days later. Central Catholic scored a pair of runs in the third and added one more to their lead in the fourth during the May 15 contest. Oakdale had three hits total in the game. A pair of hits came off the bat of Grandstaff and the other was a double by Glen Weber. Tommy Chance pitched three-and-one-third innings for the Mustangs. He gave up one hit, one run, struck out three and walked one. Ardis pitched two-and-two-thirds innings. He gave up a pair of unearned runs, two hits and walked one.
Oakdale was the number two seed in the tournament. Central Catholic was the three seed and will take on top seed Oakmont for the Section championship on May 23 at 6 p.m.
Oakdale, first in the Valley Oak League this season with an 11-4 record, went 23-9 overall for the season.
