Vikings sail to victory in D-II semifinal

KINGSBURG – Over the past three seasons, Kingsburg baseball has emerged as one of the powerhouse baseball programs in the Central Valley. In 2023 and 2024, the Vikings reached the mountaintop with two straight Division III Central Section Championships. 

The Vikings lost many impactful seniors from those teams, but have continued to sail high this spring as they have gone on a run to the Division II Central Section Semifinal. So as they hosted the No. 3 seed Washington Union Panthers this past Friday, May 23, the No. 2 seed Vikings needed just one more win to reach their third straight championship game.

The Vikings struggled to get the bats going, but were able to get a run across in the bottom of the third. And thanks to strong performances on the mound from junior starter Jensen Hirschkorn and freshman relief pitcher JT Sanchez, the Vikings secured the 1-0 shutout to punch their tickets to their third straight Central Valley championship game. 

“It just validates the hard work and the effort that they put forth,” Kingsburg head coach Jim Cranford said about another championship game appearance. “Our motto is find a way and they found a way today.”

The Vikings have found a way in all their games this postseason. They first opened the playoffs with a 3-1 win over No. 15 seed Atascadero. And in the quarterfinals, the Vikings survived with a 4-3 win over No. 10 seed Paso Robles. As the Vikings have gone on another run, Hirschkorn and his young teammates have shown they are capable of continuing the program’s run of excellence. 

“We have a lot of young guys on this team just competing every day and just showing that we can still do it,” Hirschkorn said. “We’re just playing hard and playing as a team so it’s going really well right now.”

Starting on the mound for the Vikings, Hirschkorn pitched six innings where he only allowed three hits and five walks while recording 10 strikeouts. While he had a shaky start, Hirschkorn found his rhythm against a daunting Washington Union offense. 

“I couldn’t find it at first and then I settled in after a few batters,” Hirschkorn said. “I was just trying to get ahead early, find the zone and just do what I do.”

And the Vikings needed Hirschkorn’s performance on the mound as they struggled to get their offense going, finishing the night with five total hits. But three of those hits came in the third, when junior Vaughn Dill, sophomore King Rodriguez and Hirschkorn hit three straight singles to load the bases with no outs. 

“Momentum is a big thing,” Hirschkorn said about this offensive stretch. “Trey Morris is a really good pitcher and I think once we get one guy going, we get a lot of momentum and that really carries onto the next guy. 

Senior Eric Garcia looked to capitalize on that momentum as he came up to plate for the Vikings. While Garcia’s plate appearance ended with a flyout to the outfield, Dill scored on the sacrifice fly to give the Vikings the lead.

The Vikings couldn’t keep their offense going, but Hirschkorn and the Kingsburg defense held the Panthers scoreless heading into the top of the seventh inning. Sanchez came in to pitch the final inning for the Vikings, and he started strong as he struck out the first batter. But the Panthers weren’t dead yet. 

Thanks to a single from Davin Finderup and a walk for Morris, the Panthers had runners on first and second base. And on a hard hit from Cole Roth to left field, the leadoff runner was off looking to score to tie the game. 

But the Kingsburg defense came up clutch, with senior left fielder Blake Pallares quickly getting the ball to sophomore third baseman Dylan Darling, who then threw the ball to Dill at the plate. As the Panther runner collided with the catcher, the umpire called the runner out at home.

“We kind of pride ourselves on defense,” Cranford said. “One thing you can always control is your defense. You can’t control your offense but you can be where you’re supposed to be, do what you’re supposed to do and get your job done.”

After a heated objection from the Washington Union coaches, the play stood and Sanchez got a flyout to end the game. Next up for the Vikings will be the No. 5 seed Ridgeview Wolf Pack in the championship game. As his team looks to three-peat as Valley champions, Cranford looks to keep his team focused more on themselves instead of their final opponent. 

“We don’t worry about the people we play,” Cranford said. “We worry about protecting the baseball. We worry about the things that we do, what we can control and if we do everything we need to do, we have a good shot to win the game.”