Central Catholic drops Game 1 to Del Campo in best-of-three semifinals series
To Central Catholic baseball coach Danny Ayala, the Raiders saw everything they expected. When you get this far in the playoffs, every team is good, regardless of its seed.
When the No. 2 Raiders hosted No. 11 Del Campo in Game 1 of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV semifinals series Tuesday, many thought the Modesto team would roll to victory.
That’s what they expect from the second-best in the bracket that was consistently a top-five team in MaxPreps’ section rankings all season.
But Del Campo has proved it belongs all postseason, upsetting its way to yet another deep playoff run. The Cougars have not hosted a playoff game this season, but they didn’t need to. Their game travels.
In the first round, they upset No. 6 Oakdale 11-4, scoring six runs in the top of the first inning and not looking back. They tallied 17 hits and forced two Mustangs errors. Next, they beat No. 3 Placer 4-2, setting up a best-of-three series with the Raiders that kicked off Tuesday.
The Cougars scored early and consistently put pressure on the Raiders’ defense, coming away with a 9-2 win. The series moves to Del Campo for Game 2 on Thursday.
“Everybody wants to talk about the different seeds and everything else like that, but if you’re at this point, you’re good,” Ayala said. “Del Campo, they’re a good ball club, they did a lot of good things today. We didn’t do as many good things and the scoreboard reflected it.”
The Raiders batters did not strike out once.
Other than one walk by Cruz Costa, the hosts put the ball in play in every at-bat. They tallied four hits with a double and a home run, but every other piece of contact was fielded for an out.
The Del Campo offense doubled the Raiders’ hit total and forced three Raiders errors.
Costa got the start at pitcher and Ayala said that right away, he knew the sophomore would have a good day for him when he completed his pregame bullpen session.
He pitched 5.1 innings, struck out 10 batters and walked just three. He gave up just four hits and three earned runs.
“I don’t think that team has struck out much all year, and that just tells you the kind of stuff Cruz had,” Ayala said. “I’m really proud of him. He’s a really big, strong kid and he loves to compete, he loves to play hard. Big moments don’t scare him … and he’s really a team guy.”
Del Campo scored twice in the top of the first inning, but the Raiders immediately answered back. Senior Chase Perino sent the first pitch of the bottom half of the inning over the right-field fence for a home run, Broden Thomas doubled in a couple of batters later and came around to score on a Marcus Davenport sacrifice fly. But that was all the offense Central Catholic could produce.
Del Campo added a run in the second and sixth innings and then broke the game open with five runs in the top of the seventh.
The Raiders are now playing to save their season. A win Thursday at Del Campo forces a deciding Game 3, while a loss means the end of the 2026 campaign.
“All these guys have experience,” Ayala said. “We’ve been on playoff runs and that’s a benefit to us. Can we be disciplined? Can they put it together?
“We’re not covering anything new. We need to make some things happen in bunt situations, rundowns, the list goes on of what simple championship baseball is if you take care of your jobs.”
