2025 Cardinals Outlast Aztecs in Extras for 40+ Three-peat Championship in Tri-Valley MSBL
Tri-Valley MSBL, 40+ Division
Tri-Valley Cardinals 20, Aztecs 19 (Game three in Best-of-Three Championship Series)
Submitted by Joshua Muldau
The stories of Cardinal baseball run deep for the 11-time TVMSBL Champions. In addition to 11 TVMSBL titles, the Cardinals have won an estimated 10 more Championships through other tournaments.
A team banded together over 20 years ago by the late John Sellick has been continued by legendary manager Al “Buck” Gravencamp with assistance from Tim Rodriguez and Dre White. They’ve continued to provide the culture set forth for over two decades. The unity of the team brings out the best in players, and any player at any time can be the hero. Play smart team baseball and limit mistakes, and have the confidence to know that the next guy has your back.
Many try to understand what it is about the Cardinals, but few ever do. You have to fit the mold and show your abilities if the offer is made to join the team for the season or to guest play in a tournament. It’s never been about the best player they can find or the highest level you played at. The determining factor is “do you fit in”? That simple factor has brought the 20+ championships. 2025 Championship Weekend provided everything the Cardinals are about and then some.
Riding a 14-game win streak into game one of the playoffs, the Cardinals were outpitched and outhit by the second-place Aztecs in game one. The Aztecs brought their best game and had many timely hits and played exceptional defense, while the Cardinals were battling from behind all game to string hits together and failed to score multiple times when the leadoff batter reached base.
The Cards would lose game one by a score of 9-4, with two must-win Sunday games to take home the championship. A tall task at hand, but nothing the Cards hadn’t accomplished before.
Cardinal’s righty Scott McDonald got the call in the must-win morning game and threw a gem. You wouldn’t know he had partially torn his hamstring just four weeks earlier and fractured his tailbone earlier in the week. Scott dominated the lineup, throwing a complete game with 10 K’s, allowing just one run to score which was the leadoff batter of the game.
While Scotty Mac and the Cardinal defense held it down and the offense did the job with nearly every batter in the 11-man lineup collecting at least one hit, heads-up baserunning and a couple of sacrifices proved to be the difference.
The winner-take-all Championship game was one that will be talked about for years to come. A back-and-forth battle that saw the lead change eight times. Both teams sent another well-regarded pitcher to the mound in what all expected to be an exciting game.
The Cardinals notched two runs in the bottom of the first on a single from Andre White who then advanced to second and scored on a Tim Rodriguez double. Back-to-back singles from Maz Barbari and Scott McDonald. Not to be outdone, the Aztecs quickly loaded the bases, and Jim Harrison unloaded a mammoth shot on the first pitch he saw for a grand slam, putting the Aztecs up 4-2.
The Cards took the lead back in the third, capitalizing on two hit batters and hits from Pat Belhumeur, White, Rodriguez, and McDonald to plate three runs. A single, two walks, and a clutch 2-out, 2-RBI single from Aztec right fielder Alfonso Quintor, and the Aztecs had the lead back by one. The teams would swap zeros for the next 2 1/2 innings with solid pitching and defense.
As the game moved into the seventh with an Aztec lead of 6-5, it looked as though maybe the Cards would be done when the Aztecs plated another three runs on four hits to take a 4-run lead. The Cards are never a team to throw in the towel, and they rallied in the bottom of the seventh to plate five runs on just two hits. The Aztec pitchers had a hard time finding the zone and managed to hit two and walk two, helping the Cardinals comeback.
The Aztec offense wanted revenge and came up in the eighth ready to go punch for punch like a Rocky movie. The second batter of the inning knocked a single, and Harrison again took the first pitch he saw over the fence in the same exact spot for a 2-run homer. A hit, an error, and another hit gave them a 2-run lead. In a familiar spot, the Cardinals came back up and plated four runs to retake the lead after eight with a crushing 2-RBI double from Rodriguez.
At this point, the game appeared in the bag as the Cards had a 2-run lead and would send the game two complete-game winner back to the mound to close it out. The Aztecs had different thoughts and had the pitcher timed up perfectly, almost as if they baited him in the first game. After a leadoff strikeout, the Aztecs strung together five hits and a fielder’s choice to plate four runs, putting the Cardinals down by two, AGAIN!
If there’s one thing the Cardinals know how to do, it’s never give up! They came back up in the ninth and capitalized on a walk, a single, and a clutch double from White to plate two runs and tie the game.
Going into extra innings now and knotted at 16 runs, the Aztecs plated three runs on four hits and looked to have the game all locked up for the third time. The Cardinals just have a way of ‘dooooiinngg’ it, as the late skipper John Sellick would say. He must have been with us above and really wanted this one.
With the game on the line for the third time and in extra innings, the Cardinals had plated one run on a fielder’s choice. Once again down to not only their last out, their last strike, and veteran 59-year-old outfielder Lenny Towle at the plate with the bases loaded and the winning run on first.
Towle drove a pitch to the left-center gap that couldn’t have been better placed. First base runner Joe Keim took off immediately with every intention of scoring, as the ball bounced three times and settled just short of the wall in the thick outfield grass. One run in, two runs in, as Keim rounded third.
The relay from outfield came to the Aztec shortstop in shallow left, as Joe put everything he had into scoring and beating the throw to the plate to score the improbable winning run! There were simultaneous mobs at home and second base celebrating the winning hit and run.
The Cardinals may have been down, but they were never out. Many victories have been won by the Cardinals, but long-time player and manager Buck says without a doubt, this one is a top three!
For the Cardinals, this is more than a championship, even more than a dynasty. This championship will mark the fourth time they have been 3-peat champions. You could never put into words what this team is. It’s built on expectation, camaraderie, selflessness, and a culture set forth years ago to trust in the process, the task at hand, and to know that every one of your teammates has your back. It’s the Cardinal way of baseball. The Cardinal Lore….