St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy’s Aaron Mejia (9) celebrates after scoring against St. Genevieve in their Santa Fe League home game on Tuesday. St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy defeated St. Genevieve, 11-6. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

For the first time in 30 years, the St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy Warriors Baseball team has qualified for the CIF-Southern Section playoffs.

They did it with an explosive offense, defeating visiting St. Genevieve, 11-6, Tuesday (April 29) in a Santa Fe League game.

After the final out in the game in left field, the team cheered and congratulated each other on the monumental moment for the PMA Baseball program.

“100 percent, I knew it was a CIF moment,” PMA first-year coach Scott Sovern said. “I truly believe they are believing now.”

First-year athletic director James Covel said of the accomplishment, “I’m excited for our 12 seniors,” he said. “They have been through a lot, so I’m happy they’ll get to see the postseason. They’ve put the work in and deserve a lot of the credit.

“It’s been a great turnaround for the program. Coach (Scott) Sovern has turned the program around a lot quicker than most would imagine. That’s a testament to the time and effort that he has spent with the kids both during and before the season. The kids have also bought into what Coach Sovern and Coach Phil Alvarez have been telling them. It’s exciting times here at PMA. We’ve built a culture where you’ll see staff, faculty, and other coaches in attendance rooting on our student-athletes. It’s becoming a real family from top to bottom.”

Things weren’t always this exciting around the PMA campus on the diamond over the last few years, as the team has had only three wins in the last three previous years combined.

The Warriors currently stand at 8-15 overall and 5-4 in league.

“For us to get eight wins is unbelievable,” Sovern added.

St. Pius was leading, 5-2, to open the fifth, but the Valiants scored three runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game, 5-5.

PMA answered in the bottom half of the inning with four runs to take a 9-5 lead.

“Once we took the lead in the fifth inning and our ace (Joshua Rios) on the mound, I knew we could finish it off,” said Sovern, of the four Warriors runs in the fifth. “We don’t win pretty. They’ve finally figured out how to win these close games.”

Rios pitched seven innings for the win and the Warriors banged out 10 hits in the game. The seven-inning game by Rios was his second of the season going the distance.

The senior allowed six runs (3 earned) on five hits, while walking three and striking out four batters.

Three PMA batters – right fielder Angel Garcia (2 for 2, 3 Rs, RBI, 2 BB), catcher Christian Maldonado (2 for 3, Dbl., 2 RBIs, R) and third baseman Joshua Gomez (2 for 4, Dbl., 2 Rs, RBI) had two hits each.

The two teams combined for 13 errors in the game and PMA swiped 18 bases. Maldonado and Angel Garcia had three stolen bases each.

After St. Genevieve took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, the Warriors tied the game, 2-2, in the third after Garcia and center fielder Aaron Mejia walked, they both scored on an error.

The Warriors took a 5-2 lead in the fourth when the first three batters (Gomez, Abel Hurtado and Garcia) in the inning all scored. In the inning, Gomez singled, stole second and third, Hurtado walked and stole second and Garcia walked and came home on an error.

St. Genevieve tied the score, 5-5, with three runs in the top of the fifth, but PMA came right back with four in the bottom of the fifth and two more in the sixth to stretch the lead to 11-5.

St. Genevieve added a run in the seventh for the 11-6 final score.

The Warriors lost a close, 7-6 game Wednesday at Chadwick on a walk off.

As for the CIF-SS playoffs, the brackets will be released on Monday, May 12 at 10:00 am on the CIF website.

What they said:

Christian Maldonado, PMA catcher: “Today (Tuesday) in the end we did our job and we all came out hitting. We got a dub (win) and we’re going to the playoffs.”

Joshua Rios, PMA senior pitcher: “Today (Tuesday) it felt good. We knew it was do or die. We punched our spot into the playoffs, and it feels amazing. This is the first time in my four years that we’ve had more than three wins and it feels good.

The key is our coaching and since day one it’s been tough love and we wouldn’t be here without them.”

Scott Sovern, PMA head coach: “Today (Tuesday) we clinched our spot in the playoffs by solidifying third place in our league. All year long we’ve been an up and down team. When we took over the program in September (2024), they’ve just made a lot of strides, the hard work day in and day out.

Our first accomplishment was to get into the playoffs. We just cared about these kids and I told them I’m here for them no matter what. The biggest hurdle for the seniors was getting over the hurdle of their last three years.

The senior class has bonded together and Christian (Maldonado) has been an amazing leader and Josh (Rios) has been our guy on the mound.

It’s been unbelievable of what these kids have accomplished this year.”

For the first time in 30 years, PMA baseball is heading to the postseason