BASEBALL: Valley Christian’s Cardenas throws complete game as offense dominates Cerritos

April 13, 2026 

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

 Not much has changed since Cerritos High blasted Valley Christian High back on Feb. 23 in the season opener for the two of them. Both have relied on pitching to get them to identical 10-5 records when they squared off last Thursday in Cerritos and both are in great positions to get one of the three automatic CIF-Southern Section playoff berths from their respective leagues, possibly a league title.

But one of the things that has changed for V.C. was junior pitcher John Cardenas, who pitched the team’s first complete game of the season, scattering five hits, striking out two and throwing 95 pitches as the Defenders parlayed a six-run top of the fifth inning into a 12-1 victory. It was the fourth start for Cardenas, who began the season in the bullpen.

“I felt great, honestly, coming into the game,” said Cardenas. “I just stayed calm, did what I usually do and just let my defense work; not really doing too much. Just filling up the zone, and it worked out.”

With the game being a non-league contest and V.C. having lost to Sunny Hills High 7-6 the previous day in its only other contest of the week, there were no restrictions put on Cardenas as far as pitches thrown or innings pitched. He said that his coaches usually ‘just let me out there because they know I can go as far as they want me to’.

“We’ve been working with John all year long to get him to be a guy that can carry us through a lot of innings,” said V.C. head coach Eric Slater. “Every single game, he’s pushing the envelope a little bit more, getting longer innings and shorter amounts of pitches. Our goal was to get him hopefully at 90 [pitches]; that was what we wanted him to do, and once he got close to finishing the game, we were going to go ahead and let him get a complete game.”

Cardenas retired the first five batters on 23 pitches, getting three to groundout and the other two to lineout. Junior center fielder Brandon Vo singled to left for the first Cerritos baserunner before Cardenas got the next four batters on three groundouts and a strikeout.

“He did a good job; kept us on our front foot,” said Cerritos head coach Matt Joyce of Cardenas. “He didn’t have anything that was overpowering, but he kept us on our front foot. He kept us guessing.”

The only run the Dons scored came in the bottom of the fourth when senior right fielder Eli Sarno reached on an infield single, advanced on a groundout, then a wild pitch before coming home on a groundout from junior shortstop Alex Laurin. Cerritos had a chance to score in the next inning but came away empty.

Cardenas hit Vo on a 1-1 count to lead off the frame and went to third on a single from junior center fielder Uriah Archie. But with runners at second and third, Cardenas got two straight fly outs and a groundout to end the threat.

With one out in the seventh, Vo doubled on the first pitch and Archie singled on a 0-2 count. But Cardenas got senior catcher Josh Malonzo to foul out and senior designated hitter Sam Fuller to fly out on a 1-1 count to end the game. Cardenas recorded 12 groundouts and had three outs made by outfielders. In fact, he faced a three-ball count to only two batters and threw more than five pitches to three batters.

“I noticed throughout my life I’m not really the hardest throwing pitcher,” said Cardenas. “So I just rely on pop-ups and ground balls to help me get outs. Once in a while, I do get strikeouts. But anything works if it gets outs.”

“Brandon Vo had a great game today,” said Joyce. “Talk about a guy who doesn’t play very much and is trying to get in the lineup. He got a lot of at-bats for us last year. [Third baseman] Matt Lopez is a senior who had some good at-bats; hit one hard to the right field but got called out [at first] on a questionable call. Those guys are going to come in handy in pinch hit scenarios later in the year. So they need to be ready, and we have to take advantage of opportunities to play them.”

Cardenas, who improved to 4-0, did not get his first start until V.C.’s seventh game of the season when the Defenders pounded Bishop Montgomery High 14-0. Through the first six games, Slater had gone with seniors Josh Hulse (three starts), Max Douglas (two starts) and Cole Hefner as his starting pitchers. But Hulse, who was expected to be the team’s number one starter for most of the season, threw six pitches in his fourth start, which was on Mar. 20 against Artesia High. Cardenas replaced him and went five innings for his second win.

“When injuries plague you, your bullpen has to step up,” said Slater. “And earlier in the year, I was [saying] that I was very confident in our bullpen. One of the benefits of being very confident in your bullpen is that those guys start to develop into starters because they kind of have to. At the beginning of the year, John was good for four innings, maybe five at about 80 pitches, maybe 85. What we’re seeing now is that he’s actually pitching a lot more innings with a lot less pitches.”

“Since [Josh] has been injured, it’s just my opportunity to step up and do what I have to do to help out the team,” said Cardenas. “I don’t see myself as the best pitcher. I do see myself as one of the most efficient.”

V.C.’s offense, which has now produced at least 10 hits in 11 of its last 12 games, grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning without the benefit of a hit. Cerritos senior Jayce Aragon walked senior second baseman Nico Villafana to begin the game and after two straight wild pitches, a groundout from junior center fielder Quintin Ekstrom plated Villafana.

The score remained 1-0 until the fourth inning when Hefner had a run-scoring hit and junior right fielder Lincoln Slater’s sacrifice fly brought in Douglas to make it 3-0. The game was put away in the next inning when the Defenders sent 11 batters to the plate with the first six batters in the lineup, or their respective pinch runners, scoring a run.

Junior first baseman Brody Beck drove in a pair with the bases loaded and after Douglas was walked to load the bases for third time in the frame, two straight strikeouts seemed to limit the bleeding. But sophomore catcher Trevor Torres cleared the bases with a double to the left field gap and a 9-1 lead.

Hefner and Villafana each had a pair of hits while three pinch runners accounted for a third of the runs and 14 of the 16 offensive players who saw action reached base or drove in a run.

While V.C. ran with a somewhat consistent lineup it has used for most of the season, Cerritos decided to play many of its bench players who haven’t played much.

“We played a completely different lineup today,” said Joyce. “We got a lot of guys some innings; they played a good game. We have a lot of guys missing and let a lot of subs get in and stuff and it got away from us.”

The Defenders, who got back into Olympic League action with a three-game series against Whittier Christian High with the third game to be played on Saturday, have won 10 of their last 12 games. They will also visit Heritage Christian High on Monday and Tuesday before hosting the Warriors on Thursday.

“Cerritos is a great team, and you have to understand that when we’re playing these midseason non-league games, it’s all about preparing our guys to play,” said Eric Slater. “They’re preparing their guys to get guys an opportunity to be successful when league comes around and we’re preparing our guys to get successful to prepare when league comes around. It’s a little bit different at the beginning of the season because you don’t know what you have yet. Today, both these squads were doing the best they could to get guys who probably don’t normally get a chance to get a chance to prove what they’ve got.”

Cerritos, which has won its first four 605 League games, faces second place Pioneer High this week, hosting the Titans on Friday before entering John Glenn High on Tuesday in the front end of a home and home series.

“I don’t know much about [Pioneer]; I know they lost a lot of guys [from last season],” said Joyce. “So we don’t know what to expect. We’ll go 100 percent right at them and I anticipate us being the more talented team, and I think we should take care of business.”