With a team batting average of .223 coming in, coach Kim Brooks looked to his bench for some spark, and once again Chacon rewarded the decision at Norwalk.  Last year on the same campus, in the game that clinched the Suburban League title for the Matadores, Chacon came up clutch with a huge run-scoring hit to break it open.

This time around, Chacon got the nod from the beginning in the designated hitter's role and he didn't waste any time in giving his teammates some much-needed momentum.  His hard second-inning single to center plated senior leftfielder J.T. Torres, who started off the inning with a dropped popfly in right.  Torres was quickly sacrificed into scoring position by senior firstbaseman Daniel Poncedeleon's effortless bunt on his first offering.

Torres, who reached base all four trips, started it off again in the fourth with a leadoff base on balls, then used his superior runningback legs to steal second and advance to third on a wild pitch.  With a drawn-in infield, Chacon blasted a shot past the secondbaseman for a 2-0 lead.

The following inning, junior shortstop Andres Rodriguez plastered a one-hopper to the very deep leftfield fence for a leadoff double, but he was cutdown at third on senior centerfielder Karl Perez's grounder to short.  After Torres walked again and Poncedeleon was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Mr. Chacon made it 3-0 by taking four balls.

The Matadores blew it open with a five-run fifth, the big bop a two-run chopper over the thirdbaseman's glove by the team's biggest offensive producer, senior catcher Nick Mandry.  It scored both senior rightfielder Jesse McHenry (reached on error) and Rodriguez, who was plunked yet again, after both became a scoring threat on Perez's trademark opposite field single to left to load the bases.

Torres was then also hit by a pitch and Poncedeleon punched a single through the gap on the rightside of the diamond to bring in Mandry for a 6-0 advantage.  Chacon then notched his final RBI with a fielder's choice grounder to third to score Mandry, with junior thirdbaseman Nick Mata completing the offense with a double down the leftfield line to circle Poncedeleon.

As much as the offense has struggled, the defensive performances have been just as lacking, allowing 23 unearned runs in the first 10 games, an astounding 2.3 average per game--way too big a number to overcome against topnotch teams even when the offensive cylinders are clicking.

But from the onset, the Matadores made one outstanding play after another.  In the first, Mandry gunned down a basestealer and in the second Torres used his Division I gridiron skills to good use again by tracking down a blast to left that had no business being caught.

In the third, Mandry again hosed an attempted thief and in the fifth Mata made a nice play on a slow roller to throw out a Lancer with the help of Poncedeleon's fine dig.  In the fourth and sixth, though, the best defense was Harper's arm, which struck out a pair in each frame.

But there was one final crowd-ooohing play in the cards for La Mirada when senior centerfielder Cory Hightower made a fantastic diving catch on a sinking linedrive for the first out in the seventh.

With Harper's terrific outing following Poncedeleon's fine effort Wednesday (two unearned runs in seven innings), it once again showed that the Matadores will be very tough to beat in league with opponents having to face 1 and 1A (and a helluva 1B in the wings in Mitch Petersen).

And not to forget, an assist goes out to the generous Peacock Family, which hosted a "Rally" dinner Thursday evening...you could say it worked out