Bellflower struck for three runs in the second inning, but senior leftfielder Justin Torres came up huge in a tight situation once again (anyone remember three touchdowns in the CIF football championship game?) with an immediate towering home run over the golf course trees in leftfield to give his team some life.
After two Matadores were retired in the same inning, a mini-rally ensued behind senior shortstop Kyle Harper's walk, senior secondbaseman Garrin Haile's infield single, and hot-hitting junior designated hitter Nicko Lancaster's run-scoring rope to rightcenter to make it 3-2.
In the third, senior catcher Nick Mandry smoked one down the third base bag for a leadoff double and was sacrificed to third by Torres, symbolic of the Matadores' extraordinary execution this year and selflessness. How many teams are going to have a player who hit a homer the previous at-bat give himself up to bunt?
Us.
Senior firstbaseman Mike Piazza then hit a smash too hot to handle for the thirdbaseman to bring in Mandry for a 3-3 deadlock.
Piazza then came through with his second straight game-winning hit in the fifth--once again a hard single with the bases loaded--to plate senior centerfielder Karl Perez, who led off with a brilliant 3-2 count walk. Mandry followed with a second double, a high blast that just missed clearing the leftfield fence, and Torres was intentionally walked to load the bases for Piazza.
After Piazza converted with his smug Lion King "I laugh in the face of danger" look, junior thirdbaseman Nick Mata kept up the heat with a hard single to center to score senior pinch runner Cory Hightower and Haile made it 6-3 with a clutch sacrifice fly to bring in Torres.
More topflight execution in the sixth made it 7-3 on a leadoff double by senior rightfielder Jesse McHenry to the opposite field--hitting the leftfield chalk was down the line--a sacrifice bunt by Perez and a sacrifice fly by RBI robot Mandry, his 33rd of the season.
Senior righthander Alex Pedroza earned the win in a dazzling performance after coming in with two runners on and no outs in the top of the fourth in a 3-3 contest. The first batter he faced bunted and Pedroza spun and fired to third, but too late as the runner was stealing on the pitch.
Bases loaded, no outs, tie game, league championship on the line--priceless.
Especially when Pedroza coaxed the next batter to hit a comebacker for a 1-2-3 double play, which almost ended with a triple play when the runner that reached second started back towards his dugout thinking there were three outs. But he was safe getting back as Pedroza's throw wasn't cleanly handled.
So that left runners on second and third and the La Mirada parents biting off their fingernails, but Pedroza got the final out of the inning on a grounder to first that he covered for a flip from Piazza, whose improved health is starting to allow his defensive play to mirror his Gold Glove season of 2009.
Pedroza allowed a leadoff single in the fifth but retired the final nine batters to retire Bellflower's championship dreams. In all, the craftsman allowed just one safety in 12 foes faced.
In addition to beating a solid team with great pitchers, La Mirada had to overcome the unexpected absence of three-year junior starting shortstop Andres Rodriguez, who was ejected in the middle of Friday's game against Cerritos and was forced to sit out this one, too, as part of the penalty.
Not only did La Mirada miss the anchor of its defense and its clutch No. 2 hitter, it affected the pitching rotation. The only player remotely experienced to fill in at shortstop was also the guy who was supposed to pitch this one, defending Suburban League Pitcher of the Year Harper.
Harper only had two chances at shortstop and handled them flawlessly, as he did against Cerritos. But not having him on the mound where he is 10-1 over the past two seasons in league competition still could have been costly.
But the Matadores, like real bullfighters, laughed in the face of the danger.
