Baseball: Taft beats Chatsworth for first time since 1998

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

When former Westlake Coach Chuck Berrington, left, took over as baseball coach at Woodland Hills Taft three years ago, people told him he’d never be able to build a winning program.

Well, Berrington’s rebuilding project finally is taking shape after the Toreadors stunned City Section power Chatsworth, 2-1, Friday in a West Valley League game that ended in the ninth inning on Cody deSpain’s two-out RBI single. It was Taft’s first win over Chatsworth since 1998.

Junior left-hander Ryan Santhon, one of the most underrated pitchers in the City, struck out 10 in eight innings for Taft.

‘I told them going in, ‘Until we beat Chatsworth, we’re nothing,’’ Berrington said. ‘Afterward, I told them everybody has to look at us. We’re for real.’

Taft had four freshmen and two sophomores in its lineup. It was Chatsworth’s first league loss since 2006.

-- Eric Sondheimer

-- Image by Los Angeles Times