Baseball: Cleveland beats ECR in eight innings, 3-2
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In the third-base coaching box, Reseda Cleveland Coach Greg Venger was waving his arms so wildly Wednesday trying to alert pinch-runner John Wilson to keep running from first all the way home on a single by Ian Connell in the bottom of the eighth inning that he might have pulled a muscle.
Wilson, taking off on a 3-and-2 count with two outs, saw Venger’s waving and kept running. He rounded second and rounded third. The ball was bobbled in center field, and by the time Wilson headed toward home plate, the throw was off line. Wilson scored the winning run in Cleveland’s 3-2 West Valley League victory over Woodland Hills El Camino Real.
Cleveland (16-4, 6-1) remained tied for first place with Chatsworth, which defeated Granada Hills, 6-0, on a shutout by Mike Renner. El Camino Real dropped to 15-6 and 4-3.
Wilson improved to 7-0 with a complete-game seven-hitter. He gave up a home run to Alex DeLeon in the second inning and an RBI single to Michael Booth in the sixth inning that tied the game. Otherwise, he was brilliant. Robert Almendarez hit a two-run home run for Cleveland.
El Camino Real blew a chance to score in the top of the eighth inning when its first two batters reached base. But Alex Mejia hit a fly ball to right field that was caught, and a pinch runner was thrown out at second trying to move up from first.
The two schools play again on Friday at El Camino Real. The game will be televised by LA36 on Saturday at 6 p.m.
-- Eric Sondheimer