Southern Section 4-A : Mater Dei Overcomes Nervous Condition to Win, 11-4

Having been ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today and No. 1 in the Southern Section 4-A division most of the season, one would think the Mater Dei High School baseball team might go into a playoff game with a confident--maybe even cocky--attitude.

Instead, the Monarchs were admittedly nervous prior to their second-round game against North Torrance on Tuesday.

But, as Mater Dei discovered, a strong pitching performance and a big, early lead is no match for a small case of the nerves.

The Monarchs got out to a four-run lead in the fourth inning and continued to pull away to an 11-4 victory on the Saxons’ field. They will meet Ocean View in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Mater Dei may be on top of the world this year, but this was the first time these players had advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs. The fact that the Monarchs were eliminated by Rowland in their first game last year was fresh in their minds, and it seemed to create a cautious atmosphere among the players prior to Tuesday’s game.

“Before our pregame drills, you could tell we were tight,” said Mater Dei shortstop Bobby DeJardin, who led the Monarchs with three hits and four RBIs, including a two-run home run in the fourth inning that gave Mater Dei a 5-1 lead.

“There were only a few yells here and there, but during infield (practice), we went wild. We all have strong arms and were making good throws, and that got our adrenalin going.”

The runs were soon to follow.

Mater Dei scored in the top of the first inning when DeJardin walked, was sacrificed to second, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Tony Gardea’s sacrifice fly.

But the Saxons seemed up to the task when they touched up Monarch starter Steve Watson for two hits and a run in the bottom of the first.

That was all North Torrance would get off Watson, though. The junior left-hander allowed just one hit during the next four innings before giving way to Mike McCarthy in the sixth. Watson earned the victory to improve to 6-0 for the top-seeded Monarchs (24-1).

Mater Dei broke the game open with six runs in the fifth inning for an 11-1 lead, but both Monarch Coach Bob Ickes and Saxon Coach Mike Neily thought the critical point of the game occurred in the fourth, when a North Torrance error paved the way for two Mater Dei runs.

After two were out, No. 9-hitter Kevin O’Connor bounced a grounder to shortstop Darin Fisher, who bobbled the ball and couldn’t relay the throw to first in time.

DeJardin then smashed a fly ball to right field that got over James Yogi’s head when Yogi turned the wrong way, tripped and fell. DeJardin circled the bases for a two-run homer and a 5-1 Monarch lead.

“Right field is the hardest to play here--the ball carries well and it’s the sun field,” Neily said. “That ball appeared catchable, but he (Yogi) got turned around and probably tripped over his own feet. And that play was set up by an error.

“All of a sudden, we’re down 5-1 and deeper in the hole instead of being up to bat and down 3-1. The little things didn’t go our way today.”

Said Ickes: “When you make a mistake like that, it can snowball. There’s no easy out in our lineup. We have 15 kids hitting better than .300. When the shortstop didn’t come up with that play, it opened the door for us.”