2-A Baseball Playoffs : Saugus Upsets Capistrano Valley : Moran Just Misses No-Hitter in Centurions’ 2-1 Victory

Chris Joy, Saugus High School’s third baseman, entered Tuesday’s Southern Section 2-A playoff game against Capistrano Valley with a school-record, 21-game hitting streak.

But he was hitless against the No. 5-seeded Cougars.

It didn’t matter, though. Saugus pitcher Dennis Moran did more than his share to compensate for the lack of offense.

Moran retired the first nine batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until there were two out in the seventh to lead the Centurions to a 2-1 upset of the Cougars in a second-round game at Saugus. The loss ended Capistrano Valley’s nine-game win streak.

Saugus (18-7) will meet Norte Vista, a 7-1 winner over University, in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Though Moran (7-1) was cruising through Capistrano Valley’s lineup, he said he didn’t realize he was throwing a no-hitter.

“I didn’t really think about it until the fourth inning,” said Moran, a senior right-hander. “Then I thought, ‘Hey, I don’t think they have any hits yet.’ ”

Leading, 2-1, with two outs in the seventh, Moran needed only to retire sophomore second baseman Chris Ashbach to preserve the no-hitter. Ashbach, however, lined a clean single to right, just out of the reach of second baseman Tom Dodson.

“In that last inning I felt a lot of pressure,” Moran said. “I was really nervous. Once I gave up the hit, I was a little disappointed, but then I had to start thinking about the team win.”

Cougar Coach Bob Zamora was impressed with Moran’s control.

“I know, if you asked every one of our kids, they’d tell you that he wasn’t all that tough,” Zamora said. “I’m not bad-mouthing anyone on their team, though. He threw strikes and we didn’t hit the ball between them. That was the difference.”

Though Capistrano Valley (19-7) was having problems with Moran, it managed to tie the game, 1-1, in the fifth, when Moran struggled to throw strikes.

With one out, he walked Rob Sheehan and hit Mike Pierce with a pitch. He then balked the runners to second and third, and Sheehan scored on Ashbach’s squeeze.

Both Saugus runs were unearned, and involved Joy, who entered the game with a .456 average.

In the second, Joy hit a hard shot that shortstop Bill Bardens was unable to handle. Joy moved to second on a wild pitch by Brett Snyder (7-3) and to third on a balk. Two batters later, Bryan Riley singled to left to drive in the run.

In the sixth, Joy hit another ball to short. This time, Bardens’ errant throw to first allowed Joy to reach base safely. After a single by Brett Paola, catcher Gene Northway produced the game-winner with a single to left-center.

In other 2-A action:

Norte Vista 6, University 1--The Trojans took an early 1-0 lead but could not hold on and were eliminated from the playoffs at Norte Vista.

University scored in the second inning when Steve Conner doubled in Jeff Baker, but the Trojans could not push across anymore runs after that. University’s Al Contrera tried to score from first base on a single to right field in the fifth inning but was thrown out at the plate on a controversial play.

Norte Vista then scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the sixth. Willie Navarette, an all-Southern Section pitcher as a sophomore last season, improved to 13-1 with the victory. Darrell Sawicki (5-2) took the loss.

University ended its season at 13-10. Norte Vista (21-5) advances to the 2-A quarterfinals.