2-A Baseball Final : Rees Keeps Castle Park at Arm’s Length : Mission Bay Wins Second Section Championship in Three Years, 2-1

David Husted was walking back to the Castle Park High dugout after fouling out to Mission Bay first baseman J.T. Thomas in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s San Diego Section 2-A baseball championship.

As he neared the dugout, he took his bat and began pounding himself on the helmet. It was only fitting, because the Trojans spent much of their 2-1 loss at the University of San Diego banging their heads against a wall.

Castle Park (25-5-1) stranded eight runners through the first five innings. Three times, a runner was left on third.

By the sixth, their chances were gone. Mission Bay left-hander Sean Rees, who went the distance, set down six consecutive batters in the sixth and seventh, striking out four of them.

“I was just strong today,” said Rees, who finished with 10 strikeouts. “I was getting tired at the end, but I don’t think it bothered me. I’m usually strongest at the end, because I tell myself to bear down. They’re the best-hitting team I’ve faced all year.”

Rees was spectacular throughout the playoffs. He pitched a shutout against San Pasqual, came back with 1 innings of shutout relief in Saturday’s semifinal against La Jolla and limited Castle Park to one earned run as Mission Bay (25-3-1) won its second 2-A title in three years.

“It was low-scoring, just like I thought it would be,” said Dennis Pugh, Mission Bay coach. “But we got a couple of breaks.”

The first came with Mission Bay trailing, 1-0, in the third. Tony Enomoto drew a two-out walk and scored when designated hitter Pat Betancourt ripped a Cesar Gutierrez pitch to left field for a double. Colin Davis followed with a single and, as Mike Vallarelli bobbled the ball, Betancourt roared home to put Mission Bay ahead, 2-1. Had Vallarelli handled it cleanly, there would have been a play at the plate on Betancourt.

It was Gutierrez’s only rough inning, who like Rees went the distance. Gutierrez allowed just three hits and struck out seven. At times, it looked as if that would be enough to win:

--Castle Park third: With one out, Husted doubled. He scored two batters later when Vallarelli, who had three singles and three stolen bases, singled to center. Vallarelli stole third but was stranded.

--Castle Park fourth: With two out, Chris Sykes was safe at first on shortstop Mike McKesson’s error. Darin Husted followed with a ground-rule double. Sykes, running on the pitch, would have easily scored had the ball bounced into the fence instead of over it. Joaquin Sosa struck out, leaving Sykes at third and Husted at second.

--Castle Park fifth: With one out, Juan Pena singled to right and moved to second when Vallarelli beat out a bunt toward third. Beltran flied to right, but Pena stayed at third--and the throw to the plate was up the line. Rees walked Gutierrez to load the bases. Carrillo followed with a strikeout.

“That was the key to the game right there,” Rees said.

Castle Park’s final count for the middle three innings: one run, five hits, six left.

“It seemed like every time we got someone to third, something just didn’t click,” Beltran said. “That’s what hurt us. I think we were the best team out there. We were hitting and hustling. We played our hearts out.”

“We had our chances,” said Castle Park Coach Bob Korzep, who guided his team to the school’s first-ever section baseball championship game. “A lot of eyes were opened by the little guys from Chula Vista. It just wasn’t meant to be.”