City 4-A Baseball Final : Monroe Denies San Fernando Once Again, 3-2

The strange ways of Monroe and San Fernando--teams with a combined 27-23 record--came to a head in Thursday night’s City 4-A baseball final.

But after some early follies, the game became what few expected it would be--a good game.

Tom Costic drove in Joe Marquis with a double in the top of the seventh inning, giving Monroe--the fourth-place team from the Mid-Valley League--a 3-2 win before a crowd of 3,500 at Dodger Stadium.

The Vikings, who had a 13-16 record in winning their first City title since 1974, were led by the pitching of Sean Henson, who struck out 10, allowed 5 hits and bore down on San Fernando in critical situations.

San Fernando may be on the longest dry spell in City history. The Tigers (14-7) have not won a baseball title in 92 years of existence, and walks helped keep that streak intact. They gave up only three Thursday night, but all of them accounted for Monroe runs.

Vince Ortiz, the third San Fernando pitcher, gave up two of the walks in the seventh--the first one to Marquis to lead off the inning, and then to Brian Eldridge.

Costic followed with his double to right-center--the only extra-base hit of the game--to score Marquis and give Monroe the winning margin.

San Fernando had taken a 1-0 lead in the second inning, with some help from Monroe. Henson walked Robert Chavez to begin the inning, then struck out Andrew Munoz before Rudy Sanchez hit a fastball to right field, apparently well within the reach of left fielder Marquis.

Only it wasn’t that easy. Marquis ran past the ball, which traveled to the wall before center fielder Mike Enriquez got to it. Enriquez took two dribbles with the ball before picking it up, by which time Chavez had scored and Sanchez was on third. Two errors, one run, and Monroe looked to be on shaky ground.

But Monroe came back to score in even stranger fashion in the fourth inning. With two men on and no outs, San Fernando Coach Steve Marden positioned shortstop Albert Torres between the pitcher’s mound and the first-base line, protecting against the bunt.

Enriquez immediately bunted between the mound and the third - base line, loading the bases. Marden replaced starter Rudy Vargas with Hector De La Cruz, who walked the first batter he faced to tie the score, 1-1. Mike Bargerstock followed with a short single to right, and Monroe had a 2-1 lead.

San Fernando came back to tie it in the fifth. With two outs, Torres singled to right-center, then stole second. Bobby Corrales followed with another single to right-center, scoring Torres.