Kennedy Shot Down by San Fernando in Seventh Inning, 4-3

It was 12 o’clock high for San Fernando High and pitcher Frank Serna. There stood Serna, in the midst of his delivery with none out in the seventh and the tying run at first, when Kennedy batter Bruce Carreau squared to bunt.

The bunt, to be sure, was expected. But Serna’s altered delivery--he instinctively threw the pitch high and outside--eventually proved to be his deliverance in a 4-3 win in a North Valley League opener at San Fernando Tuesday.

“I was only at 12 o’clock,” said Serna in reference to his arm and pitching motion. “He showed bunt early, so I just threw it up there.”

It put the Tigers over the top.

With San Fernando holding a 4-3 lead, Serna (3-0) threw the ball where Carreau was unable to make contact. Danny Gugler, who led off the inning with a single and was off with the pitch on a bunt-and-run attempt, was easily thrown out by San Fernando catcher Rudy Sanchez. Travis Bourne singled one out later, but it had been rendered harmless.

“I don’t really want to second-guess anyone,” San Fernando Coach Steve Marden said. “But if I have a runner on first with no outs and Serna on the mound, I don’t bunt and run. You gotta put (the ball) down.”

San Fernando pushed across the winning run in the sixth when Richard Sanchez scored from third on a two-out fielding error by second baseman Pat DeBoer.

Kennedy (4-2, 0-1) took a 2-0 lead in the first as Mike Murray and Gino Tagliaferri scored when a ground ball by Garret Anderson went between the legs of Tiger first baseman John Najar. The Golden Cougars regained the lead, 3-2, in the fourth on consecutive doubles to left by Gugler and Carreau.

“That second guy (Carreau) was supposed to take the first pitch, but he launched it,” cracked Serna, who crouched into a sprinter’s stance as he spoke. “I looked out at the left fielder and thought he’d be down like this trying to get a jump on the next one.”

Serna stabilized, however, and finished with a seven-hitter. He struck out two, walked none and allowed two earned runs.

San Fernando tied the score, 3-3, in the fifth on a one-out ground ball to first by Richard Avalos who knocked in Bobby Corrales from third. Corrales was three for four and is seven for his last nine.

For first-year Kennedy Coach Manny Alvarado, the late-inning letdowns were cause for teeth gnashing.

“It’s the little things that do it,” Alvarado said. “This is high school baseball. Sometimes the kids come through and sometimes they pop right up and bite you.”