San Fernando Defeats Taft as De La Cruz Gains Control

His coach says it was more a matter of improved control, being strong enough to weather 100-degree temperatures with a heater of his own, and picking some timely spots to pick off baserunners.

Yet San Fernando High left-hander Hector De La Cruz believes a big reason he was able to slice Taft to shreds Wednesday is because of a hair-razing experience he had Tuesday evening. De La Cruz had a design shaved into the side and back of his noggin--a detailed ‘do that included his uniform number, 11, chopped in the back.

The wild look symbolizes the exorcism of his previous demon, namely, wildness.

“This is the beginning of a new season for me,” he said, beaming. “It called for a new look.”

Head games or not, De La Cruz (3-0) pitched his strongest game in a month, throwing a seven-hitter, striking out eight, walking three and allowing one earned run as San Fernando defeated Taft, 9-2, in a Northwest Valley Conference game at Taft.

The 6-foot, 200-pound De La Cruz threw consistently in the strike zone for the first time since conference play began. Despite his perfect record, De La Cruz’s earned-run average was above four entering the game.

In the early innings, he blew away Taft hitters by serving up a blistering fastball-forkball combination. When he got into trouble in the fourth, he stuck a fork in Adam Zutler, easily picking off the Taft baserunner with the bases loaded and one out.

“He’s a lefty that throws very hard and there aren’t many of those around,” Taft Coach Rich McKeon said. “We never got a good piece of him, that’s for sure.”

San Fernando hitters, conversely, had little trouble piecing together numerous rallies off Taft right-hander Scott Tiano (1-2). The Tigers managed to get the leadoff man aboard in each of Tiano’s five innings and took a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Tiano hit Richard Sanchez and walked Octavio Serrano and John Najar to open the inning.

Andrew Munoz reached base on an error by third baseman Rich Cosentino, scoring Sanchez. Edwin Rivera singled in Serrano and Jess Romero knocked in Najar on a sacrifice fly to center.

Taft (8-5, 5-3 in league play) mounted its only threat in the fourth. De La Cruz, who had struck out six in three innings, surrendered three consecutive singles to open the inning, bringing Taft to within 3-1, then walked Zutler to load the bases.

De La Cruz, however, fanned Benjie Belfield for the first out and caught Zutler napping at first when Munoz sneaked in to field a perfect pickoff throw. Doug Kougher grounded out to end the inning, and in essence, the game.

“He’s got a great move,” San Fernando Coach Steve Marden said. “We encourage our pitchers to work on that, because I can tell you, it’s very demoralizing to have a runner erased when you’re trying to get back in the game. It knocks the wind right out of you.”

San Fernando (8-2-1, 5-2-1) then set sail, scoring a run in the fifth, two in the sixth and three in the seventh to put Taft away.

“I suppose that was a big play,” said McKeon of the pickoff play. “But we were flat all day--it wasn’t the only mistake we made.”

Indeed, three Taft pitchers combined to walk seven and hit three. In comparison to Tuesday’s 7-5 win at San Fernando, McKeon said his team looked, well, wooden.

“It’s like John Wooden said, ‘For every artificial peak, there’s a valley,’ ” McKeon said. “We beat them and we came out today with no spark at all.”

De La Cruz, to be sure, had plenty of fire. In seven innings of 100-degree heat, he stayed almost exclusively with hard stuff.

“I only remember throwing three curves all day,” he said.

Taft could have thrown Romero almost anything and it wouldn’t have made much difference. For the second time in as many days, the senior outfielder, who bats in the leadoff position, had three hits.

San Fernando shortstop Bobby Corrales, a senior who had a nine-game hit streak snapped Tuesday, was two for five.