Notre Dame Erases Doubts With 11-2 Win

After Notre Dame High lost to La Salle three weeks ago, the Knights’ purported dominance of the San Fernando Valley League was in question.

Things looked even more suspect when St. Genevieve defeated the Knights three days later.

“I think that woke us up a little bit,” Notre Dame Coach Bob Mandeville said. “Especially in that one week, it turned our heads around.”

As Notre Dame came out of hibernation Wednesday night, any question mark quickly became an exclamation point. The Knights collected 15 hits--six in the sixth inning--and routed La Salle, 11-2, at Brookside Park in Pasadena.

“Last time we held them to a three-hitter and that was the difference,” La Salle Coach Tom Cano said of a 1-0 win in April. “I was pleased with the way we hit the ball, but theirs went through and ours didn’t.”

One Notre Dame batter who had no problem getting through was Vinnie Orlando.

Orlando, who had had problems at the plate earlier in the season, went four for four--including two doubles--knocked in four runs and scored two for the Knights (20-5, 5-2 in league play).

“I haven’t been disciplined at the plate at all,” Orlando said. “Not swinging at good pitches has been the problem. Tonight I just became more disciplined.”

Every batter in Notre Dame’s lineup, in fact, showed discipline upon discovering that Luis Solis was pitching for the Lancers.

Solis (3-4) and Brian Esquival allowed the Knights only three hits and registered a shutout when the teams met last month. Solis was relieved by Esquival in the sixth after giving up eight hits.

The Knights, leading 3-0, were fully awake in the sixth inning; they sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs on six hits.

Notre Dame sophomore starter Steve Colella (7-3), who entered the game with a 1.69 earned-run average, gave up two earned runs through six innings before yielding to Greg Andrachick.

Colella surrendered three consecutive hits and two runs in the sixth, allowing La Salle (9-8, 4-3) to pull to within 9-2.