Outcome Only Consideration for Kennedy in 15-12 Win

Perhaps it was a convenient case of collective memory loss for a Kennedy High team that has certainly played better. The final score didn’t seem to stick in the players’ minds. And, neither did the play of the defense. Or pitching.

So what was the final tally?

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” shortstop Gino Tagliaferri said. “As long as we got that W.”

Any other guesses? What about management?

“I don’t know,” Coach Manny Alvarado admitted. “All I knew was how much of a pad, or not a pad, we had every inning.”

Kennedy, indeed, did a launching-pad number on visiting Chatsworth, fighting back again and again for a 15-12 win in a 3-hour, 21-minute Northwest Valley Conference game in which the lead changed hands four times.

Kennedy (17-6, 11-3 in league play), which was no-hit Tuesday by Chatsworth’s Derek Wallace, racked up 17 hits in six innings and eight of nine starters drove in at least one run. The Golden Cougars twice bombed Chatsworth junior right-hander Reed McMackin (7-2). In his first appearance, as a starter, McMackin was chased in the third after allowing five runs on six hits.

By the time McMackin re-entered the game in the sixth inning, Chatsworth held a tenuous 12-11 lead, despite a pair of rocket-shot solo homers to left by Tagliaferri. The second time around was even worse for McMackin, but Chatsworth was out of pitching options.

“He did not pitch well, and that’s two bad outings in a row for Reed,” Chatsworth Coach Bob Lofrano said. “And you know you’re really pushing when you have to use him again, but that’s all we could do.”

With one out in the sixth, McMackin walked Mike Murray and gave up a single to Pat DeBoer to put runners on first and second. McMackin managed to get Tagliaferri--who already had recorded his third two-homer day of the year--to foul off two pitches, then uncorked a wild pitch to advance the runners. With first base open, Lofrano ordered an intentional pass to Tagliaferri on a 1-and-2 count, loading the bases for Garret Anderson.

Anderson, who was three for four as he stepped in, drilled McMackin’s first pitch into left to score Murray and DeBoer and give Kennedy a 13-12 lead. Travis Bourne followed with a two-run single to left that gave Kennedy some insurance.

In the top of the seventh, Kennedy reliever Cody Beaumaster (2-1) hit Rich Aude, who had an inside-the-park grand slam in the fourth to give Chatsworth a short-lived 7-6 lead. Eric Johnson followed with a single one out later, but Kevin Chong grounded to Tagliaferri, who started a 6-4-3, game-ending double play.

“We came out like puppies on Tuesday,” said Tagliaferri, who has 10 home runs this season and 20 in his career. “We were scared. We had to battle back, battle back.”

And so will Chatsworth (18-5, 11-3), which remarkably, has lost three games in eight days and now leads Taft (14-9, 10-4) by one game heading into a West Valley League showdown at Taft on Tuesday.

“We’ve let it dwindle,” Lofrano said of the team’s lead in the standings. “We hit the ball real well this week, but the rest. . . . You can never have enough pitching. That’s why they call it a staff.”