CITY SECTION BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : Cizek Staunches Late Palisades Threat : Injured Pitcher Leads Kennedy to 4-A Title

In light of the restructured City Section 4-A Division playoff structure, whereby teams played three games in three days this week, it figured that pitchers would be pushed to the limit.

And of all the guys with weary wings, Kennedy High right-hander Mitch Cizek had to be the weariest heading into Thursday’s championship game against Palisades at Dodger Stadium.

Cizek had pitched the final 3 2/3 innings to earn the win in Kennedy’s come-from-behind semifinal victory over Sylmar on Wednesday--only eight days after he sliced an artery in his right forearm trying to open a balky window at a friend’s house.

After the Sylmar outing, in fact, Cizek’s arm sprung a leak.

“It was bleeding big time,” the 6-foot, 170-pound senior said. “I was gonna go to the doctor, but I didn’t want to hear any bad news, so I decided not to go.”

Cizek, somehow, nursed his tired and wounded arm through seven innings of gutty pitching as Kennedy defeated Palisades, 4-3, before 5,206.

Talk about your house calls.

Cizek (9-4) allowed two earned runs, struck out six and walked six. He worked one perfect inning, the fifth, and dodged bullets the rest of the way.

With Kennedy leading by a run entering the bottom of the seventh, Cizek retired the first two batters and worked Palisades cleanup hitter Larry Levine--who clubbed his eighth home run of the season and drove in the winning run in the seventh against Chatsworth on Wednesday--to an 0-and-2 count.

Levine, however, slammed a ground-rule double into the left-field seats. Cizek appeared shaken as he paced behind the mound, but Coach Manny Alvarado left him in.

“He deserved to finish it,” said Alvarado, who led the Golden Cougars to their third 4-A championship in the 1980s. “The only way he’s coming out is if he totally loses it, and that wasn’t going to happen.”

Alvarado’s confidence was well-placed. Cizek, who was named the game’s most valuable player, retired Larry Israel on a fly ball to left on the first pitch.

Kennedy (22-7) continued a streak of Valley dominance. No non-Valley team has won a 4-A title since Venice did so in 1972.

Yet against Palisades (25-5), which knocked off top-seeded Chatsworth in the semifinals, it wasn’t easy.

With Kennedy leading, 4-2, in the sixth, Palisades scored a run on Kevin Fisher’s single to left. Fisher’s hit put runners at first and second with no outs.

John Myrow moved the runners over with a sacrifice bunt. Cizek, however, struck out pinch-hitter Brett Garcia on a 3-and-2 curve for the second out and retired Mario Cobian on a hard grounder to third.

“He’s got a good head on his shoulders,” said Mike Codron, who was named the tournament MVP. “He didn’t have incredible stuff, but he’s a really smart pitcher.”

Others had expected Cizek to crumble.

“I thought he would fall,” Palisades Coach Russ Howard said. “He seemed like he was teetering. I think that’s what made him so good.”

The Golden Cougars picked up where they left off against Sylmar in the semifinal round when they scored seven runs in their final two at-bats. Kennedy scored two runs in the first inning off Cobian (8-1), a senior right-hander.

Mike Murray led off with an infield single and moved to second on a walk to Gino Tagliaferri. Cobian then walked Garret Anderson on four pitches to load the bases.

Travis Bourne followed with a line drive off the glove of Palisades second baseman Fisher. As the ball bounded into short right field--it was scored an error--Murray and Tagliaferri scored to give Kennedy a 2-0 lead.

Kennedy scored again in the second to take a 3-0 lead. Danny Gugler drilled a leadoff single to left and, one out later, was sacrificed to second base by James Campbell. Murray followed with an RBI-single to center. Pat DeBoer singled to short to put runners at first and second for Tagliaferri.

But after the runners moved up a base on a wild pitch, Tagliaferri, struck out to end the inning.

Cizek was firmly in charge early, allowing only an unearned run in the second when the Dolphins closed to within 3-1.

Israel singled to open the inning and moved to second on a walk to Kevin Boasberg. Palisades loaded the bases when Kennedy first baseman Bourne threw low to first on Fisher’s sacrifice-bunt attempt.

Cizek, however, retired Myrow on a fly ball to center, Israel scoring on the play. A sacrifice bunt by Gary Sandorf moved the runners into scoring position, but Cizek struck out Cobian.

Kennedy received a big break in the fourth. Jeremy Haas, in the game as a pinch-runner for Boasberg, who had walked to lead off the inning, was easily doubled up when he bolted for second on Fisher’s routine fly to right.

Myrow then lined a two-out single to center and moved to second when Bourne missed a pickoff attempt at first. Sandorf, the Dolphins’ No. 9 hitter, looped a run-scoring single over Tagliaferri at short to make it 3-2.

Despite the hardships of the past two weeks, Cizek insisted that he was ready for more.

“The cut was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Cizek said. “My arm felt refreshed and I was never tired tonight. Heck, let’s play another one.”