Montclair Prep Dominates Village Christian Yet Again in Southern Section Final : Prep baseball: The Mounties take the 1-A Division title with their third win over the Crusaders this season.

From beginning to end, Montclair Prep beat Village Christian in every possible way this season--from A to Z, if you will.

Or from alpha to omega.

Montclair Prep twice defeated Village Christian in Alpha League play by a cumulative score of 30-16. And to prove that was no fluke, the Mounties hammered the Crusaders in the season finale at Blair Field in Long Beach on Friday night.

The payoff in this 14-4 rout was a Southern Section 1-A Division championship, Montclair Prep’s first title since it won a Small Schools Division title in 1982--its fourth in five years.

The Montclair Prep (25-3) offensive outpouring established a new Southern Section mark for runs scored in a 1-A Division title game, breaking the record set by Needles in a 12-0 victory over Desert in 1959.

The game started to unravel for Village Christian (18-7) in the second inning, when left-hander Matt Bates yielded an infield chopper to shortstop that leadoff batter Jared Baumblatt beat out for a single. Russell Ortiz singled cleanly to left and, with the runners going, Andy Shaw singled to third base, where Herb Gonzalez saved a run with a dive at the bag but was unable to make a throw. It loaded the bases for No. 9 hitter Shad Knighton.

With the infield drawn in, Knighton singled to center, driving in Baumblatt and Ortiz for a 2-0 lead on what could have been a double-play ball had the shortstop been at normal depth. Leland Sparks then bunted back to the mound, but Bates fell down as he snatched at the ball, drawing an error and reloading the bases.

J. T. Billingslea blooped a single to center to drive in Shaw, but center fielder Paul Gatlin’s throw to third base was high. Bates retrieved the ball and tried to gun down Sparks, who had taken a big turn around second, but Bates’ toss went into center for another error and two more runs scored. Billingslea moved all the way to third.

Before the inning’s carnage was over, Montclair Prep led, 7-0, and had sent 12 batters to the plate. Baumblatt had two hits to spark the 20-minute rally.

But that was almost nothing compared to what happened in the fifth, when Montclair Prep scored five runs on two hits--and four Village Christian errors and four passed balls--to take a 12-1 lead.

The rally chased Bates (8-1), who allowed 12 hits in 4 1/3 innings, walked four and struck out two.

Things went much more smoothly for Montclair Prep right-hander Kevin Grant (12-1), who struck out the side in the second and fourth innings to finish with 12 strikeouts. He yielded eight hits and allowed no walks or earned runs.

The Montclair Prep hit parade was unrelenting. Billingslea had three hits, and all but one starter had at least one hit.

The Mounties, who entered the playoffs as the top-seeded team, rolled up 14 hits. Coupled with 10 Village Christian errors, they made for a lopsided game.

Village Christian uttered a protest of sorts in the third, when it scored to move within 7-1. But it should have been more.

Gonzales doubled to lead off and Matt Smay followed with a ground ball to Ortiz at third. Ortiz looked Gonzalez back to second and threw to first to nail Smay. But despite the seven-run deficit, Gonzalez rolled the dice and was easily tossed out at third by first baseman Shaw.

Matt Henzie singled to center, took second on a wild pitch and scored when Knighton threw away Gatlin’s grounder to second.