HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Vista Defeats Poway, Gets Step Closer to League Title

Butch Smith said Vista High’s 3-2 Palomar League baseball victory Thursday over third-ranked Poway was the biggest in his school’s history. Considering Vista won its last league title in 1980, he probably was right.

The eighth-ranked Panthers (15-8-1) moved into first place, with a conference title within reach.

But the victory didn’t come without anxious moments for Smith and his best pitcher, hard-throwing left-hander Rodney DeLeon (7-1). Two batters into the game, DeLeon had surrendered a run. Three batters into the game, Blake Landis was warming up. But DeLeon and the Panthers got out of the inning and he didn’t allow another run until the seventh, when two errors opened the door for Poway (19-5, 9-3) to tie the game with a base hit. DeLeon baffled the Titans by throwing 70% curveballs instead of a usual 50-50 split between offspeed pitches and fastballs.

“(Poway has) the best lineup in the league, by far,” said DeLeon, who signed a letter of intent earlier in the day to attend University of the Pacific. “They have power like I’ve never seen. I didn’t try to overpower anyone. I tried to overpower guys in the first inning and (Eddie Thompson) hit it off the fence.”

Thompson’s first-inning double drove in Poway’s first run. Thompson had a chance to tie the game in the seventh but hit a fly ball to right fielder Steve Chatham to end the game. Thompson was also in the middle of Poway’s other major scoring opportunity. A third-inning walk and Mike Sharp’s double brought up the 2-3-4 spots in the batting order. DeLeon struck out Thompson and Brock Marsh (.408, 5 HR, 23 RBIs), pitched around cleanup hitter Rob Plarski (.435, 17 RBIs) on a 3-2 pitch, and induced Donnie Jones (.383, 4 HR, 13 RBIs) to pop up.

DeLeon finished with a three-hitter. He walked three, struck out seven and drove in a run. Jay Kjeldsen and Tim Cowell had Vista’s other RBIs. Cowell, who had two of Vista’s seven hits off Scott Tittrington (5-2), drove in the game-winner on a two-out, two-strike pitch in the fifth inning.