PREP BASEBALL / SOUTHERN SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS : Montclair Prep Routs Orange Lutheran in 1-A Game

Montclair Prep scored five runs in the second inning and beat Orange Lutheran, 12-2, Friday night at Blair Field in Long Beach to earn the Southern Section 1-A Division baseball championship.

It was Montclair Prep’s 18th consecutive victory and its second consecutive title-game rout. In last year’s championship, the Mounties beat Village Christian, 14-4.

Next season Montclair Prep’s baseball team, along with the rest of the school’s athletic teams, will be ineligible for the playoffs because of a penalty involving CIF violations by the football program.

That in mind, Montclair Prep (21-3) made Friday night memorable.

Junior pitcher Steve Cain (8-0) threw curveball after curveball to keep Orange Lutheran (19-9) from digging in too deep. Cain, a 5-foot-6, 150-pound left-hander, carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before J.P. Presley singled to right field. Cain walked the next batter, and Montclair Prep called on reliever Russell Ortiz to finish it off.

Cain walked six, but struck out five and allowed only one earned run.

The Mounties batted around in both the second and sixth innings, and had a baserunner in every inning. The four Orange Lutheran pitchers were responsible for some of that, issuing eight walks.

The 11-run margin was the most lopsided 1-A Division game since Needles beat Desert, 12-0, in 1959.

In the Small Schools championship:

Temecula Valley Linfield 7, Palos Verdes Chadwick 4--Top-seeded Linfield scored all seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to record the Southern Section’s first unbeaten season since 1980, when 1-A champion Rio Mesa went 28-0-1.

Linfield (25-0) trailed, 4-0, before Richard Hunter hit a two-run single with one out to make the score 4-2. Mike Graessner drew a bases-loaded walk and Jason Gelgand hit an RBI infield single to tie the score. Catcher Kevin Kahler then hit a two-run single to right field to give Linfield a 6-4 lead.

The rally made a winner of complete-game pitcher Hunter, who improved to 11-0. Hunter struck out eight and allowed five hits and two earned runs.

Chadwick (17-5) was led by catcher Todd Seneker.