Chatsworth Strolls to Win Over Van Nuys-Notre Dame : * Baseball: Four walks precede Blair’s game-winning sacrifice fly in two-run seventh inning.

Chatsworth’s American Legion team, owner of the best record in District 20, has the distinct look of a winner. Tuesday, there was an emphasis on the look.

Chatsworth scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh and final inning--without benefit of a hit--and sauntered to a 5-4 victory over Van Nuys-Notre Dame at Chatsworth High.

“I’ll take the victory and run,” Chatsworth Coach Pete Redfern said.

Or in this case, jog.

Chatsworth (15-1) was within three outs of losing its second consecutive game when the Van Nuys pitching suddenly went south. And north. And east. . . . With Van Nuys-Notre leading, 4-3, right-hander Eric Vellozzi walked leadoff batter John Miller to open the seventh and was replaced by Edgar Maldonado.

Maldonado (3-2) walked Tommy Lee, wild-pitched the runners to second and third, then intentionally walked Nestor Martinez to set up a force play. Adam Pearlman drew a walk to force in a run and Billy Blair fouled off two consecutive two-strike offerings before looping a 2-and-2 pitch into medium left field for the game-winning sacrifice fly.

“You can’t pitch a better game than he did,” Van Nuys Coach Jody Breeden said of Vellozzi, who allowed just three hits.

Vellozzi allowed two singles in the first and another in the second, but he walked six and hit two. He was matched, however, by right-hander Brandon Nickens (3-0) of Chatsworth, who, from the third inning on, faced two batters over the minimum.

There was plenty of hurling going on in the stands and on the benches too. Chatsworth’s Doug Dean was ejected by the plate umpire in the second inning after a spirited argument. Dean was called out for batter’s interference when he was ruled to have obstructed the throw of Van Nuys catcher Dave Supple, who was attempting to throw out a baserunner at second.

Chatsworth’s Pearlman was plunked in the buttocks in the fifth inning, picked up the ball and fired it back at Vellozzi. The ball went into center field, and Pearlman received an earful from the Van Nuys fans upon arriving at first base.

Chatsworth scored once in the inning, again without benefit of a hit, to move within 4-3. Blair drove in the run with a bases-loaded walk. Blair, who grounded out in his only official at-bat, was hit by a pitch, drew a walk and had the game-winning sacrifice fly in four plate appearances, yet still drove in two runs.

Blair’s fingerprints, or footprints, were all over Chatsworth’s first-inning rally as well. After Van Nuys took a 2-0 lead in the top half of the inning, Blair was hit by a Vellozzi pitch to load the bases with two out.

Mike Muir drew a walk to force in a run and Rob Garbo followed with a single to drive in another run to tie the score, but Muir was thrown out trying to move from first to third. Blair was inches from home when the tag was applied on Muir for the third out, and the run was waved off by the plate umpire.

“Guys are all yelling, ‘You’re up, you’re up, you’re up,’ ” Redfern said, referring to his bench’s instructions to Blair to refrain from sliding. “He slowed down and came in standing.”

It was a game in which all but one of Chatsworth’s runs walked in standing.

“When you’re hitting .450 as a team, reality is going to settle in sooner or later,” Redfern said.

Van Nuys, which could have moved into a first-place tie with Glendale in the Eastern Division with a victory, jumped on Nickens in the first inning for a pair of runs.

Vinnie Orlando drove in Van Nuys’ first run but was then thrown out as he attempted to move from first to third on a one-out single by Lou Tapia. The mistake proved crucial when Glen Carson followed with what likely would have been a run-scoring single to center. Tapia later scored on an errant pickoff throw to first by Nickens to give Van Nuys a 2-0 lead.

Van Nuys (12-6) scored twice in the second and again cashed in on a Chatsworth error. With one out, Ryan Stromsborg was safe on shortstop Lee’s throwing error and scored on Vellozzi’s double to left-center. With two out, Cesar Hernandez tripled to left-center to drive in pinch-runner Raul Rossell for a 4-2 lead.

Nickens, who will be a senior at Chatsworth in the fall, allowed two earned runs on eight hits, walked two and struck out one to outbattle Vellozzi and Maldonado.

“Their kid did a great job,” Redfern said of Vellozzi. “He kept a lot of good hitters off stride. But we did a good job of clutching up in the last inning.”

And a good job of clutching the bat--and leaving it on their collective shoulders.