South Hills Had More Peaks Than Valleys

West Covina South Hills’ comeback victory over Irvine in the Southern Section Division 4-A championship baseball game last Saturday at Anaheim Stadium should not have come as a surprise to those who have followed the Huskies’ this season.

Considering South Hills seldom took an easy route to victory, the Huskies’ four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning that propelled them to a 6-5 nine-inning victory over Irvine just followed the script.

South Hills’ title hopes appeared over in the middle of the seventh. The Huskies trailed, 5-1, and had had problems all game getting hits. They were fortunate that Irvine had left 10 runners on base.

As they had done all season, however, the Huskies hung in there, rallying to tie the score. They even had a chance to win but an unassisted double play by Irvine shortstop Chad Baker with the bases loaded stopped the rally.

With the new life, though, South Hills completed its comeback in the ninth when Irvine reliever Ryan O’Toole’s wild pitch scored pinch-runner Rick Houlemard with two outs.

“You had to think that it was over going into the seventh, but that is how it has been all season,” said Jim Bastion, South Hills coach. “I told the kids to take it one hitter at a time and that is what happened.”

Despite all the late-inning heroics, the Huskies went through a late-season slump that could have cost them in the playoffs.

After blowing a two-game lead in the Valle Vista League, South Hills still had a chance to finish first by winning one of two season-ending games against Covina Northview.

Instead, the Huskies were swept and backed into the playoffs without any momentum.

“It was like we had all the bad luck going into the playoffs and nothing but good luck once we were in,” said Bastion, whose team lost in section finals in 1988 and 1990. “I’ve always said that you have to have luck to win a CIF title because you can’t go through the playoffs and just dominate.

“And luckily for us, we had some.”

A player who sparked the Huskies’ run was outfielder Tray Nelson, who signed with the New York Yankees Sunday.

Nelson, who hit only one home run during the regular season, batted .460, had nine runs batted in and hit three homers in the playoffs, one a 390-foot shot to left-center against Irvine.

The Huskies got another break when Chino Don Lugo was forced to play without its top pitcher, Chad Albaugh, in the quarterfinals after the Southern Section punished Don Lugo for videotaping a South Hills practice.

“We didn’t want to win by forfeit so we told the CIF that we wanted to go ahead with the game,” said Bastion, whose Huskies defeated Don Lugo, 6-4.

In winning the title, South Hills dominated Orange County teams.

The Huskies opened the first round by defeating Brea-Olinda and then upset Capistrano Valley in the second round and Don Lugo in the quarterfinals. South Hills then beat Anaheim Savanna in the semifinals before defeating Irvine.

“We really were an O.C. killer in the playoffs,” Bastion said. “Four of the five teams we played were from there.”

In keeping with recent history, Diamond Bar--the top-rated team in the nation according to Baseball America magazine--lost in the Southern Section Division 5-A final to Long Beach Millikan, 5-4.

Diamond Bar became the 22nd consecutive top-seeded team to lose in the large-school division playoffs and Millikan became the first team to win consecutive championships in the division in 34 years.

Millikan, making its third appearance in the title game in the last four years, snapped Diamond Bar’s 25-game winning streak.

One of the most emotional stories of the baseball playoffs was that of Sun Valley Poly Coach Jerry Cord.

Cord decided earlier in the season that this would be his last after 18 years on the job, but told few people of his plans.

Moments before Poly was to take the field against San Pedro in the City Division 4-A championship game last Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, Cord told his team of his intentions.

He explained that his oldest son, 25-year old Christopher Cord, had died Tuesday after a long illness and that he felt it was time to move on.

San Pedro won, 6-3.

With tears in his eyes, Cord presented his players with plaques after the game.

“I was kind of hoping to just slide off into the sunset,” Cord said last week. “It’s time to let a younger guy take over. I just need some time right now to be with my family.”

Pitcher Javier Mejia of Los Angeles University High and shortstop James Lofton of Fremont have been selected the City Division 4-A and 3-A players of the year, respectively, by the First Interstate Bank Amateur Athletic Foundation board.

Mejia, a senior, went 11-1 this season in guiding University to the semifinals. Lofton, also a senior, batted .440 for Fremont, which defeated Crenshaw in the 3-A championship game.

Sportswriters select the All-City team.

Once again, the state high school track and field meet provided a pressure-filled weekend during which several outstanding athletes who had remarkable seasons missed titles:

--Richard Dupree of San Jose Mt. Pleasant, one of the top qualifiers in the 200 and 400 meters, got into a dispute with his coach Friday night.

--Bryan Woodward of Long Beach Poly, who had the nation’s second-best time all season, finished third in the 800 meters.

--Latasha Burnett of Lynwood set a nation-leading mark of 40 feet 11 inches in the preliminaries of the girls’ triple jump but finished second in the finals with a distance of 39-9 1/2.

--Hurdler Keith Moten of Los Angeles Loyola, the Southern Section Division 4-A champion in the 110-meter high hurdles, suffered a foot injury and missed the final.

--La Puente Bishop Amat’s 400-meter relay team dominated the Southern Section but bad handoffs cost them and they failed to qualify for the state final.