Verdugo Hills Wins Behind Parque

Pound for pound (all 110 of them) and inch for inch (all 65 of them), Jim Parque still may be the most underrated pitcher in the area.

His philosophy is simple: Don’t pay attention to the barbs of the opposition and just throw strikes. Height jokes are old news. Some are bad enough to spin a guy’s cap around.

“I hear stuff all the time,” Parque said. “I hear, ‘Hey, look at the hat on the mound.’ Then I strike out the side and they shut up.”

Parque shut down the offense of top-seeded Van Nuys-Notre Dame with a sterling relief performance Thursday as Verdugo Hills rallied for a 9-8 victory in an American Legion District 20 playoff game at Burroughs High.

Parque, a wily left-hander who will be a junior in the fall at Crescenta Valley High, relieved beleaguered starter J.R. Workman with Van Nuys holding a 7-3 lead with two out in the third. Before Parque left in the eighth, Verdugo Hills had rallied to take a 9-8 lead.

Parque (7-1) painted the corners throughout and his teammates woke up the bats. In five innings of relief, he allowed one unearned run and three hits, struck out four and issued one intentional walk.

“When he came in, I told our guys not to rag him, because he throws strikes,” Van Nuys-Notre Dame Coach Jody Breeden said. “He doesn’t give in.”

Wise advice. Parque does, however, give up the occasional bullet.

“I give up rockets,” Parque said. “I’m not unhittable. I just get the job done.”

So did his teammates, despite falling behind early. Verdugo Hills (22-3) banged around left-hander Chris Garza in the fourth, helping to prompt his departure with one out.

Garza (5-1) gave up eight earned runs in 3 1/3 innings and walked five before he left with a blister on his left index finger. The leadoff batter reached base in each of Garza’s four innings.

Afterward, in fact, Verdugo Hills continued its tradition of lighting a postgame victory cigar. This time, it was dubbed a “Ci-Garza.”

Verdugo Hills took a 9-7 lead in the fourth by scoring five times off Garza and reliever Francisco Dongo. Included in the rally was a run-scoring single by Ivan Moreno, a bases-loaded walk by Kirk Hagge and a run-scoring groundout by Yves Brancheau.

Parque held Van Nuys-Notre Dame (22-3) in check until he surrendered a two-out single to Ryan Stromsborg in the eighth. Right-hander Brendon Cowsill moved over from third base in relief and retired the final four batters to earn the save.

Moreno had three hits, drove in two runs and is five for 10 with seven runs batted in over two tournament games.

David Fielder and Workman each had two hits.

Verdugo Hills will face Encino-Crespi today at 4:30 p.m. at Burroughs. Both teams are 2-0 in the double-elimination tournament. Van Nuys will play Sun Valley in an elimination game at 1 p.m. at Burroughs.