Wolf Allows 3 Hits, but Scoreless Streak Endures : City Section baseball: Left-hander follows 2 no-hitters with 6-0 win over Monroe that puts El Camino Real into 4-A final.

OK, so it was a playoff game and the weight of the world was on his shoulders, but this was carrying things too far.

Seconds after the completion of a City Section 4-A Division semifinal Tuesday, the pitcher’s mound became a loading zone, and El Camino Real High left-hander Randy Wolf knew it was coming.

As he faced the final batter of the game, Wolf peeked out of the corner of his eye at his teammates on the bench.

He broke out laughing.

“They were all yelling, ‘Dog pile! You’re gonna get squished! You’re on the bottom!’ ” Wolf said.

Two out of three isn’t bad, since Wolf and his mates have nearly reached the pinnacle after their 6-0 victory over Monroe.

Top-seeded El Camino Real, which has never won a City baseball title, will face West Valley League rival Chatsworth in the championship game at Dodger Stadium on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Chatsworth, which lost three games in as many tries this season against El Camino Real, buried Taft, 17-1, in the other semifinal.

Being engulfed in a pile of humanity was probably the biggest threat Wolf faced. He pitched a three-hitter--two of the hits didn’t leave the infield--and struck out 12. Wolf, a junior, has thrown 25 consecutive scoreless innings, and he has allowed three hits and struck out 35 in his past 21 innings.

Wolf, who threw a no-hitter and a perfect game in his last two starts, began the game as though the next logical progression was a 21-strikeout performance. He recorded the first eight outs via the strikeout, though leadoff batter Jaime Dorado quashed any hope of another no-hitter with an infield single.

Monroe right-hander Joel Zamudio, who handed the Conquistadores (23-2) one of their defeats in a March tournament game, was throwing plenty of gas--he just couldn’t pump it over the plate.

Zamudio, whose fastball was clocked as high as 88 m.p.h., walked the bases loaded in the scoreless first, a harbinger of things to come. El Camino Real again left the bases loaded in the second before scoring an unearned run in the third.

Soon thereafter, it all caved in for Monroe, and most of it was self-inflicted. Monroe committed three errors in Zamudio’s four innings.

“Zamudio was just having trouble finding it,” Monroe Coach Kevin Campbell said. “When you’re in jams every inning, it puts a lot of pressure on the defense. It put a lot of pressure on himself.”

A jam in the fourth turned Zamudio and Monroe (20-5) into toast. Zamudio (7-1) was victimized by a one-out error, then he walked Wolf and Justin Balser to load the bases with two out.

First baseman Craig Carlton, who struck out with the bases loaded to end the first, came through with a scorching single to center to drive in two runs.

Here’s to good timing.

“Geez, I had to get a hit,” Carlton said. “I was (hitless) in the playoffs. I guess there wasn’t a better time to get it.”

John Novak followed with a run-scoring single to give El Camino Real a 4-0 lead, which was more than enough for Wolf, who walked one and did not allow a runner past second base. He retired 14 of 15 through the middle innings.

Zamudio allowed four unearned runs on three hits, walked seven and hit another. With all those bodies on the basepaths, something bad was bound to happen.

With all those bodies piled on Wolf, it was easy to tell that something did .

“We usually tell our guys that if you just keep the pressure on, keep the pressure on, something will happen,” Campbell said. “That’s exactly what happened to us.”