Verdugo Hills Gets Respect <i> and </i> Title : High school softball: Dons overcome three-run deficit to win, 4-3, for first City championship.

The Verdugo Hills High softball team set many goals before the 1993 season. But winning the City Section 3-A Division title was not one of them.

Call the Dons overachievers, to be sure. They overcame a three-run deficit to beat South Gate, 4-3, in eight innings in the 3-A championship game Thursday in front of about 500 at UCLA’s Sunset Field to win the first City title since the school opened in 1937.

The goal for Dan Balkey, Verdugo Hills’ first-year coach, was to turn the softball program around. He had hoped the Dons could finish with a winning record for once “in I don’t know how long . . . a long time.”

Winning it all, however, never crossed his mind.

Verdugo Hills (13-4), which finished second behind Franklin in the Northeast League, had to battle back to beat the top-seeded Rams.

South Gate (19-4), riding an 18-game winning streak, broke open a scoreless game in the fourth. Angie Ramirez ripped a two-run triple down the right-field line and scored on Hilda Perales’ sacrifice fly to center.

Verdugo Hills responded with three runs in the sixth, much to the surprise of Balkey.

“I just wanted to score one run and make it respectable,” Balkey said.

The Dons then capitalized on three singles and three walks to tie it, 3-3, and send the game to extra innings.

In the eighth, Stephanie Wood led off with a double and advanced to third on Sheila Welda’s groundout. Two batters later, Crystal Martinez’s ground ball got under the glove of third baseman Vanessa Martinez and Wood scored the winning run.

Junior right-hander Rachael Maldonado (7-2) allowed five hits and retired the side in order in the bottom of the eighth.

San Pedro 8, Banning 0--The Pirates scored five runs in the first inning and coasted to an easy victory against Banning in the 4-A Division championship game.

It was the second title in as many years for the Pirates (26-3), who have won 28 consecutive games against City teams since 1991. Banning finished 15-6.

San Pedro, which had 11 hits, scored five runs on four hits and three walks in the first inning and didn’t let up. The Pirates made it 6-0 in the second on Diane Marshall’s groundout.

In the fifth, Michelle Spanjol (two for three) scored on Diana Barile’s line-drive single. Barile continued around the bases and also scored while Banning pitcher Ompa McKenna (15-5) was walking back to the pitcher’s circle after retrieving an overthrow.