Torrid Alemany Fueled by 2 Big Innings

A frigid wind whipped across the baseball diamond Friday at Alemany High.

It made spectators shiver. But it failed to cool Alemany’s bats.

The Indians batted around in the first inning and again in the sixth en route to a 14-7 Mission League victory over Harvard-Westlake.

Alemany (5-2, 3-0 in league play), averaging more than seven runs and 10 hits a game, scored four runs in the first inning. Clinging to an 8-7 lead in the sixth, the Indians sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six times.

“This is as good a group of sticks as I’ve ever been associated with as a player or a coach,” Alemany Coach Tim Browne said. “They all hit the ball.”

Leading a 13-hit attack was sophomore Bill Scott, who had two doubles and a single in three at-bats and drove in two runs. Scott, who entered the week batting .647, has eight doubles.

“He’s one of the big-time ballplayers,” Browne said. “He listens to what you tell him.”

Scott, 6 feet 1, 187 pounds, had run-scoring doubles in the second and fourth innings. He also scored three times and was hit by a pitch in a fourth plate appearance.

“It was real cold out there today, but nobody paid any attention to that,” Scott said. “Soon as you start hitting, you don’t notice that.

“It’s a lot of fun being on this team.”

The same cannot be said for Harvard. At least, not at this point. The Wolverines dropped to 0-8, 0-4 in league play. Senior right-hander Ari Isaacson (0-2) appeared solid in places, recording five strikeouts and holding Alemany to only two runs in the fourth by escaping with an inning-ending double play.

However, the Wolverines’ committed four errors.

“They’re hanging their heads a little right now,” Coach Jim Brink said of his players. “Nobody likes to lose.”

Trailing, 8-4, after four innings, the Wolverines rallied against senior right-hander Rudy Pantoja (1-0), scoring a run in the fifth and two in the sixth on Spencer Hudnut’s two-run double.

But Alemany’s sixth-inning power burst--highlighted by a two-run home run by Robbie Rehfeld--settled matters.

Rehfeld finished two for three and scored two runs.