Chatsworth Conditioned for Victory

The Chatsworth High baseball team is ready to challenge whatever Mother Nature might throw at it.

The Chancellors, forced by recent rain to schedule make-up games with other schools before and after their two-game Northwest Valley Conference series with Granada Hills, took advantage of severe wind gusts Thursday to score three first-inning runs and came away with a 5-2 victory over Granada Hills.

Chatsworth thus split the series with Granada Hills, which defeated the Chancellors, 8-4, on Tuesday.

Granada Hills’ problems on Thursday began with unusual control problems by Josh Goldberg (2-2), who walked six and threw 103 pitches in six innings. Goldberg had entered the game having walked only seven batters in 26 1/3 innings.

Goldberg’s control problems were compounded by two Highlander errors in the first inning, including a one-out ground ball by Joe Tillmon that kicked off the heel of third baseman Rene Castillo’s glove.

With clouds of dust from the mound swirling around him, Goldberg walked Jon Tucker and Tony Ardito. At one point, Goldberg threw nine consecutive balls.

After a sacrifice fly by Fred Farzaneh advanced Tucker to third, shortstop Jerrod Penwarden dropped a perfect throw from catcher Jarrett Gold when Ardito tried to steal second, allowing Tucker to score.

Kirby Faciane then hit a shallow fly to center that dropped just beyond the infield, giving Chatsworth (6-2, 4-1) a 3-0 lead.

“That was probably the only play all game that was really affected by the wind,” Chatsworth Coach Tom Muesborn said. “I don’t think anything would have come out differently if the wind wasn’t there but it helped us then.”

After the first inning, Chatsworth switched strategies. Instead of working with the wind, the Chancellors rebelled against the strong left-to-right-field current.

In the third, with Tucker on first, Ardito sent a harbinger of Chatsworth’s attack with a foul line drive that nearly hit third-base coach Muesborn. Ardito eventually walked, but Farzaneh’s line drive down the left-field line stayed fair, scoring Tucker and giving Chatsworth a 4-0 lead.

“Actually we were trying to go the other way, but if we got the pitch where we wanted it, we could do what we wanted with it,” Farzaneh said. “The pitch was in the right place.”

The Highlanders (5-4, 2-3) were able to shut down the Chancellors thanks to several solid defensive plays by Castillo and first baseman Tom O’Brien, who earlier made a diving catch to rob Tillmon of a run-scoring hit.

Granada Hills cut the lead in the fourth after a leadoff double by Jimmy Landress and consecutive walks and a hit batsman by starter Andrew Silver. Farzaneh came on in relief and gave up only one run on a sacrifice fly by Castillo.

Farzaneh (2-1), who took the loss Tuesday after relieving Oscar Bocanegra, gave up one hit over the final four innings.

The wind died down slightly by the sixth and Chatsworth outfielder Danny Phillips immediately took advantage by hitting a home run that gave the Chancellors a 5-2 lead.