Kennedy Waltzes in Early Walk-Through

Friday, the Kennedy High baseball team walked, then ran, then won.

The Golden Cougars (2-0) feasted on 12 walks by three Calabasas pitchers and defeated the Coyotes, 7-3, in a pool-play game of the San Fernando Valley tournament at Kennedy.

“If we throw strikes we have a chance to beat anybody; if we don’t we’re in for a rough time,” Calabasas co-Coach Scott Drootin said. “We probably walked more people today than we did in any six games last season.”

Kennedy, the 1995 City Section 4-A Division champion, is No. 1 in The Times’ regional poll and in the top 10 of a pair of national polls. Calabasas (0-1), which finished 25-1 last season, is ranked sixth among regional teams by The Times.

Kennedy starter Jon Garland (1-0) pitched six innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs. The 6-foot-4, 190-pound right-hander used a simple but accurate mix of fastballs and curveballs to contain Calabasas.

“He threw strikes and stayed ahead in the count,” Drootin said.

The Coyotes, who won last season’s Frontier League title, would have made a better game of it if not for an inability to find the strike zone. Calabasas collected seven hits to Kennedy’s five and led, 1-0, in the top of the first.

But Coyote starter Tanner Trosper (0-1) walked the first two batters he faced, then allowed a double by David Soto that scored them both. Soto advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a fielder’s choice.

Kennedy scored another run in the third after Soto was hit by a Trosper pitch, advanced to third on a single by Christian Bartlett and scored on a sacrifice fly by Garland.

After Calabasas scored twice in the fourth to make the score 5-3, Kennedy parlayed two walks, a balk by Coyote reliever Justin Erickson and a double by Nick Intenzo into two more runs in the fifth.

Trosper lasted 3 2/3 innings, allowing five earned runs on four hits with six walks and three strikeouts.

“I felt like I was on today,” Trosper said. “If I had thrown strikes we could have beat them easily but I pressed and I just couldn’t find my spots.”

Garland, who struck out six and walked five, said he used positive visualization Thursday night to prepare himself for Friday’s outing. He also benefited from a solid Kennedy defense, which turned a pair of double plays behind him.

“We’re a good-hitting team and we’ve also got some of the best defense in the City,” Garland said. “We have a team that people think can just come out and win but we have to be ready, even at the beginning of the season.”