Kennedy’s Third-Place Finish Shows City Isn’t Third-Rate

Coming off a three-day tournament in Las Vegas that more resembled a vacation for the Kennedy High baseball team, Golden Cougar Coach Manny Alvarado established a businesslike atmosphere for this week’s Fullerton tournament.

Alvarado installed an earlier curfew and Kennedy held batting practice before each game, to better prime the Golden Cougars as they faced some of the toughest teams in the nation.

Kennedy may not have come away with the tournament title, but the discipline paid its biggest dividends in a 3-2 victory over Mountain View St. Francis (16-5) in the third-place game Thursday at El Dorado High.

“The tone was set from the first team meeting this week,” Alvarado said. “Las Vegas is a tough atmosphere. Parents and girlfriends are having a good time. It has to rub off on the players. We weren’t happy just to be invited. We wanted to win the whole thing.”

The Golden Cougars had every reason for a letdown against the Lancers. Fourteen hours earlier, Kennedy lost, 4-1, to Westminster Christian (Fla.), the top-ranked team in the nation by USA Today and the team the Golden Cougars targeted all week.

“We were staying in the same hotel and [Westminster Christian] was a little cocky,” Alvarado said. “We were pretty devastated by the loss. We wanted them to win their games so we could have our shot at them.”

Kennedy was also suffering in other ways, some unexpectedly. The Golden Cougars (17-3) started the game without senior shortstop David Soto. Soto had lingering soreness in his right arm after pitching four innings against Westminster and couldn’t play in the field.

But Soto did pinch-hit in the sixth inning, hitting a single to center field and scoring the winning run.

Kennedy, playing its eighth game in eight days, was down to its fifth pitcher, Omar Pinto. After a shaky start, Pinto recovered to strike out four and give up five hits in 4 2/3 innings.

Derek Morse (9-0), who pitched a complete game Monday, relieved Pinto and allowed one hit in 2 1/3 innings to end the tournament on a positive note for the Golden Cougars, who viewed themselves as trailblazers over the week.

“We wanted to show the City teams can compete with the Southern Section and anyone else,” Soto said. “Teams like Granada Hills, Chatsworth and El Camino Real. Those are the powers in the City. They should be able to come here.”

Kennedy is the second City team to play in the tournament, which has attracted teams from around the nation since its inception in 1990. Chatsworth won three of four in the 1990 tournament.

“We’ve been looking forward to this week since the season began,” said first baseman Jon Garland. “We can come away pretty happy. Now we have to worry about winning the City again.”

The four-game stretch included victories over Carson City (Nev.), which came into the tournament undefeated, and traditional Southern Section Division I power Esperanza, and answered some questions for Alvarado.

The pitching of Morse and Garland (5-1) carried the Golden Cougars through the Northwest Valley Conference schedule, but if either falters, Pinto, Soto and Aldo Pinto showed they can contribute.

Two of Kennedy’s three transfers, Josh Miranda (Monroe) and Fernando Centeno (Birmingham), have entrenched themselves at the top of the Golden Cougars batting order and in the outfield. The third, catcher David Lusk (Monroe), continues to struggle offensively but has been solid behind the plate.