Making Bid for King of the City

The best baseball team in the City Section is Chatsworth High.

At least, the Chancellors temporarily can lay claim to the title after an eye-opening 12-1 rout of two-time defending 4-A Division champion Kennedy in a Northwest Valley Conference game Tuesday at Chatsworth.

Chatsworth (11-5, 6-1 in conference play) collected 15 hits and junior right-hander Ismael Marin held Kennedy (13-7, 5-2) hitless for 3 1/3 innings while combining with reliever Jacob Guzman on a four-hitter.

Of course, Chatsworth caught the Golden Cougars on a day when overpowering right-hander Jon Garland was positioned at first base. However, junior left-hander Wes Crown (4-2) entered the game with an 0.65 earned-run average and has teamed with Garland to give Kennedy the City’s best pitching tandem.

“Basically, they’re the two-time champions and we came out fired up,” Chatsworth senior Greg Wold said.

Wold was the most fiery, going four for four and driving in four runs. He had a run-scoring single in the first and a towering three-run home run in the third to give the Chancellors a 9-0 lead and chase Crown. Wold also had two doubles.

When it was over, Kennedy players walked somberly to their bus. The Golden Cougars, whose 23-game conference winning streak was snapped last week, have lost two in a row.

“It’s disappointing,” Crown said. “We’re a lot better. We have to keep our heads up.”

The lopsided outcome seemed startling even to the Chancellors.

“When you beat a team of that caliber like that, it’s surprising,” Chatsworth Coach Tom Meusborn said. “They made some mistakes early and we were fortunate enough to take advantage of them.”

Crown received little support in the early going. Three Kennedy errors in the first two innings helped Chatsworth take a 5-0 lead.

Marin (5-0) helped keep Kennedy down with the help of double plays in the third and sixth innings. Marin struck out five and walked four in six innings, his longest outing of the season.

“Izzy was outstanding,” Meusborn said. “He got a couple of huge double plays and the defense did a nice job behind him. He got the outs when he needed them.”