Perfect Season Finale for St. Joseph Baseball

Junior pitcher Jason Kelly led top-seeded Santa Maria St. Joseph High to a 4-1 victory over Cypress Brethren Christian Friday in the Southern Section Division V baseball championship game before 1,012 at Blair Field in Long Beach.

Kelly (14-0 with a 1.47 earned-run average) helped St. Joseph (29-0) to its first baseball title and the distinction of being the only undefeated team in the section. He gave up five hits, an unearned run and struck out seven.

St. Joseph scored all four runs in the first inning off Brethren Christian pitcher Jonathan Rouwenhorst (14-1). Rouwenhorst, who struck out 13 to finish the season with 188 strikeouts, walked three batters in the first and all three scored. The Warriors finished 22-8.

Colton Christian Center Academy 10, Hesperia Christian 8--The Warriors (16-8) captured its first Southern Section baseball title by scoring seven unearned runs, including five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, to erase a three-run deficit in the Division VI championship at Blair Field.

The Patriots (15-12) committed 10 errors, including four in the decisive sixth inning. Jeremy Livermore doubled in Alex Gomez to tie the game, 8-8, and Livermore scored the go-ahead run on a single by Tavis White off losing pitcher Brian Johnson (5-5).

SOFTBALL

Irvine Woodbridge 2, Santa Maria Righetti 0--A reversed call by the umpiring crew kept a Woodbridge rally alive in the third inning of the Division II championship game, and the Warriors turned it into two runs to become the third team to win five section softball titles.

An obstruction call on an apparent force play, argued by Coach Alan Dugard, allowed Tracy Alcaraz to go to second base and put Natasha Watley on first with one out. On a pop foul to the catcher--which would have been the third out of the inning, a throwing error allowed Alcaraz to score and Boone came home when the errant throw got past the right fielder for a second error.

Woodbridge won its 29th in a row and finished 34-2. Righetti finished 33-3.

Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 2, Lancaster Paraclete 0--Paraclete (27-4) fell to 0-6 in Southern Section championship games with the loss in the Division V title game at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

Calvary Chapel (27-5) was making its first title-game appearance.