La Quinta Reaches Final

The Southern Section Division IV baseball championship Saturday at Dodger Stadium will be an all-Orange County affair.

La Quinta managed to hang on for a 3-2 victory over host Monrovia in the Division IV semifinals Tuesday.

The victory put the Aztecs (30-1) in the 10 a.m. title game against Ocean View, which defeated West Covina South Hills in the other semifinal.

“I told the kids we are going to have fun on Saturday,” La Quinta Coach Dave Demarest said. “There will be no losers. We will try our best and see what happens. But we have won 30 games. It’s already been a great year.”

To reach its fourth division final in the last six years, and first since 1995, the Aztecs got help from two familiar sources and an unexpected one.

The surprise was the Aztecs’ Willie Keller, who hit a home run, his seventh, off Wildcat senior right-hander Lawrence Caudillo (11-2) to give La Quinta a 1-0 lead in the third. His single drove in another run with two out in the seventh.

That run gave La Quinta a 3-1 lead and neutralized Shawn Fredericks’ home run in the bottom of the seventh.

“I’m not surprised they pitched to me,” Keller said. “Guys batting in the bottom of the order aren’t supposed to do much.”

La Quinta catcher Gerald Laird made the game’s key play.

His throwing error in the fifth, attempting to pick off Monrovia’s Herman Dean at third, had allowed the Wildcats to tie the score, 1-1. Laird led off the sixth inning with a single to right, stole his 42nd base, and forced Wildcat catcher Ron Givan to make a poor throw. The ball sailed into the outfield, and Laird came all the way home.

“I knew I was coming up [after the error] and I told myself I had a chance to redeem myself,” Laird said. “I took the chance; he threw it away. I was coming home no matter what. We have worked so hard to get to the championship game, if I had to score the hard way for my team I would have.”

La Quinta junior left-hander Steven Lee (13-0) pitched a five-hitter. He had to work around three errors, but got timely help. La Quinta turned two double plays and Laird picked off Monrovia’s Mike Ainsworth in the first after a leadoff double.

In the other Division IV semifinal:

Ocean View 8, San Luis Obispo 5--All of Ocean View’s runs came on home runs. John Clark started it with a grand slam in the second inning, followed by a solo home run by Jason Miller. Shawn White hit a home run in the fourth and Miller hit a two-run homer in the fifth. Ocean View (21-10) will play La Quinta in the final Saturday at Dodger Stadium. San Luis Obispo finished at 21-9.