Crescenta Valley Humbles Esperanza

La Crescenta Crescenta Valley won its first Division I baseball championship by beating Esperanza, 7-1, Saturday night at Dodger Stadium.

The defending champion Aztecs (21-8-1), who also won section titles in 1986 and 1993, were hoping to become the second county team this decade to repeat. (Fountain Valley won titles in 1994 and 1995.)

But Esperanza was thoroughly outplayed by the Falcons (25-3-1), who ended the 1998 season with 10 consecutive victories.

“On Tuesday [after beating Long Beach Wilson in the semifinal], we were on top of the world,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “Today we’re eating humble pie.”

The Aztecs had outscored the opposition, 44-15, in their previous four games. And they had a great chance to put some early pressure on the Falcons when they loaded the bases with one out in the first. But Crescenta Valley left-hander Jordan Olson escaped a big inning when Esperanza scored only one run on a bases-loaded walk to Josh Shaffer with two out.

“That was key,” Falcon Coach Phil Torres said. “When we watched them on Tuesday hit the ball all over the place, it was intimidating. We needed something good to happen early and that was it.”

Curran agreed that might have been the turning point even though it happened early in the game.

“That was the beginning of our frustration,” Curran said. “When you’re facing a good pitcher, you have to get him early. We had a great opportunity there and didn’t do a thing.

“We only get one run in the first and no runs the next six innings. That’s not like us.”

Esperanza right-hander Bo Ashabraner (8-3), who had won three of Esperanza’s four previous playoff games, was not as effective against the Falcons.

Crescenta Valley tied the score in the second on a walk to John Barbaro and a two-out RBI double by Luke Peterson, which popped out of Esperanza right fielder Matt Colin’s glove after a long run.

A similar play gave the Falcons the lead in the third. With two outs and two on, Barbaro drove a pitch deep to center. Esperanza’s Mike Harrison appeared to haul it in, but the ball fell out of his glove as Harrison hit the turf. It was ruled a double, and the Falcons led, 3-1.

And when Nathan Barber hit a two-run homer, his fifth on the year, to spark a four-run fifth, the outcome became apparent.

“We went about our business like we have all five [playoff] games,” Torres said.

Olson (11-1), pitching despite aggravating a strained back sustained in last Friday’s victory over Simi Valley Royal, limited the Aztecs to three singles in 4 2/3 innings. (He had also pitched 5 1/3 innings in Tuesday’s semifinal win over Yucaipa, reaching the 10-inning limit pitchers can work in one week.) He struck out eight and walked three.

“I hadn’t been to practice the last two games [while getting treatment for his back], so I didn’t have much of a scouting report on them,” Olson said. “I knew they had to be a good-hitting team judging by their game scores.”

Reliever Josh Herman finished up, giving up one hit.

Ashabraner, who was replaced in the fifth by Jonathan Quiming, walked five and struck out three.