Ocean View Starts Low, but Finishes High

La Quinta had the big year, but Ocean View had the big day and won the big prize--the Southern Section Division IV baseball championship.

The Seahawks (21-10), runners-up in the Golden West League, pounded 14 hits and romped to a 9-3 victory Saturday at Dodger Stadium. It was the school’s first section baseball title.

“You weren’t the top team in league and you weren’t seeded in the [playoffs], but you won the whole thing! How does it feel?” shouted Ocean View Coach Steve Barrett to his delirious team.

Ocean View had every reason to celebrate. La Quinta (30-2), the Garden Grove League champion, had won section titles in 1994 and 1995, was playing in its fourth title game in six years.

But the Seahawks, who scored at least eight runs in each of their five playoff games, had no reason to think they couldn’t score against the Aztecs.

“We’ve swung the bats the best we have all season in the playoffs,” Barrett said. “The offense has propelled us.”

So did Ocean View senior right-hander Pete Montrenes (12-3), who gave up seven hits, struck out six and walked none in seven innings and never gave La Quinta a shot at a big inning.

“Once Pete gets on a roll there’s no stopping him,” said catcher Anthony Vega, who had three hits and drove in two runs.

“We respect La Quinta,” said Montrenes, who drove in the game’s first run. “But we didn’t want to settle for just coming to Dodger Stadium. We came here to win.”

Ocean View got off to a quick start, sending nine men to the plate against La Quinta right-hander Jason Garcia (12-2) and scoring three runs on five hits in the first inning.

“That was the key,” Barrett said. “Even though La Quinta came back, it made a statement.”

Catcher Gerald Laird got two runs back for La Quinta in the bottom of the first by belting a hanging curve over the 360-feet sign in left for his eighth home run of the season and 29th of his career, a county record.

The blast drove in shortstop Bobby Crosby, who had doubled.

“That was Pete’s only mistake,” Vega said.

“I thought [after the home run] we would come back,” Laird said. “But then Montrenes did what every good pitcher does, settling down and throwing his game.”

But Ocean View went after Garcia--who gave up 10 hits in four innings--again in the third.

Eight men came to bat and four of them scored, two on Vega’s single and one on a triple by second baseman John Clark, who scored on Garcia’s wild pitch.

“That was a nail in the coffin,” Montrenes said.

“I couldn’t put the ball where I wanted to,” said Garcia, the losing pitcher in both La Quinta losses this season. “I was up in the zone, and they hit everything well.”

La Quinta Coach Dave Demarest had said before the game that winning or losing would not define the Aztecs’ season, and he did not change his mind.

“Ocean View deserves all the credit. They played better, pitched better and probably coached better today,” Demarest said. “We needed to keep them close for five innings and try to win it at the end, but we couldn’t do that.

“But we won 30 games and won our league. It was still a pretty good year.”