Campos Feels Zero Pain as Wilson Wins

Wilson High pitcher Cory Campos complained of a sore arm in the days leading up the City Section 3-A championship game.

And for the first few innings Thursday against South Gate, Campos looked like he was working out the kinks.

But Campos got stronger as the game wore on. And when it was over, he was beneath a pile of teammates celebrating the Mules’ 1-0 victory before 3,000 at Dodger Stadium.

Campos, a junior left-hander, gave up five hits, struck out 10 and walked only one as Wilson (19-6) won its third championship--its first since 1970.

“All week my arm was bothering me,” said Campos, a junior left-hander who finished the season 12-0. “I thought I would be nervous at the start of the game, but then I realized I would have the best mound in Los Angeles. How could I be nervous?”

Campos, who bats fourth, helped take the edge off by starting the second inning with a double to left-center field. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Robert Castruita and scored on a wild pitch by Kaven Bonilla with Steve Soto at the plate.

Campos made the run stand up, quelling potential threats in the third, fourth and seventh innings as South Gate never got a runner past second base.

Frank Uchida had a one-out double for South Gate in the third, but Campos got Milton Morales and Josue Gonzalez to ground out. The Rams had runners at first and second with one out in the fourth, but Campos picked off pinch-runner Juan Rios at second.

In the bottom of the seventh, pinch-hitter George Esparza gave South Gate hope with a one-out single to right. Campos, however, quickly extinguished the threat by picking off Esparza before striking out pinch-hitter Brian Pearson to finish the game.

“(Esparza) was a pinch-hitter who had never seen my (pick-off) move before,” Campos said. “So it worked.”

South Gate (22-12), which has won five City titles, including the 1993, ’95 and ’96 championships, was shut out for only the third time in eight years, Ram Coach Mike Ryan said.

“We had some chances early and didn’t get a key hit when we needed it,” Ryan said. “We had some other chances and we got picked off. [Wilson] made all the plays.”

Campos, who extended his streak to 22 consecutive scoreless innings, made most of them.

“When Cory is on the mound, it can be a shutout any time,” Wilson Coach Marty Romero said. “It wasn’t even his best game today.”

That might have come last Thursday when Campos struck out 13 in 10 innings in the Mules’ 2-0, 11-inning semifinal victory over Bell.

Wilson also beat Garfield and Los Angeles during the playoffs.

Bonilla, a senior right-hander, gave up five hits, struck out five and did not walk a batter.

Campos had two hits and Eric Soto, Steve Soto and Jose Medrano had one each for Wilson, which returns several key players next season, including Campos.

“We have a real great defense,” Campos said. “We might have young guys, but they’re the best.”