Ennis Gives Monroe Touch of Redemption

There was just an extra bit of satisfaction in Monroe High’s 4-1 victory over North Hollywood in the first round of the City Section 4-A Division baseball playoffs Friday at Monroe.

It was more than a playoff victory for the No. 8-seeded Vikings. It represented a measure of respect after going 0-6--including two losses to the Huskies--against the upper echelon of the Valley Pac-8 Conference this season.

The challenges won’t stop for the Vikings (17-13-1), the Mid-Valley League champions. Monroe will play top-seeded Chatsworth (27-3) in the quarterfinals Tuesday.

“We knew we could beat [North Hollywood] if we got another chance,” Monroe’s John Ennis said. “We just weren’t able to put it together before.”

Ennis (9-3), a senior right-hander who has signed with UCLA, continued his dominant season, throwing a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts and one walk. As the game wore on, Ennis got better, striking out five of the final six batters.

Ennis pitched nearly as well against Sylmar, Poly and North Hollywood during the regular season, but either the defense made crucial errors or the Vikings couldn’t produce key hits, giving Ennis his losses. The Huskies had no such luck.

North Hollywood (17-14-1), seeded No. 9, wound up making the mistakes. Jerrit Redlich, one of the better-fielding shortstops in the City Section, made two errors that led to two unearned runs.

And after Ennis’ only bout with wildness loaded the bases with two out in the fifth inning, Jess Rand hit a shallow fly ball caught by shortstop Adam Kaplan to preserve a 1-1 tie.

Monroe immediately took the lead. Ramon Gonzalez reached first base when Redlich mishandled a grounder, advanced to second on a bunt by Vince Vargas and scored on a base hit by Victor Hall.

Hall stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Ritter.

The Vikings added a run when John Mort took advantage of Redlich’s throwing error and scored on a triple by Rafael Arroyo.

Monroe will have a difficult quarterfinal against the Chancellors.

It is doubtful Ennis will start on three days rest, leaving Ryan Ennis--John’s brother--or Victor Banuelos to face Chatsworth, which was batting .393 going into a first-round game against Van Nuys on Friday.

“John’s going to be pitching for many more years. I don’t want to risk anything,” Monroe Coach Fred Pudrith said. “He’ll ice down, catch with Ryan on Sunday and we’ll see how he feels on Monday.”

John Ennis has his own approach to next week.

“If it gets to be the seventh inning and it’s a one-run game, I’ll be in there,” Ennis said. “I can go for an inning or two.”