Chatsworth’s Final Approval

On a chilly, windy, rainy June night at Dodger Stadium that saw the palm trees in left field swaying like a Brazilian samba, Chatsworth High battled through the elements to end a decade of frustration and claim the City Championship in baseball.

Charles Kenny, the No. 9 hitter in Chatsworth’s order, hit a three-run triple in the fifth inning to break a 6-6 tie and lift the Chancellors past Poly, 17-7, Thursday night in a game stopped after six innings because of the 10-run rule.

A crowd of 4,000 watched a San Fernando Valley team win the City Championship for the 25th time in 26 years.

Left-hander Mike Kunes (13-1), the 1998 City player of the year, endured one of the most challenging nights of his brilliant two-year varsity pitching career. He struck out 10 and walked a career-high eight while making 135 pitches.

Bound for UCLA, Kunes improved his two-year record to 25-3 and helped Chatsworth (27-3) end a decade-long drought in the City final in which the Chancellors won in 1990, then were runner-up to El Camino Real in ‘93, ’94 and ’98.

The game was halted briefly with one out in the fifth inning under orders from the Dodger groundskeepers after a steady rain. They came out, poured Diamond Dry around the pitcher’s mound and home plate to dry up the wet field, then allowed the game to resume while seemingly ready to call it if the rain didn’t stop.

With Chatsworth holding a 5-3 lead and needing two outs to make it an official game, Kunes couldn’t throw strikes. He walked Juan Flores and Angel Espindola on 3-and-2 counts to load the bases.

Albert Flores’ bloop single to right field on another 3-and-2 count cleared the bases and gave Poly a 6-5 lead.

But that was the last time the Parrots (25-8) could celebrate. Chatsworth came back to score five runs in the fifth off reliever Carlos Reguengo (14-3), with Kenny’s triple over the head of center fielder George Felix the decisive blow.

Chatsworth ended the game with a seven-run sixth inning, the final run scoring on Steve Kracow’s sacrifice fly.

Kenny finished with three hits and six runs batted in. Matt Cassel also had three hits for a Chatsworth team that had 17 hits and set a record for most runs scored in the 30-year history of the City final at Dodger Stadium.

It stopped raining, too.

Poly’s red-hot Juan Guerrero collected his 49th RBI of the season with a first-inning double for a 1-0 Parrot lead. Chatsworth came back with four runs in the second, keyed by a two-run single by Kenny.

The Chancellors decided not to pitch to Guerrero in third, ordering an intentional walk to load the bases. But Manny Flores made Kunes pay with a two-run double, cutting Chatsworth’s lead to 4-3.

The last two times Chatsworth entered Dodger Stadium as the top-seeded team, the Chancellors lost to West Valley League rival El Camino Real in extra innings.

But this was a team with a much-stronger hitting lineup, and the Chancellors took advantage of an overworked Reguengo, who pitched seven innings Tuesday in the semifinals and was ineffective in the final, surrendering 10 runs on seven hits in 1 1/3 innings.

In the end, the Chancellors were finally able to launch a dogpile in front of home plate.

They refused to celebrate after a semifinal victory over South Gate, insisting they weren’t going to Dodger Stadium just to play but to win. And they did.