Chatsworth Finally Gets City 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 Section Championship in baseball.

Charles Kenny, the No. 9 hitter in Chatsworth’s order, lifted the Chancellors past Poly, 17-7, Thursday night with a three-run triple in the fifth inning to break a 6-6 tie 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 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 (26-3) end a decade-long drought in the City final in which the Chancellors won in 1990, then were runners-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 some material around the pitcher’s mound and home plate to dry up the 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. Catcher Albert Flores blooped the ball to right field on another 3-2 count, clearing the bases and giving Poly a 6-5 advantage.

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 a Steve Kracow sacrifice fly.

Kenny had 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.