Two Titles: One by Rout, One by Rally

All season El Dorado considered itself a blue-collar baseball team. No frills, just a unified group that loved to play hard and hit the ball harder.

That approach led the Golden Hawks to an outstanding season with the crowning achievement being the Southern Section Division III championship after beating Hemet, 10-3, Saturday at Edison Field.

It was the second title for Coach Steve Gullotti, whose 1989 team won the section Division 5-A championship. And Gullotti saw some similarities.

“Both had mental toughness,” Gullotti said. “This team, from top to bottom, refused to give in or give up. And it was a team that loved to play baseball. We never had to pull teeth to get them to practice or workout.”

But as Gullotti pointed out, El Dorado has had other talented teams that never made it to a final. One thing those teams did not have, however, was a cool, mature J.P. Frid.

“Going into the season I told J.P. he was going to be the heart and soul of the team,” Gullotti said. “He didn’t have good sophomore and junior years. I told him, ‘J.P., you’ve got to carry us and be a leader.’ I put the pressure on him and he responded.”

The senior left-hander who pitched a complete game Saturday, was the right guy to pitch a title game because he rarely is nervous even if things aren’t going El Dorado’s way early. And they weren’t on Saturday.

Hemet (24-6-1), champions of the Sunkist League, got an unearned run in the first when Hawk second baseman Zach Mullinax dropped a two-out pop fly. The Golden Hawks (26-5) recovered to go ahead, 2-1, after the second, but a throwing error by Mullinax in the third enabled the Bulldogs to tie the score.

Mullinax wasn’t the only one with trembling hands. Third baseman Brett Marro also committed errors in the first and fourth.

None of this bothered Frid (10-0), who gave up five hits and struck out four. He even found time to crack jokes with Marro between plays, good or bad.

“I’m kind of a loose guy,” Frid said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been tight. I just kind of took in the atmosphere around me, then forgot about it and pitched.”

But the other Golden Hawks weren’t as forgiving of themselves.

“We were kind of annoyed by the errors,” said catcher Drew McMillan, who had three hits and scored twice. “But we got the jitters out early, which is better than getting them out late. And with our bats, we know we’ll be in the game no matter how many errors we make.”

Mullinax and Marro made up for their goofs.

In the second, Mullinax slapped an RBI single to center off Bulldog starter Ryan Rocheleau (8-3) that put El Dorado ahead, 2-1. And in the pivotal third inning, Marro hit a double to center to drive in two of the three runs El Dorado scored to take the lead for good.

“That third inning relaxed us,” Marro said. “We were nervous in the beginning, especially me. But after that we were OK.”

El Dorado--which had 12 hits--did not sit on the lead, scoring two more runs in the fourth. “We kept pecking away and you could see their confidence going down,” Marro said.

Marro, a junior, applied the hammer in the sixth. With two out and two on, he jumped on a high fastball by reliever Matt Padilla and drove it more than 400 feet, over the right-center field fence, for his ninth home run.