Villa Park Completes Its Revival

All Villa Park needed was a second chance.

Eight days after apparently being eliminated from the Southern Section Division III baseball playoffs, the Spartans took advantage of their new life and capped a championship season by defeating the second-ranked team in the nation.

Second-seeded Villa Park posted a rousing 5-1 victory over top-seeded West Torrance Saturday at Dodger Stadium, capturing its first Division III championship.

Villa Park, beaten, 7-1, by Tustin in a quarterfinal on May 26, was granted a reprieve Tuesday when the Tillers had to forfeit that victory for using an ineligible player.

The next day, the Spartans beat Covina Charter Oak, 10-5, in a semifinal. Then on Saturday, Villa Park pitchers Dan Reid and Erik Averill combined on a three-hitter against the team ranked No. 2 in the nation by Baseball America.

Jeff Tuttle punctuated the victory, skipping jubilantly around the bases after smacking a solo home run to right-center field in the seventh inning.

“We’re the team of destiny,” said Tuttle, who was presented with his home-run ball in the clubhouse afterward. “As soon as we found out [about the forfeiture] Tuesday, we knew things were going to go our way.”

After second baseman Bryan Arguello caught a pop-up for the game’s final out, the Spartans celebrated. Players piled on top of one another in the infield. Coach Tom Tereschuk was doused with the contents of a Gatorade cooler. Then Tereschuk gave a stirring postgame address, telling his team that it was the best in the nation.

Things went Villa Park’s way almost from the opening pitch. Scott Foley singled in two runs in the second inning to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead. Arguello followed with a single and scored on Scott Zine’s double down the right-field line to make it 3-0.

West Torrance’s starting pitcher, Michael Sutherland, was 12-0 with a 1.95 earned-run average entering the game, but he didn’t even make it to the third inning. He gave up five hits and three runs in 1 2/3 innings to take the loss.

“Our guys were ready to go,” Tereschuk said. “They were going to make every at-bat count.”

Villa Park (29-2) threatened to blow the game open in the third when it loaded the bases with no outs. But only one run scored, when Tuttle came home from third on Ricky Sims’ double-play grounder, giving the Spartans a 4-0 lead.

West Torrance (29-2), known for its timely offensive eruptions, remained dormant. The Warriors never got the big inning they needed.

“I thought we were going to get one today,” West Torrance Coach Harry Jenkins said. “We just didn’t come through.”

The Warriors put runners on second and third in the fourth inning with two walks off Reid and two wild pitches. Then Averill relieved Reid and retired the next two hitters on a strikeout and a fly out to get out of the inning.

“Our pitchers executed the game plan perfectly,” Tereschuk said. “Dan got us as far as he needed to go and Erik came in and got the win. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

West Torrance scored its run in the sixth when Elliott Salcedo tripled off the wall in left-center and scored on Chris Caraballo’s sacrifice fly.

Jaret Minami singled to open the Warrior seventh and took second on defensive indifference. But Averill (7-0) retired the next three hitters.

Averill, a sophomore, thought he had played his final game with his brother Brandon Averill, a senior, in the loss to Tustin.

“It crushed me,” Erik Averill said.

Given a second chance, he made sure his brother’s high school career ended on a happy note. He struck out two and walked one in 3 2/3 innings.

Villa Park players were less than an hour away from turning in their uniforms Tuesday when they learned there was more baseball to be played.

“We got a lucky break,” Tereschuk said. “And sometimes you need that.”

Said Erik Averill: “Fate brought us here and gave us a second chance. That was all we needed.”