Lakewood Pitches to Young, Loses

Let the second-guessing begin.

Lakewood High pitched to Camarillo slugger Delmon Young in the third inning of the Southern Section Division I championship Saturday night at Edison Field instead of intentionally walking him to load the bases and suffered devastating consequences.

Young drilled a double to left-center field to score top-seeded Camarillo’s first two runs in an 8-1 victory over second-seeded Lakewood that gave the Scorpions (29-4) their first title. Camarillo lost to Fountain Valley in 1985 in its only other championship game.

Travis Sutton (14-0) pitched almost flawlessly after surrendering a run and three first-inning singles. The senior right-hander, who struck out four, issued two walks after the first to shut down Lakewood (28-6).

Young, a junior center fielder, went one for two with three walks. He’s 11 for 12 against Lakewood in two seasons. “I was expecting them to pitch to me,” Young said. “They had their ace and they were coming right after me.”

Young wouldn’t have batted in the third inning if Lakewood catcher Arnold Iribarren had caught Garrett Barlow’s foul pop-up with two outs.

“We considered [walking Young],” Lakewood Coach Spud O’Neil said, “but we had a plan to throw a pitch high and in. It was right over the plate.”

Camarillo scored two more runs in the inning on Brad Boyer’s double to right.

Villa Park 3, Canyon Country Canyon 2--Villa Park, which is known for taking advantage of second chances, needed a third opportunity Saturday to win the Division II title with two seventh-inning runs.

Villa Park, which failed to capitalize on scoring chances in the fourth and sixth innings, scored the winning run when Mike Thompson, who had three of the Spartans’ 10 hits, came home from third base on Dane Ferguson’s flare into shallow right field.

The title was the second in three seasons for the unseeded Spartans (24-7), who won the Division III championship in 2000 after being defeated by Tustin in the quarterfinals. The Tillers had to forfeit the victory for using an ineligible player.

On Saturday, the Spartans couldn’t score despite loading the bases with none out in the fourth and putting runners on first and third with one out in the sixth. Canyon starter Jake Coash (9-4) took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning but had to leave after surrendering consecutive singles and recording one out because he had reached his 10-inning limit for the week.

Reliever Sergio Almanzar gave up a run-scoring single to Kirk McConchie that tied the score and intentionally walked A.J. Smith to load the bases. Ferguson, who drove in a run in the second on a bloop single, then picked up his winning hit.

Canyon (24-6) scored its runs in the fourth when Clay Britton came home on a wild pitch and Ryan Pipho drove in Cody Leavitt on a single.

Reliever Steve Johns (5-0) pitched two perfect innings to get the victory for Villa Park.

Riverside Arlington 1, Santa Margarita 0--Joe Reyes pitched a three-hit shutout and scored in the top of the seventh inning for the unseeded Lions (25-6) in the Division III championship.

Reyes led off the seventh with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Larry Mendoza’s sacrifice fly to give Arlington its second section title. The other came in 1999.

Unseeded Santa Margarita (17-11) mounted a threat in the bottom of the inning when Andrew Nieves drew a one-out walk and pinch-runner Doug Reinhardt went to second on Chris Iseley’s single to left.

But Reyes (10-2) retired the final two batters to record his third victory and second shutout of the postseason for Arlington. Reyes, a junior left-hander, gave up four walks but struck out nine and allowed only one runner to reach third base.

Santa Margarita right-hander Brendan Judge (4-3) threw a three-hitter with seven strikeouts and a walk.