Chatsworth Has Plenty of Relief

For the first time in 15 years as baseball coach at five-time City Section champion Chatsworth, Tom Meusborn has found a closer.

Bryan Petersen struck out five in three innings of one-hit relief Tuesday to help the unbeaten Chancellors pull out a 6-4 eight-inning victory over Woodland Hills El Camino Real in their West Valley League opener.

Mike Fernandez and Jake Norton each contributed run-scoring singles to break a 4-4 tie in the top of the eighth for Chatsworth (9-0, 1-0 in league), ranked No. 4 by The Times.

Petersen, a senior right-hander who hit a home run in last year’s City final at Dodger Stadium, has struck out 15 and given up only one hit in 8 1/3 innings this season, and has three saves.

“This is our first closer,” Meusborn said. “I normally don’t pull pitchers, but [having] Bryan is different.”

El Camino Real (6-3, 0-1) gave the Chancellors all they could handle, tying the score at 4-4 in the sixth on Chad Boyd’s home run.

Boyd, who has signed with Nevada Las Vegas, finished with three hits.

-- Eric Sondheimer

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Left-hander Steve Grove had received little offensive support in his two previous starts this season, but once he gave Mission Viejo its first lead with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the fourth inning, his teammates became more charitable.

The 15th-ranked Diablos scored 11 runs over the last three innings to pull away for an 11-2 victory over 17th-ranked San Clemente in a South Coast League game.

After Grove gave Mission Viejo (5-3, 2-0) a 2-1 lead, Pat O’Neill followed with a two-out, three-run double. Chase Moline blasted a two-run home run down the right-field line in the fifth, and Chris Jones hit a two-run homer to left-center in the sixth.

Grove held San Clemente (7-2, 1-1) to six hits and one earned run and struck out four in six innings.

In his previous starts, Grove (1-2) lost to Corona del Mar, 3-0, and to No. 23 Westminster, 3-1. In those games, he gave up only 10 hits and four earned runs over 10 innings, striking out eight and walking four.

Dan Arritt

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Softball

It is junior Andria Padilla’s turn to pitch for Chino Don Lugo today, when the No. 8 Conquistadores play at Ontario Colony. That’s significant because last season, Padilla didn’t pitch much at all.

“Andi Padilla is one of the biggest surprises, because [sophomore] Brittany Martinez was the dominant pitcher last year,” said first-year Coach Nikki Busch. “She’s worked her way up from the junior varsity, and now we have two aces on our staff.

Padilla is 4-1 and also has one save.

Martin Henderson

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Boys’ Tennis

Irvine Woodbridge Coach Ric Barth has contemplated lineup changes and mulled strategies, but he still hasn’t found an effective way to match up with Corona del Mar.

The fourth-ranked Warriors (6-1) play host to the top-ranked Sea Kings (7-0) today. In Barth’s four-plus seasons, Woodbridge has never defeated Corona del Mar.

He said the reason is simple: Each squad’s strength is singles, and Corona del Mar is more experienced with juniors Carsten Ball and Wesley Miller.

Barth said moving one of his top singles players, either freshman Mike McClune or junior Shimpei Suzuki, to doubles might give the team a few extra sets but would weaken it if the match came down to games.

Elia Powers

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Football

Newhall Hart, the defending Southern Section Division II champion, will have to play next season without All-Southern Section center Joe Bernardi, who will be moving to Flagstaff, Ariz., for his senior season after his father, Gary, a former UCLA assistant, accepted the position of offensive line coach at Northern Arizona.

Fountain Valley has hired John Shipp, assistant coach at Golden West College, as its varsity coach, replacing Eric Johnson, who retired after five seasons. Greg Olquin, an assistant at Orange El Modena, has been promoted to head coach, and Anaheim has hired Lanny Booher, an assistant at Anaheim Loara.

-- Eric Sondheimer