Chatsworth shuts down El Camino Real, 2-1
You’d think that with a 4.2 grade-point average, junior Steven Karkenny of Chatsworth might offer a quote from Edgar Allan Poe or Henry David Thoreau in explaining the lesson learned from not having a particularly productive game two days ago against rival Woodland Hills El Camino Real.
Nope — he offered these words of wisdom from Rocky Balboa: “It’s not how hard you can hit. It’s how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
Chatsworth Coach Tom Meusborn called in his closer, Karkenny, with two outs in the fifth inning Thursday, and he shut down El Camino Real the rest of the way, throwing 2 1/3 innings of shutout relief in the Chancellors’ 2-1 victory.
Chatsworth (22-4, 8-1) can earn a share of the West Valley League championship with El Camino Real (15-11, 9-1) by defeating Granada Hills on Saturday in a makeup game. If that happens, Chatsworth also will be the likely No. 1-seeded team for the Division I playoffs when the seedings are determined on Wednesday, based on its record and its owning a 1-0 victory over the likely No. 2-seeded team, Marine League champion Wilmington Banning.
El Camino Real certainly put the pressure on Karkenny, who didn’t get to pitch Tuesday and went hitless at the plate. This time, with a league title on the line, he got out of jams in each inning he pitched. The biggest came in the seventh. El Camino Real had the tying run at third with one out.
But Karkenny struck out Sterling Rose with a curveball and got Chris Whitmer to ground out to end the game.
“You got to love it,” Karkenny said of dealing with pressure. “You practice for that situation every day.”
In defeat, El Camino Real proved it’s a legitimate City title contender based on its quality play this week. The Conquistadores received a strong pitching performance from their No. 2 pitcher, Mitch Bluman, who struck out five and walked none.
The odds were stacked against El Camino Real. Chatsworth hadn’t lost consecutive league games in eight years, and the Chancellors took a 1-0 lead in the third on an RBI double by Aaron Brown. Pinch-hitter Chris Carlin made it 2-0 in the fourth with a run-scoring single.
Whitmer’s double cut El Camino Real’s deficit to 2-1 in the fifth, but that resulted in Christian Lopez coming out and Karkenny going in.
Meusborn had declined to use Karkenny on the mound in an 8-3 loss Tuesday, but this time, he was quick to bring him in, and Karkenny rewarded him with his third save of the season and wisdom from a boxer.
