Baseball: Redondo dominates in winning first Division 3 championship

Redondo, a team that got swept in a two-game Bay League series against rival Mira Costa at the end of the regular season, rose up and came away with its first Southern Section baseball championship on Saturday, routing Walnut, 10-0, in the Division 3 championship game at San Manuel Stadium.

Junior pitcher Cooper Gallion threw a two-hit shutout and was supported by a hitting attack that took advantage of early wildness from pitcher Cody Dye (9-1) to score five runs in the first inning and five more in the fifth.

Marco Valenzuela had two doubles and three RBIs. Duncan McKinnon had a triple and double and two RBIs. The Sea Hawks (29-7) finished with 11 hits against a team that had knocked off unbeaten San Dimas in the semifinals.

“We went out there and did our job,” Gallion said. “It’s the greatest feeling in my life.”

For Coach Jeff Baumback, in his fifth season, the losses to Mira Costa turned out to be just what the team needed. It had not been playing well but still winning.

“It was a wakeup call,” he said. “Those losses were good for us, because prior to that, we had been getting away with it.”

Get used to Redondo being good, because the Sea Hawks have some important players returning for next season, including pitchers Gallion (8-1) and Danny Zimmerman (7-2), who pitched Redondo to a semifinal win over Bishop Amat. Zimmerman, a sophomore, has keyed Redondo as a pitcher and hitter.

“He’s a monster for us,” Baumback said.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer