Verdugo Hills, the fourth-place finisher in the Valley Mission League with a 10-18 record entering the City Section Division I playoffs, completed a remarkable turnaround on Saturday, winning its fourth consecutive playoff game to take home the Division I title with a 3-1 victory over Taft at Dodger Stadium.
No one was picking the Dons in this one. They had used their two best pitchers in a 10-inning semifinal win over top-seeded Sylmar. But coach Angel Espindola had a plan.
“I’ve got tricks up my sleeve,” he said.
Anthony Velasquez threw a complete-game one-hitter while relying on his defense to make the routine plays and deal with six walks and only one strikeout. At the plate, the hero was first baseman Cutlor Fannon. He had an RBI double in the first inning and an RBI single in the seventh.
But there was drama in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Toreadors’ Victor Jara represented the tying run at the plate with two outs. He hit probably the hardest ball of the day to deep left field.
“The last one scared me,” Velasquez said as he watched left-fielder Moises Rodriguez stick out his glove running to catch it and start a victory celebration.
Rodriguez said he “felt all my emotions running through me” as he chased down the fly ball.
“It was surreal,” he said.
Espindola’s best coaching moment came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Taft drew consecutive walks from Velasquez with one out. Espindola went to the mound for a pitcher conference.
“Relax,” is what he told Velasquez.
Then Taft hit into an inning-ending double play.
Verdugo Hills’ fielders more than handled the Dodger Stadium environment. Catcher Miguel Wong threw out a runner trying to steal second. Outfielders Rodriguez, Jack Iafrate and Jessie Olmos combined to catch seven fly balls. And third baseman D’Angelo Duran and shortstop Ethan Sanchez were flawless on ground balls.
As for what happened in the playoffs, Rodriguez said, “We changed our perspective to playing baseball instead of doing baseball. It was let’s have fun.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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