Sylmar Has No Defense for 4-0 Loss

Sylmar High’s ace left-hander, Olonzo Woodfin, really wasn’t in the mood to hear from any of the spectators who attended Thursday’s game at Poly, but at least the feedback he was getting after absorbing his first loss of the year was from a credible source.

“I tell you, son, you’re one helluva pitcher,” gushed Paul Nealon, the grandfather of Poly pitcher Greg Nealon, who beat Woodfin and Sylmar, 4-0. “You’ve got everything. Boy, what a prospect you are.”

The Nealon family knows a little about pitching. Dennis Lamp of the Chicago White Sox is Greg Nealon’s cousin. Woodfin mumbled a thank you, and shook the elder Nealon’s hand, no doubt reasoning that support from opponents is better than none at all.

Which is about what he got from his teammates.

Poly scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning, and Nealon did the rest by throwing a three-hitter as the undefeated Parrots--ranked No. 1 in The Times Valley poll--remained in first place in the East Valley League with a win over second-ranked Sylmar.

Poly (6-0) cashed in some Sylmar gifts in the first, starting when Joey Speakes led off with a bloop double that fell between left fielder Dave Nunez and shortstop Martin Valencia. Speakes’ hit would set the tone for the rest of the inning and much of the game for Sylmar (4-1).

One out later, Danny Gil walked. Woodfin struck out Luis Porres for the second out, but Ali Aguilar lofted a bloop single over the head of Valencia, which should have loaded the bases. Gil, however, was trapped off second base by Nunez’s throw back to the infield. While Sylmar tried to corner Gil in a rundown, Speakes sped home from third, beating a throw from third baseman Donnie Kelley.

Luis Garcia then legged out an infield single that scored Gil, and Rodrigo Fuentes then flared a Woodfin fastball down the right-field line for a single, scoring Aguilar.

“You give a team that swings the bat like Poly a six-out inning, and they’ll get you no matter who you have on the mound,” Sylmar Coach John Klitsner said.

Sylmar got few good swings at Nealon (3-0), who hasn’t allowed a run in 16 innings this season. The junior left-hander struck out just two and walked one but kept Sylmar off balance with a mixture of off-speed pitches.

“That was one of the best games I’ve had,” said Nealon, who pitched last year as a sophomore. “I was pretty comfortable out there.”

Poly’s defense provided a good portion of Nealon’s cushion. Including sparkling plays by Aguilar at third base in the fourth inning and Gil at shortstop in the sixth, the Parrot infield swallowed up virtually everything in sight. Even Sylmar’s hardest-hit ball of the game--a double off the left-field fence in the third by Vern Hanagami--was turned into an out. With Sylmar’s Tom Shelburne at first base, Poly left fielder Bill Chavez hit Gil with a perfect relay throw. Gil turned and recorded the out on Shelburne with a strike to Fuentes at the plate.

Nealon allowed only one hit after the third, retiring 11 straight and 12 of the last 13 batters.

Poly scored its last run in the fifth on a triple by Chavez and a single by Gil.

“When we score quickly like this, it plays right into Greg’s game,” Poly Coach Jerry Cord said. “He’s not overpowering, he’s a control-type pitcher. When we get a lead, he can get right in there and throw strikes. And the defense can do the rest.”

Woodfin (3-1) took the loss despite recording nine more strikeouts, giving him 50 in 23 innings. Poly scored more runs in the first (three) than Woodfin, who entered the game with an earned-run average of 0.39, had allowed in three previous appearances (one).

“He got a little frustrated,” Klitsner said. “He didn’t get much help out there. Heck, it’s frustrating for me, too.”