3-A BASEBALL : Dawkins Puts Extra Effort Into No-Hitter

WESTMINSTER —  A majority of Walter Dawkins’ pitching woes this season has come in the first few innings of games.

So, Dave Demerest, La Quinta High School’s coach, tried something different Tuesday.

He had Dawkins warm up as usual, then rest as usual, then pitch a simulated inning in the bullpen before the start of the game . . . as unusual.

The experiment worked to near perfection as Dawkins pitched a no-hitter to lead La Quinta to a 1-0 victory over El Monte in the second round of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs at La Quinta.

Dawkins, a junior, added a home run in the third inning for La Quinta (21-8), which advances to Friday’s quarterfinals against Tustin at a site to be determined by a coin flip today.

Dawkins allowed four walks, had two strikeouts and was helped out frequently by the defense.

Shortstop Steve Cherms’ range extended far up the middle in the first, fifth and seventh innings, where he stopped ground balls that would have gone for hits. Don Hopkins went to the fence in right field to catch a fly ball.

Catcher Matt Logan picked a runner off first in the fifth.

Cherms made two impressive plays in the seventh. First, he went behind second base to get a sharp grounder that Dawkins deflected, and threw to first for the first out.

Dawkins walked Rick Perez, then Eli Perez punched the ball to the right of Cherms, who reached for it, got it and threw out Eli Perez by a step.

The game ended when Eddie Lorres grounded to second baseman Brett Osborn.

“They had me warm up a different way,” Dawkins said. “Otherwise, sometimes I come out flat and get into trouble right away. . . . I realized I had a no-hitter about the fifth, and the defense really did the job behind me.”

Dawkins mixed his fastball and breaking pitches well, but struggled with his control. He threw 87 pitches, 51 of them strikes. Again he had trouble in the first two innings, throwing 39 pitches. His best inning was the third, when he threw only five pitches.

Dawkins needed to be sharp El Monte’s Shawn Kennedy also pitched well. Kennedy made one costly mistake, a hanging curveball to Dawkins that he drove over the left-center fence to lead off the third. The home run was Dawkins’ second in the playoffs and fifth of the season.

Dawkins also had an infield single in the first. Anthony Beltran had a bunt single in the third and Matt Logan had a sharp single to left in the seventh for La Quinta’s only hits.

La Quinta had the bases loaded with one out in the second, but Kennedy struck out Justin Sogoian and Cherms. Kennedy (7-4), a senior right-hander, finished with 11 strikeouts for El Monte (13-10).

“Our offense wasn’t great,” Demerest said, “but it was enough with Dawkins pitching as well as he did.”