Chadwick’s Nightmare Finish Is Linfield’s Dream : High schools: Dolphins fail to hold 4-0 lead as Lions roar back for 7-4 victory. Linfield finishes 25-0.

Linfield High’s baseball team is living proof that you don’t need to hit the ball hard to win games.

Chadwick School Coach Jim Drennen found that out at about 6:15 Friday evening in the bottom of the sixth inning of the Southern Section Small Schools Division championship game at Blair Field in Long Beach.

At the time, Chadwick ace Mac McKinnie had sailed through five shutout innings with eight strikeouts and had given up only three hits.

And Chadwick was ahead, 4-0.

But that was when Linfield buried Chadwick and Drennen under a barrage of soft hits that turned a would-be 4-0 Chadwick victory into a 7-4 Chadwick loss.

“We did not hit McKinnie well at all,” Linfield Coach Al Cariss said. “We were very, very fortunate. We were four runs down, and doing absolutely nothing against this pitcher.”

McKinnie (10-2), a 6-foot-5 right-hander, had been getting the Linfield batters to chase his high fastball all afternoon. But in the sixth, the Lions stopped chasing it.

Here is the chronology of the inning that will provide Drennen with nightmares for years to come:

* Linfield’s No. 9 hitter, Jimmie Kemmis, works McKinnie for a walk to start the inning.

* Leadoff man Dave Wesson hits a sure double-play ball to Chadwick second baseman Tim Lesser. But instead of throwing to shortstop Chris Gordon at the bag, Lesser opts for a tag on Kemmis running by. He misses Kemmis, who ducks the tag, then throws too late to first.

* Linfield second baseman Eddie Parsons hits a shallow pop fly that drops in front of right fielder David Bray to load the bases.

* McKinnie strikes out Shawn Bathe and jams cleanup hitter Richard Hunter with an inside fastball, but Hunter manages to hit the ball by a mere 30 feet over the third base bag to score two.

* Then McKinnie gets tired and wild, throws a wild pitch and walks Scott Grayner and Mike Graesser--the latter forcing in a run. But Chadwick still leads, 4-3.

* With the bases loaded, Linfield’s Jason Gelgand raps a soft ground ball between Gordon and third baseman Darren Drag and beats it out, driving in Hunter with the tying run.

* Drennen draws the Chadwick infield in to stop the go-ahead run. It proves to be the Dolphins’ undoing, as Linfield catcher Kevin Kahler chips a pop up over the infield that settles in front of onrushing center fielder Mark Bailey. Grayner and Graesser score and Linfield leads, 6-4.

* With pinch-hitter Rob Schultz at the plate, McKinnie throws another wild pitcher, scoring Gelgand from third. He strikes out Schultz, walks Wesson, then gets Parsons to line out to end the inning.

The final damages: 12 batters to the plate, seven runs on four hits, four walks and two wild pitches.

The deficit was too much for Chadwick to overcome. Gordon lined a two-out single in the seventh to keep the Dolphins’ hopes alive, but Hunter (11-0) got Bailey to fly out to left, ending Chadwick’s season at 17-5.

“It doesn’t matter what level you’re at, you have to have pitching and defense to win a title,” Drennen said. “But if you don’t have those things, it’s all over.”

Pitching and defense were where the Dolphins faltered Friday, especially considering McKinnie’s uncharacteristic wildness--he had given up only 19 walks in 68 previous innings--and Lesser’s misguided tag attempt.

Ironically, it was clutch hitting that got Chadwick the 4-0 lead.

Gordon started the scoring in the first when he lined a single to left, stole second, moved to third on Hunter’s wild pitch, then came across on Bailey’s ground out.

Then catcher Todd Seneker--Chadwick’s top batter--got going. He drove in Bailey with a single in the third, then did the same thing again in the sixth. Seneker later scored Chadwick’s final run on an error by Bathe, Linfield’s shortstop.

After the improbable comeback, Cariss and his players were elated. The victory completed a perfect 25-0 season for Christian League champion Linfield, which prepared for the big game with a barbecue after driving into Long Beach from Temecula.

“We waited a little too long for my liking,” Cariss said. “But at least we got the scoring when we needed it.”