Saturday Blues Put Valley Chatsworth in Another Big Hole

When Valley Chatsworth takes the field today, one thing is for sure.

The team will be happy it isn’t Saturday.

For the third time in as many tournaments, Valley Chatsworth lost on Saturday, this time to Danville in the opening round of the state tournament, 8-1.

Chad Redern gave Chatsworth a 1-0 lead with a home run in the first inning, but that would be all it would get off Mateo Mirramontes, who scattered seven hits and struck out 10 in eight innings.

Danville, who finished second in the tournament last year and is considered the favorite, took the lead for good in the third with the help of two errors.

With two out and one on, Luke Cherry doubled off Scott Sellz to tie the score, but the damage wasn’t done until Matt Fisher committed two errors on consecutive grounders to help Danville take a 3-1 advantage.

“We probably played our poorest game of the year,” said Coach Matt LaCour of Valley Chatsworth (33-5). “We didn’t pitch well, we didn’t hit well, we didn’t run the bases well, we didn’t field well. You’d have to search real hard to find something we did well today.”

Sellz managed to keep the game close until the sixth inning when Danville broke it open with three runs for a 6-1 lead.

After a one-out walk, Dan Dobrinch lined a shot off of Sellz’s leg that bounced to second baseman Jason Spector, who couldn’t make a play.

Sellz was called for a balk to score one run, and Matt Brunkal and Cherry hit RBI singles.

“The five walks really hurt me today,” said Sellz, who had two of Chatsworth’s season-low seven hits. “Our bats just fell asleep today, but we’ve come back before. We have to win three games and we can definitely do that.”

Added LaCour: “There’s a huge difference being in the losers’ or winners’ bracket. The reality is we just need to finish second. Tomorrow, we’ll be more focused.”

In other first-round games, El Segundo routed Chino, 14-4, and Stockton beat Fairfield, 12-3.

Chatsworth plays Chino at 9 a.m. today.