Kenny’s Timely Hits Produce Title in Short Order

In a game in which heroes surfaced at every turn, Charles Kenny of Chatsworth High came up the big winner.

Kenny, a senior first baseman, had a two-run single and a three-run triple to carry the Chancellors to a 17-7, six-inning victory over Poly in the City Championship game Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

His two-run single in the second inning ignited a four-run rally and erased a 1-0 lead by Poly.

Poly catcher Albert Flores made a bid for hero status with a three-run, two-out slicing single to right field that put the Parrots ahead, 6-5.

But Kenny wasn’t through.

With the score tied, 6-6, and one out in the bottom of the sixth, Kenny hammered a 2-1 curve from Carlos Reguengo over center fielder George Felix, clearing the bases and putting the Chancellors ahead, 9-6.

“It was about time,” Kenny said. “I’ve been slumping lately. I wasn’t uptight about Dodger Stadium or anything.”

He knocked in a run in the sixth with a single to right field for 14-7 lead.

Kenny finished three for three with six runs batted in.

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Designated hitter Matt Cassel of Chatsworth is accustomed to pressure. He played in last year’s City final and was a member of the 1994 Northridge Little League team that won a national championship.

So no one was surprised to see Cassel munching on a Dodger Dog two hours before game time Thursday.

“You got to have a little snack before the game,” Cassel said.

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Matt LaCour, the 25-year-old top assistant to Chatsworth Coach Tom Meusborn, will be interviewed next week for the Hart High coaching position.

LaCour’s brother, Bryan, was a senior infielder at UC Santa Barbara this season.

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For the second year in a row, the teams playing in the high school championship games at Dodger Stadium on Thursday couldn’t use the locker rooms to dress.

The dressing rooms were off-limits because the Dodgers start a series against the Angels on Friday, forcing Huntington Park and Poly players to dress in corridors leading to the dugouts. Chatsworth and Cleveland arrived in their uniforms.

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Catcher Tony Cicero of Cleveland grew up on some of the Valley’s last farmland, and he soon might find himself on a different kind of farm.

Cicero, drafted by the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday, said he will try to work out a deal with the team in the next few days.

He is hoping to someday play in other major league stadiums.

“This is a good pre-setting for major league baseball,” Cicero said.