Crowning achievement

Mike Sciacca

The one thing Aaron Kavanagh tried to instill in his Ocean View High

baseball team Saturday was that it was all about enjoying the moment.

Sure, winning a CIF-Southern Section championship would be the

ultimate finish to what had already been an unforgettable season. Win

or lose, though, Kavanagh was intent on making sure Saturday’s

Division III title game against Temecula Valley at Angel Stadium was

a fun and unforgettable experience for his ball club.

“The kids were relaxed and having fun all week long, leading up to

the game,” said the second-year head coach. “But I wanted to make

sure that they were still having fun and enjoying the situation once

they got to Angel Stadium.

“They made it to the big game, and that’s the biggest

accomplishment. Winning it all would just be icing on our cake.”

For a season that ultimately was iced with a 3-2 victory over

Temecula Valley, giving the Seahawks the title, it got off to

anything but an auspicious start four months ago.

The team lost five players -- three to transfer, one moved away

and another quit -- before the first pitch. Kavanagh was forced to

bring up a pair of sophomores to fill out the varsity roster, and the

team’s record out of the gate was just 3-4.

“Man, to win CIF after starting the season off not sure what would

happen, is just amazing,” said senior Jeff Roth, who played shortstop

and was one of the team’s two key pitchers.

Roth, who went 10-1 on the mound and batted third in the lineup,

was named the MVP in the Golden West League. He had the best ERA in

school history and is second in the school record books in CIF

victories.

“I had a lot of faith in this team, though, and what makes this

year so special is that it just wasn’t one or two players who

contributed, but in every game, a different person would step up and

get the job done,” he said. “Literally, everybody in the lineup

contributed. And we all got along. We enjoyed being around each

other, both on and off the field.”

Kavanagh acknowledged a few turning points in his team’s

turnaround to the season.

First, there was a stiff portion of the schedule that had the

Seahawks play at Gahr of Cerritos, at home against top-ranked

Westminster La Quinta, and at Long Beach Poly. Ocean View went 1-2

during that three-game stretch, winning only at Poly.

Then came one last snag in late March -- a 2-1 loss in the title

game of the Coachella Valley Tournament to a Calexico team the

Seahawks had beaten by a 13-5 score earlier in the day.

That was Roth’s only pitching loss. And it was the last sting of

defeat the Seahawks would experience the rest of the season.

From there, they fashioned a 16-game win streak to end the

campaign, which included an 11-0 mark en route to the Golden West

League championship. Ocean View finished the 2005 season with a 25-5

record.

“The goal coming into the season was to play a tough schedule to

prepare for the playoffs,” Kavanagh said. “I think playing the

schedule that we did, accomplished just that.”

Save for a 7-0 victory over California High of Whittier in its

playoff opener, Ocean View had to rally in each of its final four

playoff games, but managed to find a way to pull out a win in each

instance.

Including Saturday’s title game.

“Whenever we were down, we never felt like we were out of any

game,” said junior James Kang, an infielder who was the Seahawks’

leadoff hitter. “There was always a feeling among us that we’d get it

done, that someone would come through. We would just never quit.”

Such was the case one final time Saturday. Temecula Valley scored

a run in the first inning and maintained that lead until Ocean View

pushed across two runs in the fourth inning.

Roth drew a walk and Alex Burnett reached base on a fielding

error. Geoff Klein then advanced both with a sacrifice bunt before

John Vega singled into right field to drive in Roth and tie the

score.

Matt Hughes later came up with an RBI single to left field to

bring Burnett home for an Ocean View 2-1 lead.

Temecula Valley scored the tying run in the top of the sixth to

make it 2-2, but Ocean View regained the lead for good in the bottom

half of the inning.

Marc Fernandez began the rally with a one-out walk. One out later,

Derek Martin came up with a bunt single. A throwing error on the play

allowed Fernandez to advance to third base.

Another throwing error on the same play -- the ball sailing into

the camera well along the third base line -- allowed Fernandez to

score what turned out to be the winning run.

Burnett, the pitcher of the year in the Golden West League who won

his final 10 starts to finish 11-3, hit two batters in the top of the

seventh. But with two out and runners stationed at first and second

base, Kang snagged a line drive between second and first base,

tumbled and popped back up to reveal the catch that ended the game.

“At that point, it was all kind of overwhelming,” Kang said of the

winning play. “It didn’t hit me at first that we had won it all. It

sunk in a little later, and it was an amazing feeling.”

Following Kang’s catch, he became the focus of a victory dog pile

by the Seahawk players.

The only other time Ocean View has won a Southern Section title in

baseball was in 1998 -- when Kavanagh was a senior pitcher on the

team. He didn’t pitch in the title game at Dodger Stadium, which

ended in a 9-3 victory over top-ranked and favorite La Quinta.

“I’m really proud to be a part of that championship team in 1998,

but this is special as a coach, because I had direct involvement in

this game,” Kavanagh said.

“We don’t have five Division I players on this team, but what we

do have is 13 ballplayers who enjoy playing the game and playing

together,” he added. “I’ll take that any day.”