Ruedas delivers Chatsworth its first City title since 2009
LOS ANGELES >> Chatsworth baseball coach Marcus Alvarado said he paid a visit to his father, Manny Alvarado, Friday night to go over his final scouting report. Manny was the longtime coach at Kennedy High where he won five City championships, making him 5-0 at Dodger Stadium.
“I asked my dad for his opinion on how I should attack some players, and being the humble guy he is, he told me to just trust myself, believe in myself, and have fun,” said Marcus holding back tears. “I most certainly did that today.”
Senior pitcher Jose Ruedas threw a complete-game shutout with six strikeouts, allowed just four hits and didn't walk any batters in Chatsworth's 2-0 victory over Birmingham Charter in the City Section Open Division final at Chavez Ravine Saturday afternoon.
“That makes the Alvarados 6-0 in City finals now,” Alvarado said with a humble smirk.
It marked Chatsworth's 10th City title in program history and first since 2009. The Chancellors are the lowest seed (No. 9) to win an Open title since the division was created in 2018. Birmingham won it as the No. 8 seed in 2019.
“We've been there before,” Birmingham coach Matt Mowry said. “We know what it's like to be the lower seed and have the pressure off. I've played at Dodger Stadium four times, and only one time has it been against a team not from the West Valley League.”
“Ruedas was great,” Mowry added.
Ruedas was named the Sid Witherow Outstanding Player of the Game with his 90-pitch performance. He was also 1 for 3 at the plate for Chatsworth (1614). Chatsworth's Octavio Bonilla won the Les Haserot award, honoring the most outstanding player throughout the postseason.
“What an unbelievable feeling this is,” Ruedas said with a City championship medal around his neck. “I had some nerves to start the game, but I reminded myself that it's all the same out here, from the mound to the plate, and from home to first base. It's all the same.”
Chatsworth used technical, small ball play to help get the bases loaded in the third inning before
Jonathan Cerda was hit by a pitch to score Ryan Herrera from third base for a 1-0 lead. A Birmingham (22-9) throwing error in the sixth inning from a hard-hit ball from Herrera allowed Barry Menjivar to score to make it 2-0.
“I preach small ball,” Alvarado said. “I love putting pressure on the defense, especially with high school players and on a stage like this, a routine ground ball is not routine and a routine pop fly is not routine.”
Birmingham committed two errors in the game.
“Those killed us,” Mowry said of the errors.
Birmingham starting pitcher Jake Amado threw five innings, allowed four hits and struck out two. Ricardo Martinez threw two innings, allowing one hit and two strikeouts.
Chatsworth's postseason run was remarkable, taking down No. 8 Carson 11-8, No. 1 Granada Hills 6-4 and Roosevelt 4-3 at USC in the semifinal.
“Being an underdog was an advantage for us,” Ruedas said. “The pressure is not on us, it's on them. Nobody expects us to win. But we were better.”
Since the Open Division was created in 2018, no No. 1 or 2 seed has ever won the City title.