Imperial baseball wins first IVL crown
EL CENTRO — As it has for a majority of the season and its past few games in particular, the Imperial High baseball team used stellar pitching and phenomenal defense to capture its first Imperial Valley League title in school history here on Friday night.
The Tigers recorded a 7-0 shutout victory over Central Union High to wrap up the regular season with an overall record of 23-4 and an IVL record of 11-1.
The last time Imperial found itself atop of the league leaderboard it was 2005 when the Tigers were still a part of the Desert League.
“This team understood what we were trying to do and took a business-like approach heading into this game,” said Tiger Head Coach Javier Ramos, who in his second year at the helm of the program helped make school history. “They were in the mindset of putting together some quality at-bats, and also Diego (Mellos) threw a great game for us.”
Mellos earned the start for the Tigers putting together a solid six innings of work and had plenty of help behind him as Imperial made solid defensive plays, including a diving catch in right field from Christian Zamudio and a perfect effort from Chris Lopez at third base.
“I was really excited for this game,” Mellos said with a smile. “I knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us.”
The senior right hander attributed Friday’s win and the Tigers’ overall success to the team’s unique chemistry and realizing early on they could do something special this season.
“I’ve been playing with all these guys since we were little kids, and it just felt right for it to be this team to (win IVL),” Mellos said.
The IVL season will officially wrap up next week, with the CIF-San Diego Section seeding meeting and the playoffs coming afterward.