Baseball: Karkenny saves Chatsworth’s 2-1 victory
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
Steven Karkenny threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to preserve Chatsworth’s 2-1 victory over Woodland Hills El Camino Real on Thursday and move the Chancellors into position to claim the No. 1 seed for the City Section Division I playoffs.
The win pulls Chatsworth (22-4, 8-1) into a virtual tie for first place with El Camino Real (15-11, 9-1) in the West Valley League. All the Chancellors need to do is beat Granada Hills in a makeup game on Saturday to share the league title. And by virtual of their better record, Chatsworth figures to get the nod for top seed when the pairings are decided on Wednesday.
Chatsworth took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI double by Aaron Brown. The Chancellors added another run in the fourth on a pinch-hit RBI single by Chris Carlin.
El Camino Real cut the lead to 2-1 in the fifth on Chris Whitmer’s RBI double. That’s when Karkenny was brought in to replace starter Christian Lopez, and he came through with his third save.
El Camino Real had the tying run on third in the seventh with one out, but Karkenny got a strikeout and groundout to end the game.
Mitch Bluman (5-3) pitched well for El Camino Real, allowing seven hits, striking out five and walking none.
-- Eric Sondheimer