Baseball: Bonita wins Southern Section Division 3 championship

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Justin Garza of La Verne Bonita is 25-1 over the last two seasons and he ended his prep career on Friday afternoon at Dodger Stadium pitching the Bearcats to a 5-1 victory over Alhambra in the Southern Section Division 3 final.

Garza finished with a three-hitter and retired the last 12 batters in order. He didn’t allow a hit after the second inning. He was helped by an errorless defense.

Bonita (32-2) took advantage of four Alhambra errors and broke a 1-1 tie with four runs in the third inning. Garza’s squeeze bunt started Bonita’s outburst.

Thomas Castro had two hits for Bonita and finished the season with 48 hits. It was Bonita’s first championship since 1951.

Alhambra (24-4) started seven non-seniors in its lineup, so beware of the Moors in 2013.

-- Eric Sondheimer