WEST COVINA – The championship is all set for the San Gabriel Valley’s annual Pizza Chalet baseball tournament, as Bonita and La Salle won their semifinal games Saturday at South Hills High School.
In the opening game, Bonita shut out host South Hills 4-0, and La Salle defeated San Dimas 4-2.
The championship game is scheduled for Maverick Field in West Covina on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
In the first game, Bonita pitcher Camden Farina held the Huskies to one hit in his 6 1/3 innings of work. The junior right-hander struck out six batters and allowed only six Huskies to reach base.
“We’re playing really good baseball now and I love it,” Farina said.
Farina stranded South Hills (4-2) senior shortstop Matt Moreno at third base in the first inning and didn’t run into much trouble until the sixth inning when the Huskies had runners on first and second with no outs.
“That was huge to get out of that inning,” Farina added. “We got all the energy getting out of that inning and it continued into our next at bat.”
Leading 2-0, the Bearcats (3-0) scored two more runs in the bottom half of the inning on a single by senior first baseman Colton Perez and a triple to left field by senior shortstop Diego Vazquez, scoring Perez to lead 3-0.
The fourth run came across on a single to left field, scoring Vazquez.
In the South Hills sixth, Moreno reached on a hit batter, advanced to second on the only hit of the game by the Huskies, as senior third baseman Christian Gomez hit a chopper in front of the plate.
Farina struck out the next two batters and got out of the inning with a force out at second.
“Cam (Farina) did a great job for us,” Bonita coach Ryan Marcos said. “All of our runs came (Saturday) with two outs, so it was clutch. That’s all we’re asking for is guys to stick to the plan and go up there and try to hit the ball.”
Bonita catcher Diego Villa (2 for 3, 2 RBIs) led the offense with two run-scoring doubles.
The senior doubled to right in the first inning with two outs, sending designated hitter Andrew Sanchez home for the 1-0 lead.
Two innings later, Villa came through again with a two-out double, scoring junior second baseman Austin Owens for the 2-0 lead. Owens opened the inning with a single to right.
“It was really important to get those two runs with two outs,” said Villa, of his two doubles. “Mentally it helped our pitcher (Farina) and he knew he had a little cushion.”
Not to be lost was a nice performance on the mound by South Hills pitcher Carson Baker in his seven innings of work. After he allowed those two early runs, he settled down and at one time retired 10 Bonita batters in a row from the third through the sixth inning when he ran into trouble.
With two outs, the Bearcats scored twice more.
“In a lot of ballgames Carson (Baker) would have got a “W” (win) today,” South Hills coach Darren Murphy said. “He pitched well enough to get the win. We were hoping to get two or three innings out of him. He gave us six good innings.”
In the second semifinal, La Salle won its fourth game of the season without a loss as senior pitcher Adrian Hernandez held San Dimas (2-1) to just two hits through five innings.
UCLA commit David Mysza (2 for 3, 2 runs, HR) led the Lancers with two hits, which included a solo home run in the fourth inning to give La Salle a 4-0 lead.
“They (the team) are counting on me, but also counting on other (players) to hit,” Mysza said. “All of our guys like to compete and bring it to other teams.”
Mysza opened the game with a single to right and came home on an RBI single by junior third baseman Moises Aguirre for the 1-0 lead.
Two more runs came across for the Lancers in the second inning on a triple by junior left fielder Peter Callahan, who came home on a single to center by sophomore right fielder Drew Ward.
Ward came home for the third run of the game on an infield error by the Saints.
“I’m proud of our guys and we’ve been working hard for a couple of years, and this is the team we thought would have the best chance,” La Salle coach Andy Nieto said.
As for Mysza, Nieto added, “He’s the heartbeat of our offense and we’re going to go as far as he does,” he said. “We need him to be good for us, and if he’s good for us, he’s going to be good for UCLA.”
San Dimas broke the shutout in the fifth on a single by senior first baseman Kody King and eventually came home on a wild pitch to trail, 4-1.
The second run came across for the Saints in the bottom of the seventh as junior catcher Jayden Medina opened the inning with a single and eventually came home on a La Salle infield error.