By Steve Ramirez, Staff Writer
COVINA – Los Altos High School had faced Charter Oak’s Travis Santiago before, but that experience did little to help the Conquerors on Tuesday night.
The sophomore looked dominant, tossing a three-hitter and striking out nine, and the Chargers baseball team won the Northview Tournament for the second consecutive season with a 3-0 victory over Miramonte League rival Los Altos at Maverick Park.
Charter Oak, also getting three hits and an RBI from Joe Reynoso, improved to 9-5. Santiago and Reynoso were tournament co-MVPs.
Los Altos, getting two hits from Justin Zamano, slipped to 11-5. Both teams return to league play next week.
“It was a very good ball game,” Charter Oak coach Tom Quinley said. “It was very well-pitched by both guys (Santiago and Los Altos’ Joe Munoz).
“Travis finally got his complete game that he’s been wanting. I can’t say enough of the kid. He threw a heck of a game.”
Munoz wasn’t bad himself, giving up just three hits, but a little wildness and an error in the second inning keyed Charter Oak’s victory.
Reynoso led off with a single, then Miles Meredith walked and Matt Santiago reached on a fielding error to load the bases.
Munoz then walked Tyler Bailey to force in a run before hitting Aaron Henry with two outs and the bases still loaded to make it 2-0.
“A couple of walks and a couple of pitches here or there and it’s a different story,” Los Altos coach Andrew Formano said. “You have to give credit to (Santiago). He was solid. We saw him (last Thursday), and it was pretty much the same thing.”
Reynoso had an RBI single in the seventh to make it 3-0.
Los Altos had a chance to tie the score in its last at-bat in the seventh. Santiago, who threw 110 pitches, walked Mike Luna and Jayson Dela Pena with one out, but rather than get rattled he followed with back-to-back strikeouts of Cesar Saenz and Donovan Magallon to end it.
“I was getting tired,” Santiago said, “but I fought through it. I just kept my composure and battled.”
steve.ramirez@sgvn.com
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