By Fred J. Robledo, Staff Writer
The Northview High School baseball team was close enough to taste its fifth consecutive Valle Vista League title, but left with a nauseating feeling after San Dimas’ Matt Lee hit a dramatic grand slam in the seventh inning shortly after Vikings pitcher Eddie Pedroza was removed after injuring his elbow on a curve that left him grimacing in pain with two outs to go.
Lee’s grand slam to left — his second homer of the season, came with the Saints trailing 2-1 with the bases loaded and two outs, paving the way for a 5-3 victory after the Vikings tacked on a run in the bottom half. (To continue click thread)

“He (Lee) crushed it,” Saints coach Mike Regan said. “He’s been capable of that all year and got a pitch up. It was a no-doubt-about it homer, that’s for sure.”
The Saints also can thank lefty pitcher Derek Penilla, who got a ground out to end the game after the Vikings scored and followed with a pair of hits to put the tying runner on first.
Both Vikings’ runs on Penilla were unearned and he finished his complete game with nine strikeouts.
“I looked at our (assistants) to see if we should get someone warmed up, and they just shook me off,” Regan said. “He (Penilla) deserved to finish that game, he’s been lights out for us all season.”
The defending CIF-Southern Section Division 4 champion Saints (15-6, 10-2) entered the week two games back of Northview (15-5-1, 11-1), but now can play for a share of first when they meet again on Friday at San Dimas, where a Saints victory would give it the series edge over the Vikings and the league’s top entry into the playoffs if they remain tied at the end of the season.
“It’s a tough loss, we’ve been doing that (comebacks) to other teams the last several years, so you feel the humility to be on this side of it,” Vikings coach Darren Murphy said. “You don’t want to take your uniform off, you just want to go back out, but obviously we have to wait until Friday and try to do it all over again.”
Northview led 2-0 in the seventh and Pedroza was cruising. He had retired six straight, but the Saints’ Joel Celaya led off with a single and Bobby Fraijo followed with double to put runners on second and third.
Pedroza hit Andres Orona to load the bases, but got Aaron Torres to fly out to short right, leaving the bases loaded and looking like he might get out of it.
Pedroza had an 0-2 count on Chris Bishop, but after throwing a curve in the dirt and wincing, he threw another curve in the dirt and immediately kneeled down and clutched his left elbow.
Pedroza left and went to a nearby hospital for evaluation, turning it over to junior Xavier Martinez, who worked the count full before striking out Bishop for the second out.
However, after Martinez walked Brandon Yepiz to force in a run to cut the Vikings’ lead to 2-1, Lee followed with his blast to left to clear the bases.
“His first pitch was away, but he got the second up and I just jumped on it,” Lee said. “It feels good, what can you say. You always want a chance to do something like that, but to do it in those circumstances was something else.”
Northview, ranked No. 3 in Division 4, realizes it might have lost Pedroza for the season.
“You hate to lose, but our immediate thoughts are with Eddie,” Murphy said. “He’s got a great future ahead of him, you just hope it’s not something serious.”