LOS ANGELES — Threepeat. Trifecta. Whatever you want to call it. They all now apply to the Chancellors.
No. 2-seeded Chatsworth (30-4) rode an eight-run fourth inning to a 9-0 victory over top-seeded Cleveland (26-8) today at Dodger Stadium to earn its third consecutive City Section Division I championship and ninth overall.
Senior left-hander Michael Renner (10-2) gave up two hits, struck out four and walked one, and senior catcher Carlos Escobar Jr. highlighted the eight-run inning with a three-run home run. He finished with three hits, including a double, and was selected the player of the game. It was the fourth home run hit by a Chatsworth player in a City final.
Renner took a no-hitter into the fourth inning and did not give up another hit until surrendering a double in the bottom of the seventh inning. He was selected the most valuable player of the playoffs after earning two of Chatsworth's four victories in the playoffs.
Senior first baseman Sean O’Connell had two singles and drove in two runs, and senior third baseman Ryan Cooperstone and senior right fielder Andy Weissberg each had two hits. Junior designated hitter Derek Neely had a hit and two runs batted in, senior shortstop Kasey Toven had a single and senior outfielder Freddy Ramirez had a pinch-hit run-scoring single.
The Chancellors got rolling in the second inning after Escobar singled, moved to second base on a sacrifice by Cooperstone and scored on O'Connell's single.
Escobar led off the fourth inning with a ground-rule double, Cooperstone followed with a single and O'Connell drove Escobar home with a single. Ramirez followed with a single to right field to drive in a run. Neely later delivered a two-run single and scored on Escobar's drive to left field.
It was a City Section-record eighth title for Coach Tom Meusborn, in his 20th season with the Chancellors, and perhaps his most memorable because he got to coach his son Shawn in the senior second baseman’s final high school game. Meusborn’s record of 521-100-3 is the best all-time in the state for a coach with at least 100 victories. Meusborn also upped his record in the playoffs to 58-12.
The Chancellors defeated the Cavaliers for the second time in a City final. Chatsworth won, 2-1, in 2007. The three championships in a row tie the Chancellors with Fremont, which won in 1946-48, and the seventh consecutive appearance in a City final is a record. Chatsworth has played in the title game nine times since 1999.
