LOS ANGELES — The El Camino Real baseball players were on the biggest stage of their lives when they took the field at Dodger Stadium for the L.A. City Section Open Division championship game.
“Every minute felt like it was going by in a second,” El Camino Real pitcher Devin Gonor said. “And then I got on to the mound and all of a sudden, it was just back to the normal game of baseball.”
Gonor remained rock solid and threw a complete game while giving up just three hits to boost the Royals to a 2-0 win over Venice for their first title since 2016 and 10th overall.
“My siblings went to this school,” Gonor said. “I knew from when I was born, I was going to this school. There was never a doubt in my mind, and to be with this program for four years and finally see us win something, it’s amazing.”
El Camino Real, the West Valley League champions, got on the board in the bottom of the third inning using smart baserunning and a little bit of risk-taking.
Luigi Tanner started the inning by reaching base on an error by Venice’s second baseman, then stole second base. Leadoff hitter Gavin Farley was walked and two-spot hitter Jackson Sellz hit a sacrifice bunt to move his teammates over.
Adan Viner was walked, then he and Farley both gained a base on a passed ball. Luke Howe launched a sacrifice fly to center field to score Tanner.
“We told these guys, we have to play our style,” El Camino Real coach Josh Lienhard said. “It’s a big yard. Fly balls are not going to go anywhere. Don’t worry about their style, control us, execute, execute, execute.”
Pinch-hitter RJ De La Rosa added an insurance run in the seventh inning with an RBI triple, shortly after Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell was in the Venice crowd signing autographs.
Gonor got out of an early jam in the top of the first inning, striking out Jesse Dominguez to get out of the inning with two runners left on base.
Only one Royal had a base hit in the bottom of the first inning, but Vince Venia provided a pop of energy in the second frame by reaching first base on an error and sprinting and sliding into second base to beat a throw.
Lienhard also coached El Camino Real when it last won championships in 2015 and 2016 in Division I, which was the highest division in the City Section at the time.
Eric Yang, who won MVP honors in both seasons, visited the team at the beginning of the season to offer encouragement and words of advice.
“They talked about just hitting with each other,” Lienhard said. “And so these guys took it upon themselves to get with each other, especially after spring break.
“They’ve earned it. We talked about it all year since fall. They’re very resilient. We said, you have the potential to go run with this and go to it, and they did it.”
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