Eight is enough

Mike Sciacca

Eight proved to be Marina High baseball team’s lucky number.

In four of five games the Vikings played during the 2003

CIF-Southern Section Division I baseball playoffs, Marina worked

overtime and needed eight innings to emerge victorious.

The Vikings (24-7) capped an improbable five-game run Saturday

night at Edison International Field of Anaheim by shading Valley

View, 1-0, to win the Division I championship.

“That’s four, eight-inning games in a row,” said Marina coach Paul

Renfrow, amazed at the feat just moments after he accepted the

championship plaque in a postgame ceremony.

It was the second section title for Renfrow who is in his 20th

year as coach of the Vikings.

Renfrow hoisted the trophy up toward the Marina contingent

standing above the third base dugout, the gesture igniting an

eruption among the Viking faithful.

“To survive those games, well, these kids deserve this title,” he

said. “Everyone chipped in, in some way.”

Saturday’s hero was Jacob Luque.

In his final game in a Marina uniform, the senior sent a two-out,

3-2 fastball up the middle to score Daric Barton from third for the

title-clinching run.

As Luque headed toward first base, he thrust an arm triumphantly

into the night sky and after safely reached first base and Barton had

cross home plate, he leaped into the arms of first base coach Bob

Marshall as Marina won its first section title since 1990.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness -- I don’t think my feet have

touched the ground yet,” said a clearly still-elated Luque after the

game, as he accepted high-fives from school mates and fans.

“Everything just seemed in slow motion when I hit it. It’s still

sinking in.”

Luque’s unbridled exuberance was a reminder of what prep athletics

should be.

His outburst of emotion also epitomized Marina’s resolve in these

playoffs.

Senior Wes Etheridge’s terrific performance on the mound Saturday

kept Marina in the game against the tie-dyed crew from Moreno Valley.

Valley View, whose busy uniform tops consisted of a red and blue,

tie-dyed swirl pattern, sent its ace -- undefeated Steven Wright

(11-0) -- to the mound.

Wright, who came into the game with a 1.14 ERA, recently had been

drafted by the San Diego Padres.

He had limited Marina to three hits through seven innings and

four, overall.

But Etheridge, whose calm demeanor stood in stark contrast to the

tense war he had just pitched through, matched Wright.

In seven innings, Etheridge, who entered the contest with a 1.60

ERA, gave up four hits, walked three, struck out nine and hit a

batter in 28 batters faced.

“I couldn’t ask for a better setting than to be pitching in a

stadium where the Angels won a World Series not even a year ago,”

Etheridge said. “I wasn’t nervous but I was a bit shaky in the first

two innings, but I settled down. I knew they had a good-hitting team

and a big-time pitcher, so I just wanted to keep the game close for

us.”

J.J. Valicenti came on in relief of Etheridge to start the eighth

inning and after giving up a two-out single, the senior showed his

stamina by coming back from a 3-0 count to strike out the Eagles’

Patrick Murray for the third out.

Marina had opened the playoffs with a 2-1 victory over visiting

Rancho Cucamonga. Luque again was the hero in that game as his solo

home run in the bottom of the sixth provided the winning margin.

Then, the Vikings’ four-game, eight-inning win streak began.

It started with Jason Jordan’s squeeze bunt RBI single in the top

of the eighth inning that lifted Marina to a 1-0 second-round win at

Arcadia. It continued in quarterfinal round play, with Barton’s solo

home run in the bottom of the eighth inning the difference in a 4-3

verdict over Mater Dei.

In a semifinal showdown with Arlington of Riverside, left-handed

hitter Adam Rodriguez delivered a two-run double in the top of the

eighth inning to break a 3-3 tie and give host Marina a 5-3 triumph,

sending the Vikings onward to Saturday’s division final.

Marina, runner-up to the Sunset League title, defeated three

league champions en route to the division title.

“This was, probably, the easiest team I’ve ever coached,” said

Renfrow, who also coached the South to a 6-5 victory over the North

in Monday’s Orange County Baseball All-Star Game. “There were no ups

and downs with this team. They were always consistent and took the

wins and losses in stride. They will always, always remember this

win, though.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at [email protected].