Southern Section 5-A Baseball Playoffs : Esperanza Deals Westminster the Final Blow

Only five days ago, the players on Westminster High School’s baseball team were celebrating a league championship after the Lions had staged a three-run comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning to gain a 7-6 victory over Ocean View in their regular-season finale.

The next day, Westminster was ordered by the principals of the Sunset League to forfeit its victory over Ocean View and its share of the league title after it was ruled that Coach Ken Ostrowski had used an illegal player in the game.

Things didn’t get any better for Westminster Monday, when the Lions drew a wild-card game in the Southern Section’s 5-A division against perennial power Esperanza, meaning that the Lions would have to win another game to qualify for the playoffs.

On Tuesday, the Lions’ five days of despair, not to mention their season, came to an abrupt end in a 4-1 loss to Esperanza on a gloomy, overcast day in Anaheim.

Westminster (15-12) managed only two hits off starting pitcher Roger Weems (7-4) and reliever Doug Saunders. Saunders provided all the offense the Aztecs would need in the first inning with a two-run home run, his seventh homer of the season.

After the game, Ostrowski took the blame for the Lions’ forfeit and said his team had problems getting emotionally ready to play Esperanza.

“I have to take the blame,” Ostrowski said. “I cost the kids a championship patch. The kids have lost faith in me. I took the (championship) patch off their backs.

“Their hearts were taken out of this game. We worked four months with one goal in mind . . . to win a league title. We got it and then had it taken away 24 hours later. I know I couldn’t feel good about that.”

Mike Curran, Esperanza coach, worked hard to get his players to feel good about playing a wild-card game after the Aztecs had reached the 4-A division title game the past two years. He said he told his players they could approach the game with a choice of attitudes.

“They could have entered this game with the attitude that, ‘This isn’t fair,’ or they could go in thinking, ‘It’s better to play an extra game instead of practicing today.’ Either way, I wanted them to play with emotion . . . either mad or excited.

“I thought we played well. If we start complaining how miserable life is, it’s going to be miserable. We put ourselves in a bad situation by finishing third in the league.”

Esperanza (17-8) will meet North Torrance in the opening round of the playoffs on Friday at North Torrance (18-8).