Fishman Finally Gets Over Semifinal Hump

WOODLAND HILLS —  If anyone on the El Camino Real High baseball team knows about playoff heartache, it’s Shaun Fishman.

The past two seasons, the right-hander pitched brilliantly in the opening rounds of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs, only to be on the mound when the Conquistadores lost to Carson and Kennedy in the semifinals.

Which is why Fishman’s smile was so big after pitching five innings of relief and earning the win in El Camino Real’s 9-6 victory over West Valley League rival Chatsworth in a semifinal game Tuesday at Pierce College.

“We finally learned from the last two years,” Fishman said. “They were tough to deal with, but we finally learned.”

The sixth-seeded Conquistadores (19-10) will try to win their third section title in five years when they play ninth-seeded Banning (21-11) tonight at 7:30 at Dodger Stadium.

El Camino Real had hoped to save Fishman (7-2) for tonight, but the Conquistadores turned to the senior when left-hander Kurt Birkins ran into trouble in the third inning. El Camino Real will start either Birkins (3-0) or sophomore right-hander John Koegel (6-2) against Banning.

After the Chancellors (20-9) took a 2-0 lead on a home run by Tom Morefield in the top of the first inning, El Camino Real had little trouble against starter Ismael Marin (10-1).

A run-scoring double by Woody Cliffords highlighted a three-run first for the Conquistadores, and Marin was replaced by Greg Wold after giving a leadoff home run to Dan Williams and a single by Joel Morales in the second.

“That was good for us,” said El Camino Real catcher Ray Leduc. “[Marin] was the one guy who beat us.”

Wold didn’t fare much better, giving up two runs in the fourth and a three-run home run to Cliffords--giving El Camino Real a 9-3 lead--in the fifth before he was replaced by Morefield.

Cliffords led El Camino Real’s potent offense, which has scored 34 runs in three playoff games.

The junior first baseman finished four for four with four runs batted in and three runs.

“We’ve managed to hit pretty well all season,” Cliffords said. “We were prepared right from the beginning.”

The Conquistadores had plenty of opportunities to score more runs, stranding seven runners in the first three innings. Their leadoff batter reached base in every inning.

Chatsworth pulled within 9-5 in the sixth inning on a two-run double by Nathan Frost, added a run in the seventh and was threatening for more.

But Fishman got Tim Weigand on a pop up to third base and Frank Dipoma on a fly to center field with runners on first and third to end the game and start the dog-pile on the mound.

The victory over the second-seeded Chancellors was only a minor upset for El Camino Real. The Conquistadores won two of the three regular-season meetings and finished one game behind Chatsworth in league play.