Teron Pitches Santa Clara Past Fillmore

Santa Clara High’s Garth Teron was contrite late Tuesday afternoon. He looked down sheepishly, rubbing a hand over a blond crew-cut .

It seems that last week some newspapers quoted Teron as saying that he “owns” Fillmore High’s baseball team and Anthony Chessani, its standout pitcher and third-place hitter.

“I’ll give (Chessani) credit,” Teron said. “I said some words that weren’t true.”

Teron let his actions do the talking Tuesday at Santa Clara. The senior left-hander outpitched Chessani with a masterful performance, striking out 15 batters and allowing just two scratch infield singles as Santa Clara beat first-place Fillmore, 2-0, to move closer to its first Frontier League title since 1988.

If Santa Clara (12-5 overall, 9-2 in league play) beats Santa Paula on Friday, the Saints win the title. If Santa Paula wins, Fillmore (15-3-1, 9-2-1), whose league season is over, would take the championship.

Santa Clara joined the title race with a 3-0 win over Fillmore on April 29, a game in which Teron struck out 12. At one point Tuesday, Teron (6-1) set down 11 batters in a row, striking out the side in the second, third and fourth innings.

Pokey Sanchez’s two dribblers to third base--both hits--accounted for the Fillmore offense. If this wasn’t ownership, then Teron was at least putting in a serious bid for a takeover.

“He had us tied up in knots,” said Fillmore Coach Tom Ecklund, whose teams won 12 Tri-Valley League titles in the past 15 years before joining the Frontier. “Garth baffled us. He was throwing a great curve, then spotting his fastball.”

Lost in Teron’s domination was a game effort by Chessani (7-1). The burly right-hander matched Teron until the bottom of the sixth when he was undone by errant fielding.

With runners at first and second and one out, Chessani coaxed a textbook double-play ground ball off the bat of Ron Tegland. Fillmore shortstop Art Sosa flipped to second baseman Sanchez for the first out, but Sanchez’s relay was a shade wide, glancing off the glove of 6-foot-7 first baseman Mike Richardson and caroming out of play.

Armando Maciel scored on the play, and Santa Clara made it 2-0 when Mark Hardy singled in Tegland from second.

“Mike said he lost it in the sun,” Ecklund said. “But that wasn’t the key. The key was Teron.”

Sure enough, after the first inning, no Fillmore runner made it past second base.

“I just threw them curves all game,” Teron said. “And then once they were on their toes, I’d give them the fastball and the off-speed. Just keep ‘em guessing.”

And, on top of being remorseful, Teron owned up to another truth. Admitted the pitcher: “I was on today.”