DIVISION 1A CHAMPIONSHIP : Santa Fe Christian Knows Success

SAN DIEGO — In these days of one-sport athletes and position specialists, Santa Fe Christian offers Andrew DeGrassie, Mark Loeffler, Deric Shires and Ryan Flanders.

Football, basketball, baseball--those four Eagles played three sports this year. They won the eight-man football championship by one point this past season and lost the Division V basketball final by two.

By comparison, Santa Fe Christian’s 4-0 victory over Borrego Springs in Wednesday’s 1-A baseball final at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium was a rout. It was the Eagles’ first baseball title.

“It was awesome,” Flanders said. “You can’t ask for anything more.”

As for tiny Borrego Springs (125 students), this was their fourth loss in the finals in as many attempts.

Both teams had won nine in a row, but fourth-seeded SFC had lost seven of its first 13 games. Third-seeded Borrego Springs finished 14-6.

DeGrassie, a senior right-hander, threw a three-hitter, did not a walk batter and faced only five batters over the minimum 21 to run his record to 9-2 and finish with an earned run average of less than 1.50.

He also drove in the first two runs on a two-out lined single up the middle in the bottom of the first inning after senior shortstop Loeffler and junior catcher A.J. Applefield had singled.

Flanders, a third baseman, wasn’t bad, either. He drove in a run in the second with a single and had the game’s only extra-base hit--a double in the fourth--and stolen base.

SFC completed the scoring in the third when Applefield scored from first on Shires’ lofted single to left-center field.

Applefield had two hits in three at-bats to finish with a .544 batting average. The Eagles had 11 hits in all.

“We were hitting it, too,” Borrego Springs Coach Steve Dunn said. “It just didn’t fall for us. That was frustrating. I would have liked to play a seven-game series with them. Things might have evened out.”

The frustration stemmed from DeGrassie, who has a knack for making teams believe they can hit him, but also a knack for proving they can’t.

Indicative of that was DeGrassie’s strikeout total. He had only two in the first 6 1/3 innings before getting two more to end the game. Aside from their three hits, the Rams hit only two other balls out of the infield.

“I will take ground balls over fly balls and strikeouts all day,” said DeGrassie, who fielded three of those grounders. “That way you don’t have to work as hard.”

Said Eagle Coach Len Marinello: “He’s been throwing well all season. I think his confidence has been building all year.”