Viva Valdes
Tampa shuts down Kennesaw St. for Division II title
Posted: Thursday June 11, 1998 02:23 PM
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Decade of dominance: Tampa celebrates its third Division II championship of the '90s (AP) |
MONTGOMERY, Alabama (CNN/SI) -- Pitcher Mike Valdes was the center
of attention Saturday -- literally -- after throwing a four-hitter to lead
Tampa to a 6-1 victory over Kennesaw State in the Division II championship
game. Valdes' teammates celebrated by swarming all over the
Spartans' left-hander -- all 5-foot-9, 160 pounds of him. "I
ended up at the bottom, sort of on the side," Valdes said of his
positioning in the Tampa dogpile, which started at the mound and ended near
third base. "I kind of got in a tuck position, wrapped my
elbows in front of my face and got my hands behind my head," he said. "That
way I knew I wouldn't get crushed. I've been on the bottom of the pile
before and I get a little smarter each time." Valdes set down
the first 14 batters he faced, including a stretch of four straight
strikeouts in the second and third innings. Valdes (15-1) allowed just one
walk and lowered his ERA to 3.15 as he tied the team record for most
victories in a season. "It was Mike's best performance of the
year," Tampa coach Terry Rupp said. "When the pressure's on, that's when
he's at his best. The performance you saw tonight, that's why he's an
All-American. That's why he's the pitcher of the year." It
marked the seventh straight complete game for the Tampa starting rotation
and gave the Spartans (46-14) their third title of the decade, to go with
championships in 1992-93. Valdes, named the top pitcher in Division
II last week, shut down a team that came in with 90 home runs and not a
single starter batting under .310. Kennesaw State had scored 72 runs in six
postseason games. The Owls (61-5) had already set a Division II
record for victories and appeared to be on the way to being regarded as the
best team to ever play at this level. Then came Valdes, whom
Kennesaw State coach Mike Sansing called the best pitcher the Owls had seen
all season. "I thought he pitched an excellent game," said Sansing.
"We never threatened. He pitched that well." Ronnie Merrill was
the offensive star for Tampa, going 3-for-5 with three RBIs.
Merrill hit a two-run single off reliever Gary Bohannon with the bases
loaded in the fourth for a 4-0 lead, a seemingly insurmountable margin with
the way Valdes was going. The junior southpaw, 28-2 over the
past two seasons, allowed his first hit and only run with two out in the
fifth, when Pat McPhee drove a solo homer over the left-field wall, towards
the cemetery across the street from Paterson Field. That ruined
the perfect game, but not Valdes' confidence. He gave up just two more
singles, a double and a walk -- none of them damaging -- and once again
left the Spartans bullpen with nothing to do but watch. Tampa's
first two runs came in the third, after Kennesaw shortstop Seth LaFera
misplayed a ground ball to load the bases with two out. Angel
Diaz followed by fouling off two 1-2 pitches, then delivering a two-run
single -- just his second hit of the tournament -- to left field.
Matt Smith added a solo homer in the sixth, his 10th of the season, and
Merrill came back with an RBI single later in the inning for a 6-1 lead.
Valdes allowed a walk and a single with two outs in the ninth.
But after a visit to the mound by pitching coach Nelson North, he got
Kennesaw's top hitter, Jason Jones, to fly out to center. Chris
Bowen (12-2) gave way to Bohannan in the fourth inning after giving up four
runs and seven singles for Kennesaw. The Owls went home with the record in
wins but a loss in the one game most of the nation will remember.
"We had a good season," Sansing said. "But unfulfilled might be the best
way to describe how we feel right now."
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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