IRVINE -- When they played earlier this season for the Mt. Baldy League title, Chino swept Chino Don Lugo.
When they played Saturday for the Southern Section Division 2 championship, Chino dusted the Conquistadores again, scoring a 10-6 victory at Barber Park.
Chino pounded out 11 hits and took advantage of five errors by Don Lugo. Chino scored two runs in the second, three in the third, four in the fourth, and one in the fifth.
Pitcher Miranda Viramontes, who hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning, allowed three hits and struck out nine, but she also walked six and hit two. The worst of it was in the bottom of the sixth when she walked four and hit two, then gave up Kailey Pazzolo's two-run single to cap a five-run inning. It was the only hit of the inning, but by that time, Viramontes had been staked to a 10-1 lead.
"I lost my focus a little bit," said Viramontes (20-4), a sophomore.
It's the first championship for Chino (25-9), which reached the finals only once before, 1985. It's the third loss in a championship for Don Lugo (23-6), having suffered setbacks in 1978 and 1990.
Viramontes was never in serious danger. She was staked to 5-0 lead before she gave up her first hit, a run-scoring single to Kaley Padilla in the bottom of the third inning. But her wildness did make it interesting.
That's just something Chino had to deal with this season; she walked eight and hit four in a second-round, 3-2 upset of top-seeded Mission Viejo.
"It's a sign of her being young," said Chino coach Mike Smith. "Our defense has been phenomenal."
The offense wasn't so bad, either. Leia Ruiz (RBI), Alyssa Cordova, Celyna Lujan (RBI) and Viramontes (three RBIs) scored two runs apiece.
The victory ended a big day for the city of Chino. Earlier in the day, Chino Hills won the Division 3 title with a victory over South Torrance.
"I would have said this whether we had won or lost," Smith said, "but this is so big for the city of Chino, a once in a lifetime event. I don't know if we'll ever see it again."
