Silva’s All-Around Play Earns Him a Gold Star

South Gate High’s Andrew Silva turned and ran toward the center field wall at Dodger Stadium, desperate to kill a rally and keep the dream alive for a City Section baseball title for the Rams.

Narbonne High already had two runs in and a runner on when Marcos Ramirez sent a fly ball about 380 feet to deep center field in the second inning of the 3-A Division championship game on Thursday.

“We had a big inning going,” Narbonne Coach Ruben Villar said.

But Silva made a sliding over-the-shoulder catch like a guy trying to keep an antique vase from smashing on the ground.

It was Silva’s overall performance in the game that turned out to be priceless.

He tripled in the top of the seventh to highlight a six-run inning for South Gate. And despite a problem with control, Silva pitched two scoreless innings in relief to earn the victory, 9-3, the second City 3-A title for the Rams in three seasons.

Despite the seemingly lopsided score, the Rams managed to make it interesting.

In the fifth, South Gate misplayed three ground balls, two of them scored as errors.

In the seventh, with one out and a comfortable six-run lead, Silva threw 14 pitches and 13 were balls. He walked three consecutive batters.

But Rams catcher Danny Mojarro made a throw to first base to pick off one runner for the second out, and Silva struck out Arturo Garcia to end the game.