Calabasas Baseball Team Stumbles Against Chatsworth

The Calabasas baseball team had a short-lived lead in its Valley Invitational Baseball League game against City Section powerhouse Chatsworth on Tuesday.

Chatsworth scored four runs in the fifth inning and went on to win 6-2, handing Calabasas its second loss of the summer season.

Calabasas scored a run in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. Ben Vizvary knocked in Trevor Weiss with a sacrifice fly.

Vizvary said Chatsworth starter Christian Lopez was throwing a lot of first-pitch fastballs for strikes.

"I took the first pitch I saw for a strike and hit it," Vizvary said. "He was hitting his spots. It was a pitching duel today."

Calabasas starter Ian Sales held Chatsworth scoreless for four innings. But he ran into trouble in the fifth, hitting a batter and giving up two unearned runs.

Chatsworth went up 4-1 in the fifth inning and tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning.

Ryan Escobar singled with one out in the fifth to start the Chatsworth rally. Lopez reached on an error to put runners on first and second. Steven Karkenny was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Aaron Brown knocked in Escobar with a single. Ricky Obando followed with a two-run double that knocked Sales out of the game.

Brady Conlan added a sacrifice fly before Max Shifman, who came in to relieve Sales, got Chris Carlin to ground out to end the inning.

Calabasas (2-2) cut the Chatsworth lead to two by scoring a run in the bottom of the fifth. Anthony DiCosimo knocked in Alex Rubanowitz with a two-out single.

DiCosimo said Lopez was mixing up his off-speed pitches well with his fastball. He sneaked a fastball for a strike on the outside corner and tried to throw the same pitch again later in the count. But DiCosimo said he was ready for it the second time.

"At that point, I was just trying to put it in play," DiCosimo said.

Chatsworth (4-0) rallied for two runs in the top of the sixth inning. Lopez drove in a run with a single and Karkenny added an RBI groundout. Calabasas ended the rally with a double play. Escobar tried to score on a flyout to right field, but he was thrown out at the plate.

DiCosimo was 1-for-3 with an RBI for Calabasas. Vizvary went 1-for-1, drove in a run and walked once. Adam Luther was 2-for-2 with a walk.

Sales pitched into the fifth inning, striking out one and walking one.

Conlan was 2-for-3 with a double and drove in a run for Chatsworth. Lopez went 5 2/3 innings and struck out six. He also went 2-for-3, drove in a run and scored a run.

"They had some good hits in the beginning," DiCosimo said. "They did a real good job of manufacturing runs."

The next game for Calabasas is at home against Westlake on Thursday.