ESPN RISE

The fate of this year's talented baseball team at Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, Calif.) seemed in some ways inexplicably tied to that of past Cougars champions.

In mid-March, Capo Valley lost the final of the Newport Elks tournament to Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), coached by Burt Call. He played for Capistrano Valley's 1983 championship club. In mid-April, the Cougars lost the final of the Anaheim Lions tournament to Mission Viejo (Calif.). The Diablos are coached by Chris Ashbach, who played on Capo Valley's 1987 title team.

With only the balance of the regular season to play before this year's CIF-Southern Section postseason, longtime Capistrano Valley coach Bob Zamora addressed his team after the loss to Mission Viejo: "Boys, we're not going to play any more teams coached by former players. We're going to win the next tournament."

Which the Cougars did. Capistrano Valley finished 26-6 and rode the one-two pitching punch of left-handed seniors Tyler Matzek and Kevin Chambers to claim the program's sixth championship in 32 seasons.

Six Cougar seniors will move on to college baseball, unless Matzek bypasses Oregon and signs with the Colorado Rockies after being selected 11th overall in the recent major league draft. Chambers is headed to Oklahoma State, catcher Nolan Clark to UNLV.

Chambers, who alternated with Matzek at first base when he wasn't pitching, said the burden of a team with high expectations was really no burden at all.

"I've been on teams where the expectations were low and we snuck up on people," said Chambers, who had a 2.38 ERA and hit .309. "Last fall, we knew we had the key components: Tyler and me with solid outings, a quality batting order and great defense. With this, there's a lot of satisfaction. We feel like we went out, and our job is done."

Matzek finished the season 13-1 with a 0.97 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 86.2 innings. He also led the Cougars' hitting attack with a .404 batting average and 32 RBIs.

[+] Enlarge

Dustin Snipes for ESPNRISE.com

Tyler Matzek and his Capo Valley teammates finished the season in style.

He was untouchable during the playoffs, not allowing a run in 18.1 innings. Still, the path to and through the Division I final at Angel Stadium two weeks ago was no walkover.

In the playoff opener against Wilson (Huntington Beach), Matzek was cruising through four no-hit innings with a 6-0 lead; he had thrown only 39 pitches. So Zamora "got greedy," he said, and pulled Matzek to save him for later. But the bullpen gave up four runs, and the Cougars breathed easily only after Clark hit a two-run home run late for an 8-4 victory.

That strategy allowed Matzek to pitch in the Cougars' next game, a 4-0 win over Lutheran (Orange, Calif.). He allowed only two hits and struck out seven as Capistrano Valley broke open a 1-0 game with three runs in the seventh. Chambers started the third playoff game against Marina (Huntington Beach, Calif.), an 11-0 win in which he struck out nine and gave up three hits.

The fun was only beginning.

In the semifinals, the Cougars faced a Poly (Riverside) team that they'd swept 5-2 and 4-2 in a late March doubleheader.

"The way they played us in that doubleheader, we knew it was going to be a tight game," Chambers said.

Senior outfielder Steve McMichael led off the game with a walk, stole second and came in on a single by Matzek to score the game's only run. The Poly Bears put a runner on first in the seventh inning against Matzek with one out. But following a strikeout for the second out, catcher Clark fired down to Chambers at first to catch the runner off the base to end the game.

"We didn't think it was going to be 1-0 the way it started," said McMichael, who hit .385 and will play for Orange Coast Community College. "But we played our best in those situations. It brought out the best in our team."

Chambers got the start in the championship game against Edison (Huntington Beach), which advanced with a 2-1 win over Mater Dei. The game was still scoreless in the top of the sixth when he left with the bases loaded and two out. Matzek came in and coaxed a pop-up to Chambers at first; then Matzek homered in the bottom of the sixth to give the Cougars a the lead. He loaded the bases with one out in the seventh on two walks and a hit batter, but struck out the next two Edison hitters to end the game and the season.

The Cougars won the last two games despite being shut out in 10 consecutive innings, scoring once in their first time up and once in their last at-bat.

"Those were great high school baseball games," Zamora said.

Sure, from a spectator's perspective, but wouldn't a coach prefer a little more breathing room?

"Even from the dugout, those were great games," Zamora said.

McMichael said it wasn't too much pressure: "Just go out and have fun."

Jeff Miller is a freelance writer in Texas and can be reached at miller.jeff55@gmail.com.