Champions! Torreys Blank Parker for Division IV Crown

It was a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait.

La Jolla Country Day earned its first CIF baseball championship behind the shutout pitching of Dustin Hughes and some timely hitting as the Torreys blanked Francis Parker 7-0 Saturday at SDSU's Tony Gwynn Field for the Division IV title.

"Dustin was awesome on the mound," said Torreys coach John Edman. "He's a gamer."

The sophomore right-hander, who allowed five hits, was also 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and a run scored. The No. 2-seeded Torreys (25-7) , whoscored three times in the top of the first and the Lancers (28-5), the division's top seed, never could solve Hughes.

"I'm so proud to be part of the first championship in Country Day history," said Hughes, who started his freshman season as a closer. "We're so psyched. It's a great feeling."

Tommy Edman, son of the coach, opened the scoring with a leadoff home run, and later in the first, Sam Ayala and Frank Brown added run-scoring singles for the quick 3-0 lead.

LJCD would pad its lead with single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Anthony Torres, who had doubled, later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ayala in the third. Ruben Pena singled, stole second and third, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-0 in the fourth.

Nathan Michalski added a pinch-hit RBI single in the fifth, and Torres scored on a wild pitch in the sixth after being hit by a pitch and moving to third on Highes' double.

"I don't know if we really knew we could get this far when the season started," said John Edman. "It's been a team effort all the way. They cared about each other and pulled for each other, every day, every game. These guys just have a great time playing baseball."

And now they also have a CIF championship plaque to show for it.