BASEBALL: SURPRISE FASTBALL AIDS NOTRE DAME.

Byline: Chris Branam Daily News Staff Writer

It was really nothing more than a batting-practice fastball, waist high and coming in nice and easy.

But in this situation, the pitch was unhittable. And unforgettable.

Notre Dame High's Austin Bryant struck out Chatsworth's Chad Redfern looking with the potential winning run at second base to preserve the Knights' 6-5 upset of the Chancellors Thursday afternoon in the Gael Easter Classic.

The fourth-ranked Knights, who had lost their first game of the tournament a few hours earlier at Bonanza High, improved to 6-3-1. The second-ranked Chancellors dropped to 13-2 and suffered their second loss in less than a week after starting the season 9-0.

Bryant, a senior curveball specialist, gave up three consecutive hits to start the seventh. The Knights caught a break, though, when Tom Morefield's one-out drive to the gap in right-center field bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double.

Mike Kunes, who was on first, probably would have scored the tying run. Instead, he ended up at third and Redfern came to the plate. Redfern had hit a two-run double off Bryant in the fifth.

After Bryant threw Redfern curveball after curveball, Notre Dame catcher Matt Cunningham had an idea. He called for a fastball right down the middle.

``As soon as I pitched it,'' Bryant said, ``I knew (Redfern) was done.''

Cunningham said he put himself in Redfern's shoes. Bryant had thrown only a few fastballs in three innings.

``If I was batting, I wouldn't have had a chance,'' Cunningham said. ``Redfern was looking curveball. You know he wasn't expecting a fastball.''

Bryant also helped himself when he picked off pinch-runner Brian Fox at first base for the first out of the inning.

The Knights played back-to-back games. They lost 6-4 to host Bonanza on a misplayed fly ball in right field. Ironically, that's how Notre Dame scored two runs in a five-run first off Kunes.

With one out and three runs already in, Jonathan Brewster lofted a fly ball to right that Redfern never saw. The ball rolled to the wall and capped a frustrating start for the Chancellors, who also committed two errors in the first.

John Puccinelli hit a home run to lead off the fifth to give Notre Dame a 6-0 lead.

Sylmar 7, Highland 4: The 10th-ranked Spartans scored three runs in the sixth and beat the Bulldogs in a tournament game at Silverado High.

Sylmar (11-1) got three hits and two RBI from catcher Mario Pacheco and Fidel Espinoza, usually a third or fourth starter, scattered four hits in six innings to get the win.