Max Willingham lifts Marina over Loyola, 6-5

Max Willingham was delirious with joy. The 17-year-old Huntington Beach Marina second baseman delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday to earn himself and his best friends on the Vikings’ baseball team a trip to Dodger Stadium.

It was a two-strike, two-out single against Loyola’s Nathan Hadley to drive in the tying and winning runs in a 6-5 victory over the Cubs in a Southern Section Division 1 semifinal game at Blair Field in Long Beach.

“It was kind of nerve racking, but I tried to stay calm and hit the ball up the middle, and I got it done,” Willingham said. “I just had to persevere.”

Marina (22-8) will face Studio City Harvard-Westlake (27-4) in Friday’s 8 p.m. championship game.

Marina found a way to rally in the face of some ominous developments early on. Loyola (22-11) scored five runs and had six hits in the second inning to open a 5-2 lead.

Joe Viole had a two-run single and Brandon Caruso had a run-scoring single.

Hadley, a junior committed to UCLA, was rolling on the mound with six strikeouts by the fourth inning. But Marina was able to stay within striking distance thanks to stellar relief pitching from Steven Gingery, who threw five scoreless innings and gave up three hits.

The Vikings finally got to Hadley in the sixth inning.

Trailing, 5-3, Austin Sojka, Casey Hayes and Tyler Mildenberg collected singles to start the inning. Hadley picked up a strikeout, but Grant Mayeaux got a bloop single on a 3-and-2 count. After another strikeout, Willingham came through with his clutch single.

In the second game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, Hans Hansen threw 21/3 innings of hitless relief to help Harvard-Westlake defeat Los Alamitos, 3-2.

Joe Corrigan had a two-run single and Brian Ginsberg had a run-scoring single during a three-run first inning.

Harvard-Westlake will have a well-rested ace Jack Flaherty (12-0, 0.68 earned-run average) ready to go in Friday’s final.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com