Century League : Santa Ana Avoids Upset With Rally : Santa Ana Valley Blows 2-0 Lead, Loses to Rival, 3-2

Santa Ana Valley High School made three errors Friday night that helped Santa Ana score a 3-2 win over the Falcons in a Century League game at Santa Ana Valley.

Santa Ana Valley led, 2-0, going into the fourth inning and was on its way to an upset over the first-place Saints. But in that inning, Santa Ana scored two unearned runs to tie the score.

Winning pitcher John Torres led off the inning with a walk and Shawn Sterling doubled. Sterling’s hit was misplayed in the outfield, allowing Torres to score and Sterling to take third. One out later, Sterling scored on an infield error.

Santa Ana scored the winning run in the sixth. With two outs, Sterling reached first on an infield error and scored on Hector Olivares’ double.

Torres went the distance, allowed six hits, one earned run and struck out one. Jesus Chavez, who took the loss, also pitched a complete game. He allowed only four hits and struck out seven.

Carlos Lopez led the Santa Ana Valley offense with two hits and Chavez had a triple and scored a run.

In other Century League action:

Foothill 16, Villa Park 8--Pat Crawford went 2 for 3 with 5 RBIs to lead the Knights past the Spartans at Foothill. Crawford had a bases-loaded double for three RBIs and a two-run single.

John McTaggart added two hits, including a home run, and two RBIs, Ken Briggs went 3 for 4 with three RBIs, and Jud Dutrisac and Stacy each had two hits for the Knights. David Fox pitched five innings to earn the win.

Villa Park’s big hitter was Scott Swearingen, who went 5 for 5 with two doubles, three singles and two runs scored.

El Modena 11, Orange 1--Ernie Luna went 4 for 4 and hit a three-run, inside-the-park home run to help the Vanguards defeat the Panthers at Orange. Chris Gallegos was the winning pitcher.

Canyon 10, Tustin 5--Chuck Zacours two-run triple sparked a four-run seventh inning for the Comanches as they held on to win. Wayne Elmore (5-1) went 4 innings to get the win. Mike Rishovd drew the Tillers to within two in the fifth innings when he hit a three-run home run. Canyon left fielder Eric DeGraw was 2 for 4 with two RBIs. In the last two weeks, DeGraw has gone 11 for 15.