Century League Baseball : Crawford Sticks Around to Help Foothill Reach the Playoffs

Pat Crawford, Foothill High School’s designated hitter, is such a better player when he just lets his bat do the talking.

You see, Crawford has had a tendency this year to talk himself right out of baseball games. On Tuesday, he argued a third-strike call in the first inning of the Knights’ game against Tustin and was promptly benched by Foothill Coach Gerry Sedoo.

On April 11, in the Knights’ first game against Tustin, Crawford, on his way to the outfield between innings, had a few heated words with a Tiller player. Sedoo didn’t think that was necessary and immediately sent a replacement to left field.

Crawford then suffered the embarrassment of having to jog all the way back to the dugout to come out of the game.

But on Friday, when Foothill met Santa Ana with a Southern Section 3-A playoff berth on the line, Crawford decided to talk softly and carry a big stick.

Crawford, on his best behavior, had two hits, including a booming, two-run double in the second inning, to help the Knights defeat the Saints, 10-5, in a Century League game at Santa Ana High.

The win clinched a playoff spot for the Knights (10-4, 15-8), who finished in a second-place tie with Canyon. Foothill and Canyon split their season series (1-1), but Canyon will advance to the tournament as the league’s No. 2 team by virtue of its one win over first-place Tustin this year. The Knights, on the other hand, lost twice to the Tillers.

Crawford had a single and scored during Foothill’s five-run first inning. His two-run double over the head of Santa Ana center fielder John Hefler gave the Knights a 7-0 lead in the second.

Even his outs were hit hard. Crawford sent Hefler to the fence to catch a fly ball in the fourth inning and, after walking in the sixth, sent a high fly ball to center field that was caught in the seventh.

Crawford’s demeanor, however, was soft.

“I had a little discussion with him this week, and we’ve got things ironed out,” Sedoo said. “He realizes now that he was only hurting himself and the team. But he’s like a lot of kids who get argumentative when things are not going right.”

Most everything went right for the Knights on Friday. They had 10 hits and took advantage of three Santa Ana errors to put the game out of reach early.

Foothill scored two runs on errors in the first inning, which also included John McTaggart’s two-run single and Frank Governale’s RBI triple. A two-out error in the second allowed the Knights to score two more runs on Crawford’s single to left.

Foothill added two runs in the sixth, one on David Fox’s triple, and another in the seventh on Marc Simon’s single.

Knight right-hander Mike Pope, who pitched a complete-game, five-hitter in Foothill’s 4-2 win over Canyon last Friday, again went the distance to earn the win. He allowed 10 hits but only suffered one bad inning--the sixth.

Santa Ana scored four runs, two on Hector Valencia’s single, to make it 9-5, but Pope got Hector Olivares to ground into a double play to help end the threat.

Armando Olivares had three hits and Hefler and Valencia each had two hits for the Saints, who finished 8-6 in league and 16-8 overall. Governale had two hits for the Knights.

In other Century League action:

Canyon 7, Orange 0--Senior left-hander Mike Townley threw a complete-game, seven-hitter with seven strikeouts, and had four hits and three RBIs to lead the Comanches past the Panthers at Canyon High. Canyon (10-4, 15-8) finished in a second-place tie with Foothill but will advance to the 3-A playoffs as the league’s No. 2 team.

Townley, who improved his pitching record to 6-5, had two singles, a double and a two-run triple in the third inning for the Comanches, who scored three runs in the third, two in the fifth and two in the sixth.

Ralph Garcia added two hits, an RBI and two runs, and Dave Price, in his first at-bat of the season, had an RBI double in the fifth inning.

Villa Park 14, Santa Ana Valley 4--Rich Simmons, who pitched 5 innings to gain the victory, had two hits, including a two-run homer in the fourth inning, to help the Spartans defeat the Falcons at Villa Park High.

Chris Bell added three hits and two RBIs, Kevin Bates had two hits and two RBIs, and Mark Johnson had two hits for the Spartans, who closed the season at 6-8 in league, 9-19 overall. Santa Ana Valley finished at 2-12 and 6-19.