Freeway League Baseball : Pitch That Hits Wins for Fullerton : Indians Rally for 4 in Seventh to Defeat Sunny Hills, 8-7

Freeway League coaches will tell you that no lead is safe on the field Fullerton High School calls home. At Fullerton, routine fly balls can be enough to have hitters break into their home-run trots. The dimensions make this a hitter’s park and a pitcher’s worst nightmare.

So, when Sunny Hills took a 7-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning Friday at Fullerton, Lancer Coach Doug Elliott was seen pacing in front of his team’s dugout like an expectant father in a maternity ward. And when it was over, Elliott was in no mood to pass out cigars.

Fullerton, with the help of a critical Sunny Hills error, two walks and a hit batsman who’s never had so much fun getting hit by a pitch, rallied for four runs, an 8-7 win and a spot in the Southern Section 3-A playoffs. The winning run was scored when T.J. Richards allowed himself to be hit with a Trevor Painton pitch with one out and the bases loaded.

Richards’ effort to get out of the way of an inside curveball from Painton was, well, less than determined. A right-handed hitter, he seemed to lean more into the pitch than away from it.

“I think he flinched a little,” Fullerton Coach Dave Torres said. “He did what he was taught. He did the right thing.”

Afterward, Richards couldn’t figure out why he was the one surrounded by reporters when it was Jeff Bailey, his teammate, who hit a towering home run to left field to cut Sunny Hills’ lead to 7-6.

“Just for getting hit with the ball, I get all this?” Richards said to a gathering of media types.

Well, T.J., about that pitch . . .

“I was praying it would hit me,” he said. “I didn’t even move.”

Perhaps someone should inform Mr. Richards that he has no future as a politician.

It’s at least mildly ironic that a ball that traveled no more than two feet from the plate after rebounding off of Richards’ right arm decided the outcome of game in which four home runs were hit, including two in consecutive at-bats by Rob Tash of Sunny Hills. But a lot had to happen for it to come down to that.

Let’s start with Sunny Hills’ pitching staff, which consisted of a Painton and two infielders who are more accustomed to throwing the ball to first base than trying to throw it past opposing hitters. The Lancers’ No. 1 pitcher, senior David Wackerman, was serving the last of a three-day suspension, the result of missing a meeting of the Breakfast Club--a Saturday detention--last weekend. Senior Brian Olynyk was declared academically ineligible last week. That meant that Painton (2-4) was the only true pitcher available, and he pitched seven innings in the Lancers’ 6-1 win over Fullerton on Wednesday.

Elliott’s staff was paper-thin, and, in the seventh inning, it showed.

Saul Lopez, the third Sunny Hills’ pitcher used, had allowed a fifth-inning home run by Steve Moore but was otherwise effective enough since moving from shortstop to pitcher with two outs and two on in the third inning. But Lopez would return to shortstop before the seventh was over, and would become a key figure in the Fullerton rally.

Lopez walked leadoff hitter John Mele, then gave up Bailey’s homer, which may have sent livestock scurrying around the farm beyond the left-field fence. In three previous at-bats, Bailey had popped out meekly to second, struck out looking and grounded into a double play. His thinking as he stepped in for one more try: “Get your pitch and redeem yourself.”

Bailey’s long-distance ball prompted Elliott to bring Painton, who had started on the mound but lasted all of eight batters, back to the mound. Steve Pearson welcomed him back with a single to the hole between second and third. Pearson then stole second, putting the tying run in scoring position.

Brett Reuter followed by hitting a ground ball to shortstop that got past Lopez for an error, enabling Pearson to score. Moore moved Reuter to second with a sacrifice bunt. With first base open and the No. 9 hitter on deck, Elliott elected to intentionally walk Mick Mineni and take his chances with Mike Cabral.

Painton walked Cabral on four pitches, loading the bases for Richards. If the pitch that hit him hurt, it certainly didn’t show.

It was more painful for the Sunny Hills players, who had a rally of their own in the fifth inning to take a 7-3 lead. Tash hit his second two-run homer in as many innings, and Jerry Hood had a pinch-hit, two-run double off the fence in right-center to lead the outburst.

But a four-run lead became a three-run lead, and that wasn’t enough. Not when Elliott didn’t have enough pitching arms to protect it. There will be no postseason for the Lancers (7-8, 9-14).

“We didn’t have anybody else to go to,” Elliott said. “We did the best possible job we could with what we had. We just fell short.”

In other Freeway League action:

Troy 7, Buena Park 1--Warrior pitcher Mike Greer (6-4) limited the Coyotes to four hits and struck out 12 en route to a complete game win at Troy. Greer also went 3 for 3 with a home run in the fourth inning. Mike Pawlawski hit a three-run home run, and David Shirota hit a solo homer in the third ining.

Sonora 11, La Habra 0--David Bird pitched a one-hitter and struck out 10 at La Habra as the Raiders closed the regular season with their 22nd consecutive win. Jay Zeller sparked Sonora’s five-run fifth inning with a three-run homer to left. Tommy Cruz and Jay Johnson each had two hits and two RBIs for the Raiders (15-0, 24-1). La Habra’s only hit was a fourth-inning single by Rob Bills.