THE PREPS : Softball : Edison and Carpenter Outlast Valencia and Granger in 11th

Three up. Three down. Strikeout after strikeout. The perfect pitcher’s duel.

But one team eventually had to crack. And fortunately for Terry Carpenter of Edison High School, but unfortunately for Valencia’s Michele Granger, Valencia broke first.

In the bottom of the 11th inning Thursday, Edison scored the game’s only run to beat Valencia, the top-ranked 3-A team, 1-0, in the second round of the Canyon tournament at Peralta Park.

The loss was the first this season for Valencia (6-1) and improved Edison’s record to 8-2.

The game featured two of Orange County’s best pitchers. Edison’s Carpenter struck out 20 batters and gave up four hits. Granger struck out 21 and allowed four hits.

“In a game like this, who makes the first mistake is what it all comes down to,” Edison Coach Missy Ford said.

That mistake, made by Valencia, occurred after the game had moved into international tiebreaker rules. If a game is tied after nine innings, the last batter to complete a turn at the plate in the previous inning automatically begins the new inning as a runner at second base.

Edison’s Krista Eckert, who had struck out looking the inning before, started the bottom of the 11th inning at second and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt.

With one out, teammate Kim Jones bunted, Valencia sophomore first baseman Danette Davis caught the ball along the first-base line, froze for a moment, then threw for the out at first, allowing Eckert to score the winning run.

“A little inexperience hurt us toward the end,” Valencia Coach Debbie Fassel said. “But I’d rather it happened now than in the playoffs.”

In other tournament games:

St. Joseph 1, Western 0--St. Joseph (7-1) won, at Peralta Park, on Bev Stiglbaur’s second-inning home run. Winning pitcher Lisa Fernandez struck out 16 and gave up 3 hits. Western is 6-5.

Westminster 6, Cypress 4--Westminster’s Stephanie Viola got the victory, giving up seven hits. Freshman Wendy Turner hit a solo home run for Cypress in the top of the seventh.

Millikan 10, Loara 2--Millikan pitcher Tracy Smith pitched a two-hitter. Loara had five errors.

In the Garden Grove League:

La Quinta 3, Bolsa Grande 1--La Quinta’s Cheri Williams pitched a one-hitter in the eight-inning game at Bolsa Grande and struck out seven. The score was tied 1-1 after seven innings, but La Quinta (6-3, 1-1) scored two runs in the top of the eighth on three consecutive hits. Chemaine Ramirez had the winning RBI.

Garden Grove 2, Pacifica 0--Pitcher Stephanie Smith gave up only one hit in six innings for Garden Grove (3-5, 2-0), and teammate Tania Antolin was 2 for 2 with a walk and an RBI. Host Pacifica is 0-2 in league play.

Kennedy 9, Santiago 0--Suzie Berdis was 3 for 3 with a triple and four RBIs to lead host Kennedy (7-4, 2-0). Deanna Mays was 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored.

In the Sea View League:

University 12, Newport Harbor 5--Liz Dale hit a bases-loaded triple in the first inning to get host University (4-2, 3-0) off to a fast start. Denise Gandara and Dianna Jungst each had two hits for University, and Jungst had two RBIs. Shareen Patton pitched five innings, allowing just one run, for the victory. Stacy Giem had a solo home run for Newport Harbor (1-6, 0-3).

In nonleague play:

Brea-Olinda 4, Troy 0--Brea-Olinda’s Kelly Cook pitched a one-hitter at Troy, striking out 11 batters, and had a perfect game for 6 innings. Cook also was 1 for 1 with two RBIs for Brea-Olinda (8-2).

Woodcrest Christian 22, St. Margaret’s 11--Cindy Knox had a home run for host Woodcrest Christian (5-2). Sherry McKinnon was 3 for 5 with two runs scored and three RBIs for St. Margaret’s (3-4).