Lions Tournament : AA Final a Good Game With an Unsatisfying Ending

The Lions tournament AA final between Madison and Torrey Pines high schools had almost everything you could ask for: a dramatic four-run seventh-inning rally capped by a home run; gutty performances by pitchers pitching on little rest, and failed extra-inning scoring opportunities.

All that was missing was a winner.

After 3 hours 20 minutes and 9 innings at Hilltop High, the umpires called the game because of darkness with the score tied at 6. It was decided that the game would be completed May 14.

“I’d like to play right now,” said Torrey Pines’ John Lynch, who was warming up for his sixth inning of relief after pitching 3 innings earlier Wednesday in an 8-6 semifinal victory over Hoover. “I was prepared to pitch as long as long as it took.”

Said Madison Coach Bob Roeder: “To play as well as we did to get (to the finals), it’s one heck of a disappointment to come out of here without a decision.”

No one was more disappointed than Madison pitcher Andy Williams. He had pitched seven innings on Monday against Valhalla but still pitched nine Wednesday.

“I was ready to go,” Williams said. “I wasn’t tired. It doesn’t look that dark to me.”

Williams had pitched well, for the most part. He struck out 12 and allowed only two earned runs. But he made one key mistake in the seventh.

Torrey Pines’ Ross Dixon reached base on a bunt single and scored on an error by second baseman Darrin Legenza. That made the score 6-3 with two on and one out. Williams got a fastball out over the plate, and Lynch hit it about 400 feet and over the center-field fence to tie the game.

“I was pitching pretty well,” said Williams, who also hit his second grand slam of the tournament in a 10-3 semifinal victory over El Capitan Wednesday morning. “I just threw one bad pitch up in the strike zone. He hit it a long way.”

Lynch was a hero on the mound as well. Torrey Pines needed that; there weren’t many pitchers left.

Madison scored five runs in the first two innings off freshmen Shaw Henderson and Brian Hochleutner, both of whom had been called up from the junior varsity and had not pitched a varsity game. Torrey Pines’ ace, Aaron Mirandon, pitched 1 innings but couldn’t go much further because he pitched seven innings on Tuesday.

That left Lynch, who hadn’t pitched in more than two weeks because of a sore shoulder. He gave up only one run and four hits and stranded runners in scoring position in the eighth and the ninth.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to pitch this morning,” Lynch said. “But the coach (Frank Chambliss) asked me to go, and I didn’t have any soreness. It felt good.”