Freeway League Baseball : There’s a Three-Way Pileup as Sonora Rallies to Defeat La Habra
David Strieter drove home the winning run with a fifth-inning infield single to give Sonora High School a 4-3 Freeway League victory over La Habra Tuesday at Sonora.
Strieter’s hit lifted Sonora (14-10, 10-4) into a three-way first-place tie with La Habra (14-8, 10-4) and Fullerton (17-7, 10-4) with one game to play. La Habra plays host to Sonora Thursday and Fullerton plays Sunny Hills.
If La Habra or Sonora tie Fullerton for the championship, Fullerton would get the league’s first playoff berth because the Indians defeated both teams twice during league play.
If Fullerton loses, the winner of the La Habra-Sonora game would be the league champion.
Tuesday, Strieter helped keep Sonora in contention. His run-scoring single highlighted a two-run inning in which the Raiders overcame a 3-2 deficit. Mitch Kaylor led off the inning with a single and stole his third base of the game. But he was thrown out at third trying to advance on Troy Karakas’ grounder.
Brent Smith then lined a double to center to move Karakas to third. After Rob Utz struck out Kevin Cook for the inning’s second out, Utz threw a wild pitch that enabled Karakas to score the tying run.
Strieter, who was batting when Karakas scored, then tapped a grounder down the third base line. Utz, who moved quickly off the mound to get the ball, fell. Strieter reach first safely and Smith scored from third.
“It wasn’t a pretty game on either side of the field,” Sonora Coach John Link said. “We’re lucky to get the win despite giving them three unearned runs and making four errors ourselves. We didn’t get much offense today, but we did get the hits in some key moments.”
Darin Martin (6-1), who finished the game by retiring his last seven batters, allowed three hits in a winning performance. Utz (6-3) allowed five hits and struck out eight.
With two outs in the first, La Habra’s Darrin Downs reached second when Kaylor overthrew first base. Downs went to third when Martin balked, and David Stevens hit a single to drive him home.
Sonora struck back in the first.
Kaylor led off with a walk. After Kaylor stole second, Utz walked Karakas. Kaylor and Karakas then went to third and second, respectively, on Utz’s wild pickoff throw to second.
After Utz retired Smith on a grounder to third base, Kyle Schaetzl hit a double to score Kaylor and Karakas as Sonora took a 2-1 lead.
La Habra took advantage of two Karakas errors in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead. Karakas made his first error when he allowed Mike Smith to reach second on a wild throw to start the inning.
Martin walked Kevin Capps, and Mike Morris hit a single to load the bases. Rudy Sandoval then hit a grounder to Kaylor, who flipped to Karakas at second to force Morris. But Karakas’ throw to first bounced past first baseman Schaetzl to allow Mike Smith and Capps to score for La Habra’s one-run lead.
In other Freeway League games:
Fullerton 6, Sunny Hills 2--Rene Arias (7-1) threw a four-hitter, as Fullerton (17-7, 10-4) won at Sunny Hills. Jeff Manship had two hits, including a three-run homer in the third that gave Fullerton a 4-0 lead. Kevin Monson had two hits for Sunny Hills (11-13, 7-7).
Troy 6, Buena Park 3--Steve Trachsel (7-5) threw a 7-hitter with 8 strikeouts for visiting Troy.