Empire League : Katella Gets Past Esperanza

Bill Fitzgerald drove in two runs on two hits Friday to lead Katella High School to an 8-4 victory over Esperanza at Boysen Park in Anaheim.

The Empire League victory was the first for Katella over Esperanza in four seasons.

Esperanza (5-3-2, 0-2-1) took a 1-0 lead on Dan Redington’s first-inning sacrifice fly, but Katella (7-4, 3-0) scored three runs on four hits in the bottom of the inning.

Esperanza starter Greg Hauser (1-2), who allowed singles to Jaime Vitzelio and Dennis Briggs to start the Katella first, wild pitched Vitzelio home after he advanced to third on Briggs’ hit. Jeremy Sherman, who was hitting when Hauser threw his wild pitch, then drew a walk to set up Fitzgerald’s first run-scoring hit, a single to drive in Briggs.

Sherman, who went to third on Fitzgerald’s hit, scored the Knights’ third run on a pass ball charged to catcher Keith McDonald.

After Esperanza narrowed the lead to 3-2 on Jason Perez’s sacrifice fly, the Knights scored one run in the third on Fitzgerald’s RBI double and another in the fourth on Ken Peters’ sacrifice fly.

Rob Aldrich, who led Esperanza with two hits, singled with one out in the fifth. One out later, he scored the Aztecs’ third run when third baseman Briggs threw high to first after fielding Jason Bond’s ground ball.

After Matt Wilson cut Katella’s lead to 5-4 with his RBI single in the sixth, the Knights took advantage of three walks and first baseman Wilson’s fielding error to score three runs in the bottom of the inning to extend their lead.

Winning pitcher Dan Kiker (2-1) allowed eight hits in 5 2/3 innings before he was relieved by Chris Drummond, who struck out two and gave up two hits before center fielder Sherman’s made a diving catch of pinch-hitter Ben Trujillo’s line drive for the final out.

“We made a lot of mistakes and you just can’t afford to do that against good teams like Katella,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said

In other Empire League games:

Cypress 4, El Dorado 2--Robert Prince had a two-run single with two outs in the fourth to give the Centurions (3-4-3, 1-1-1) a 3-2 lead. Steve Sheets had an RBI single in the fifth to give Cypress a 4-2 lead. Matt Luke hit a two-run homer in the first for El Dorado (10-4, 2-1), but Mike MacAlello hit a solo homer in the second for Cypress.