Prep Roundup : First Career Homer Comes at Perfect Time

Designated hitter Mike Walcott hit a fastball over the left-field fence in the 12th inning to give Fountain Valley High School a 3-2 Sunset League victory over Westminster Saturday in Fountain Valley.

Walcott’s first homer in his four years at Fountain Valley cleared the 325-foot sign in left and moved the Barons (16-8 overall, 9-4 in league play) into sole possession of first place with two games remaining.

Westminster (16-7-1, 8-5) was bidding to move into first after losing its opening three games. Reliever Brett Grebe (8-3) had successfully worked his way out of jams in the 10th and 11th innings before Walcott ended the game.

“He (Grebe) came inside, and that’s what I was looking for,” Walcott said. “I knew it was out, but it started hooking and I was just hoping it would stay fair.”

Steve Montgomery (6-3) went the distance for Fountain Valley and allowed only five hits to gain his second victory of the week. Montgomery had a two-hit shutout going into the seventh, but Westminster sent the game into extra innings by scoring twice on three hits.

“This was a championship ballgame between two teams playing for the championship,” said Ken Ostrowski, Westminster coach. “You have to credit Montgomery, he really battled today.”

Fountain Valley managed only two hits through seven innings, but Westminster committed four errors and the Barons scored unearned runs in the third and fourth innings.

“The bottom line is we catch the ball, and we win this game, 2-0,” Ostrowski said. “We had a nice rally in the seventh, but we didn’t pick it up after that.”

In other Sunset League games:

Huntington Beach 3, Ocean View 2--Brian Wright doubled home Joe Kijewski in the top of the sixth inning to give visiting Huntington Beach (10-14, 5-8) the victory. Wright picked up the victory, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing two earned runs on five hits. Josh Faur relieved with one out in the seventh, working out of a jam to earn his fifth save of the season. Ocean View is 7-6 in league play.

Edison 8, Marina 6--Rocky Balch hit a grand slam in the first inning and also doubled to lead host Edison (9-11-2, 6-7). Brian Higgins went the distance for Edison, surviving a late rally by Marina. He gave up two solo home runs in the seventh that brought Marina within two runs, and then had two on with two out before getting Eric Crocker to ground out to first to end the game. Marina drops to 4-9 in league play.

In the Angelus League:

Mater Dei 10, St. Paul 1--Visiting Mater Dei extended a 3-0 lead with a six-run sixth inning to gain its ninth victory in 10 league games. Mater Dei senior right-hander Tony Pena (9-1) allowed three hits and an unearned run. Left fielder Juan Zerate slugged a solo homer, designated hitter Vic Boyd went one for three with two runs batted in and Jason Kirrer went two for three to pace Mater Dei (19-4, 9-1). St. Paul dropped to 6-4 in league play.

In Southern California gymnastics team championships:

Los Alamitos and San Clemente tied for first-place honors with 176.1 points apiece. The two teams had tied for first place in the South Coast League with 5-1 records. They also had identical 8-1 overall records. Dena Mills of San Clemente finished with the top all-around score at 36.7, led by her 9.6 on the floor exercise. Ginger Collins of Los Alamitos had the second best score at 36.0 and Nicole Bell of Capistrano Valley had a 35.9. Marlborough of West Los Angeles finished third with a score of 173.0, and Brea-Olinda (168.35) came in fourth.

In the Thousand Oaks Softball Tournament:

Canyon 5, Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks) 3--Senepha Thomas’ line drive single in the fifth inning drove in two runs and put Canyon ahead, 5-1, as the Comanches won the seventh-place game. Delaynne Large was three for four with three runs scored and Krissy Kyriazis was two for three with an RBI to lead Canyon. Sara Roberts (8-2) earned the victory, allowing one earned run on five hits. Canyon improves to 18-10.

Newbury Park 2, Canyon 0--Lea Lopez pitched a one-hitter, striking out five and walking one in the fifth-place semifinals. Tina French singled to left in the fifth for Canyon’s only hit. Sophie Sobol had a bases-loaded single to drive in both runs in the bottom of the sixth inning for Newbury Park.

In Empire League boys’ tennis:

Esperanza and Cypress advanced to the Southern Section playoffs by finishing first and second in a modified tiebreaker at Loara. The three-way tiebreaker, which also included Los Alamitos, was needed because the teams finished tied in league play at 6-4 behind El Dorado (10-0). Esperanza was led in the tiebreaker by the doubles team of John Hawley and Take Katsube, which defeated Jesper Paulsen and David Hoenig of Los Alamitos to run its overall record to 43-5.