Notre Dame Again Needs Rally to Win

There comes a time when a playoff team ceases to be overwhelmed by postseason play. About that same time, a team becomes comfortable--almost cocky--and sows the seeds of expectation.

Notre Dame High’s time is now, and the place is the Southern Section 4-A Division playoffs. The Knights, the second-seeded team, came from four runs behind to beat Foothill, 9-7, in a second-round game Tuesday at Notre Dame. The victory came four days after the Knights’ last sterling finish, when they scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat San Luis Obispo, 5-4, in a first-round game.

“We play hard baseball for seven innings,” said Notre Dame’s Bobby Hughes, who got the final five outs in relief of winner Carey Wichmann (12-1). “And that’s why we’re going to continue to win. We’re going to be hard to beat because we have a lot of adrenaline going.

“Right stuff happens to us.”

Trailing, 6-2, when starter Steve Colella could not make it out of the third inning, Notre Dame (25-5) struck for two runs in the bottom of the third, three in the fourth and one in each of the fifth and sixth. Wichmann, despite having pitched seven innings in Friday’s win, gave up just one run in 3 1/3 innings.

The Knights’ offense, in the meantime, parlayed 11 hits, seven walks, four errors and a hit batter into nine runs against three Foothill pitchers.

The game-winner scored with two out in the fifth when Foothill ace Kent Donnelly hit a batter and walked three in a row to push Chad Ratliff across.

“It’s a momentum builder. It seems like we’ve got it rolling,” said Notre Dame Coach Bob Mandeville, who then placed his right index finger to his temple. “Up here, we feel we can’t be beat.”

Ratliff scored four runs and had two hits, including a leadoff triple in the third when the Knights scored twice to slice into Foothill’s four-run lead. In its three-run fourth, Notre Dame’s first five batters reached base, including Crosby, Ratliff and Kevin Milligan via base hits. Foothill (19-8) fueled the inning with three errors.

In the fourth, a disputed call at third base resulted in the ejection of Foothill third baseman David Downs and assistant coach Robert Gould. In the sixth, assistant Pat Crawford also was ejected for arguing.

Foothill Coach Jerry Sedoo appeared dismayed over several calls on the basepaths as well as locations of pitches.

“You can’t put the blame on anybody really,” he said. “We didn’t pick up the ball in that one inning--and they took two outs away from us.”

Notre Dame will play Cerritos, a 7-5 winner over Anaheim, on Friday.