CENTURY LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Santa Ana’s Ross Loses Regular-Season Finale

Santa Ana High School’s final regular-season game under Coach Bill Ross, dean of county coaches, was a little out of character.

Ross, who has announced his retirement after 32 seasons, watched his team commit four errors and walk six batters in a 3-1 loss to Villa Park in Century League game Friday.

Villa Park (16-8-1, 9-6 in league play) clinched second place in the league despite getting only three hits, but the Spartans capitalized on two errors to score unearned runs in the first and fourth innings.

Santa Ana (12-13, 8-7) managed four hits off winning pitcher Todd Wilson (3-3) and will enter the opening round of the Southern Section 4-A playoffs next week on the road as the league’s No. 3 entry.

Santa Ana used a makeshift lineup, with all-league shortstop Octavio Medina at first base suffering tendinitis in his right shoulder, pitcher Jesse Rosas reduced to a designated hitter role with a sore arm and first baseman Billy Johnson on the bench with a broken thumb.

But despite the loss and the injuries, Ross said he had plenty to be thankful for as he walked off the Santa Ana diamond for what is likely to be the last time as coach. His career record is 477-234.

Santa Ana qualified for postseason play for the 19th time under Ross. Playoff pairings will be announced Monday.

“I had a good time the last 32 years,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to win the big one (the 3-A title in 1982) and we made the playoffs one more time in my last year.

“We were in last place (1-5) at the Easter break, but we turned it around and won seven straight before this week. Our only problem was we couldn’t beat those (Villa Park) guys.”

Villa Park won three straight in the series, getting one-run victories in the previous two meetings. Dave Ochoa, Villa Park’s 16-year coach, said he will miss the rivalry when Santa Ana enters the Sunset League next season.

“If you looked at Bill’s teams 10 or 15 years ago, and then looked at them today, you notice that they seldom changed,” Ochoa said. “They were always consistently, fundamentally sound.

“Whether they were a good team or a bad team, they seldom made mistakes. Bill did a lot for baseball in the county and he’ll be missed.”

Ross, 56, will continue as the school’s athletic director and his next move will be naming his replacement.

“(Assistant) Bob Glassman will take the team this summer, and I’m hoping the district will approve Bob for the job,” Ross said.

In other league games:

Santa Ana Valley 4, El Modena 3--Brian Lee and Armondo Cueva had consecutive squeeze bunts as Santa Ana Valley scored two runs in the sixth to take a 4-3 lead at El Modena. Alex Alvarado pitched 1 1/3 innings for the victory and Scott Crosby pitched the final two innings for his third save. Crosby had two hits and an RBIs and Al Ramos had a RBI double also for Santa Ana Valley.

Foothill 4, Canyon 2--John Scardino (4-7) pitched a four hitter and had nine strikeouts for visiting El Modena (9-15-1, 6-8-1). Brian Palluck had a two-run double in the sixth as Foothill took a 4-0 lead. Canyon scored twice in the sixth on a throwing error. Chris Pena had two hits for Canyon (12-12-1, 10-4-1).