Westlake Awakens in Time to Avoid 1st-Round Upset

Westlake High’s stingy pitching, consistent defense, and pesky hitting were but a memory to the Warriors for the better part of their Southern Section 5-A Division playoff game against Mira Costa on Friday.

But, as they seemingly have done all year when their backs are pinned against a dugout, the Warriors (26-1) came up with the key ingredients in time to hand Mira Costa (13-14) a 6-5 loss in a first-round game. Westlake will meet Torrance, a 10-7 winner over Edison, on Tuesday at a site to be determined by a coin flip today.

Westlake, which looked like anything but the top-seeded team, trailed, 4-1, after three innings. Its defense--which committed seven errors--offered little support for ace Mike Eby and the Warrior offense struggled with Jason Garner’s slow curve.

“It was sloppy. Very, very sloppy,” Coach Rich Herrera said. “We played worse than we’ve played all season.”

Herrera, who nervously stalked the third-base foul line and vehemently argued with umpires, was spared his sanity by a frenzied Westlake comeback.

Westlake tied the score, 4-4, in the fifth on Greg Hess’ solo home run, his seventh. Todd Preston, who entered the game with a .190 batting average, drove in the go-ahead run with a ground-rule double in the sixth. The final run, which proved to be the difference, scored on a pickoff attempt.

“We were fortunate to keep coming back,” Herrera said. “When you’re down, 4-1, a lot of things run through your mind.”

Herrera’s thoughts were churning from the start, when Mira Costa--the No. 3 team from the Ocean League--scored three times in the first two innings. Preston committed errors on the game’s first two ground balls, which led to two unearned runs in the first.

Mira Costa added a run in the second on Cody Beason’s second homer of the season. Westlake countered with a run in the second on Rick Wolters’ run-scoring double, and Mira Costa extended its lead to 4-1 on Bobby Dominguez’s RBI grounder in the fourth.

Eby (10-0), a senior left-hander who entered the game with a 1.37 earned-run average, allowed only five hits but walked six.

“Mike didn’t pitch well at all, and he knows that,” Herrera said.

Westlake cut its deficit to 4-3 with two runs in the fourth on Wolters’ run-scoring double and an error that allowed Wolters to score. Wolters, a senior second baseman, also saved a run in the fourth when he backhanded a ground ball headed for center field and recorded a force out at second.

After Hess led off the fifth with his game-tying homer, Westlake--which blew a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the inning--scored twice in the sixth. Mike Lieberthal doubled, Hess was intentionally walked, and Preston followed with a ground-rule double off the hill in right field. On Dave Monheim’s groundout, Mira Costa first baseman Shawn Wright attempted to throw Preston out as he rounded second and Hess scored from third.

Eby pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. In the seventh, a walk and an error put the tying runs on with none out. Beason hit a double-play grounder to Falsken at short, but Wolters’ relay bounced past Hess at first and allowed Dominguez to score. Hess retrieved the ball and nabbed Beason in a rundown for the second out, and Eby struck out Jeff Diussa to end the game.