5-A BASEBALL : Mater Dei Needs a Late Break to Make the Best of a Bad Day

It was a perfect ending to a not-so-perfect game for Mater Dei High School.

Jeff March, Lakewood’s center fielder, lost a fly ball in the sun in the eighth inning that allowed Jim Betzsold to score the go-ahead run, and the host Monarchs won, 5-4, Tuesday in the second round of the Southern Section 5-A playoffs.

Cale Carter, Mater Dei’s sophomore catcher, lofted a high fly to center that Marsh misjudged, and Betzsold scored from second with nobody out in the inning. Carter’s run-scoring triple advanced Mater Dei into Friday’s quarterfinals and ended a difficult day for the Monarchs.

The game had barely begun when Mater Dei’s starting pitcher, Jason Dietrich, had to leave with one out in the second inning when he complained of pain in his right elbow. Dietrich missed most of last summer with tendinitis in his elbow, and will likely miss the remainder of the playoffs.

Two innings later, paramedics were called after Mater Dei shortstop Lionel Hastings’ mother collapsed while working in the snack bar. She was admitted to St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, where her condition was listed as stable.

Mater Dei’s shabby defense only compounded a woeful day. The Monarchs committed errors in the sixth and seventh innings that allowed Lakewood to take a 4-2 lead.

Despite the setbacks, Mater Dei (20-8) rallied for two runs in the seventh. Dave Gonzalez hit a run-scoring triple and Rick Ellis beat out an infield grounder to short to drive in a run to tie the score, 4-4.

Sean Sutton (8-4), the fourth pitcher for Mater Dei, struck out two of the three batters he faced in the eighth. Afterward, Mater Dei Coach Bob Ickes was visibly shaken by the day’s events.

“Believe it or not, when we won the title in 1980, we had five games just like this,” he said. “When you go up against this type of competition, you sometimes need a break or two to win.

“We were dodging bullets all afternoon, and then we finally got our offense going. The bottom of the lineup came through in the seventh after Hastings carried us through most of the game.”

Hastings hit solo home runs in the first and sixth innings off Lakewood starter David Reeser and pitched two innings in relief before giving way to Sutton in the eighth.

Lakewood (22-5) hit into three double plays early and failed to get a hit until the sixth inning, when it scored three times to take a 3-1 lead.

“We hit into bad luck today,” said Spud O’Neil, Lakewood’s coach. “Those double plays killed us. But Mater Dei did a great job to come back and tie us, considering the adversity they faced today.”

Mater Dei will travel to Marina (14-12-1) for the quarterfinals Friday. Marina, the surprise team of the 5-A division, advanced with a 3-1 victory over Esperanza.