West’s Chances Brighten After Stirring Rally

UNION CITY, Calif. — It was a shade past 6 p.m. when the grandstands at the Logan High baseball field cast a long shadow over the batter’s box. Right-hander Jason Tamashiro of Kailua, Hawaii, on the other hand, was shining brightly on the sunlit pitcher’s mound.

Tamashiro had allowed one hit through the first six innings against Woodland Hills West in a second-round game of the American Legion Southwest regional tournament Thursday.

Working with a two-run lead, Tamashiro took the hill in the bottom of the seventh--and in a matter of nine pitches, West, the defending World Series champion, had turned out the lights.

West scored four runs in the seventh and right-hander Pat Treend tossed a five-hitter to defeat Hawaii, 4-2, and advance to tonight’s 7:30 game against Union City, Calif.

Union City, which is 2-0 in the tournament, was defeated by West, 12-3, in the state tournament in Yountville two weeks ago.

West (37-6) won for the 31st time in 32 games despite a season-low three hits, a decidedly different tack for a team that had scored 54 runs in its previous five playoff games. Whatever the methodology, the roll continued.

“Ain’t no stopping us now,” West Coach Don Hornback said. “If we can win a game like this, we’re on our way. Man, we’ve won them every kind of way there is now.”

With West trailing, 2-0, in the seventh, Del Marine started the rally with what appeared to be a routine looper to right field that Hawaii’s Chris Arscott dropped for a two-base error. It seemed to send a jolt of electricity through West, which had managed just a looping single by Greg Lederman in the second.

“It all started with a fly to right,” catcher Bobby Kim said. “It seems like whenever they make a mistake, we take care of it.”

West cleanup hitter Jason Cohen, who drove in three runs Wednesday, took care of business in a hurry. He drilled the first pitch he saw into left for a run-scoring double. As Cohen slid into second, he drew a throw from shortstop and cutoff man Aaron Izu, but the ball scooted down the line into foul territory in right.

Cohen jumped up, bolted to third and scored easily to tie the score, although he admitted that running the last 90 feet was like trudging through sand.

“I got to third OK, but from there on it was pure inspiration, heart and fear. My legs were telling me, ‘Hey, sit down and relax.’ ”

Tamashiro soon would be sitting, too. His lead had turned into a 2-2 tie in a matter of five pitches. Four pitches later, after Kim slammed his seventh home run of the season, Tamashiro was dugout-bound.

Reliever Lee DeSoto walked Lederman, Gregg Sheren and Chris Castillo to load the bases and Paul Geller drove in pinch-runner Sean Boldt from third on a ground out to cap the rally.

While Hawaii (23-6) was shutting down West’s high-scoring lineup, Treend (8-3) did likewise against Hawaii. After Stewart Kramer hit a solo home run in the seventh to make it 2-0, Treend retired the side in order in the eighth. After a hit and an error put Hawaii runners at first and third with two out in the ninth, Treend struck out Corey Ishigo to end the game.

“We were fortunate to have the right pitcher on the mound in the right ballgame,” Hornback said of Treend, who struck out seven and walked three.

“That was probably the best I’ve seen Pat pitch since the playoffs last (Legion) season, and that includes high school. He really gutted it out.”