Garner Pitches Mira Costa Past Kishita and Rolling Hills, 3-2

With a little help from their friends, Kirt Kishita and Jason Garner might still be out on the mound at Mira Costa High today.

Garner and Kishita--two of the South Bay’s top pitchers--were locked in a duel of shutouts for four innings Wednesday until their respective defenses betrayed them.

It was Mira Costa’s Garner who was victorious, however. Garner’s teammates scored one more unearned run than their rivals, and Mira Costa handed visiting Rolling Hills its first Ocean League defeat of the year, 3-2.

“That was a great pitching duel,” Rolling Hills Coach Garry Poe said. “It’s too bad they scored three runs on our errors and we scored two runs on their errors. An errorless ball game would be a real test of these two teams.”

Mira Costa (9-10 overall, 5-2 in the Ocean League) moved within a game in the standings behind Rolling Hills in the loss column. The two teams meet again Friday at Rolling Hills at 3 p.m.

“I like where we’re sitting now,” Mira Costa Coach Jim Beaumont said. “It’s nice to give Rolling Hills a 1 in the loss column, especially against Kishita. We’d be in a real hole if we’d have lost today.”

Garner (4-3) pitched out of trouble in the early innings but couldn’t avoid giving up a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Rolling Hills (11-5-1, 7-1-1) was aided by a pair of errors by Mira Costa shortstop Scott Combs and a Garner wild pitch.

Kishita, a right-hander who recently signed with UC Irvine, wasn’t as sharp as usual, but he had good enough stuff to make a game of it.

Through four, Kishita had allowed only one hit. But with two out in the fifth, it all fell apart on him.

Despite the tough loss, Kishita (7-2) still has yet to allow an earned run in Ocean League play--an awesome streak that spans 42 innings and four shutouts.

The first time the two teams played this season, Kishita was the victor over Garner, with Rolling Hills scoring the only run on a Mira Costa error.