PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Canyon’s Offense Grinds to a Halt in Loss to Foothill

The hit parade began in the first inning when Canyon’s first four batters singled, but it ended abruptly in the bottom of the seventh when a suicide squeeze bunt backfired on the Comanches in an 8-7 loss to Foothill on Friday in a Century League game in Anaheim.

The Comanches (12-9-1, 6-6) collected 13 hits yet managed to blow a 7-3 lead with some shaky relief pitching. Still, they had an opportunity to win the game when they loaded the bases with one out in the seventh.

But designated hitter Royce Valent’s bunt attempt took a perfect one-hop to Foothill relief pitcher Steve Tolsma, who tossed to catcher Neil Garcia for one out and then Garcia fired to first to complete the double play and end the game.

Afterward, Canyon Coach Hi Lavalle said the plan was to try to get one run and tie the game with Valent at the plate. But when Tolsma fired a high fastball, Valent was lucky to get a bunt down.

“He’s a good bunter, but the pitch wasn’t the easiest to bunt,” Lavalle said.

Coach Gerry Sedoo of Foothill said he would have called the same play had he been in Lavalle’s position.

“If the kid puts the bunt down anywhere else, the play might have worked,” Sedoo said. “I was thinking Hi would probably do that. It was a good play.”

Foothill (9-11, 6-6) scored five runs on five hits in the sixth inning. Garcia and Mike Urbanski had run-scoring singles in the inning that started when Canyon pitcher Matt Wood left the game with a sore left knee and ended with the Knights taking an 8-7 lead.

Wood had three of Canyon’s 13 hits but hurt his knee when he beat out an infield hit in the fifth inning. It was Wood’s third hit of the game, but eventually cost the right-hander a win when he had to leave early.

It was a game after which Lavalle would likely second-guess himself. A potentially big inning was wasted in the first when Lavalle waved catcher Ryan Puskas home from second on a base hit by Greg Tippin, and then changed his mind and signaled Puskas to put on the brakes.

Puskas stumbled between third and home and then was easily thrown out by Foothill’s Garcia. When John Schumacher followed by grounding into a double play, Canyon had only one run in the inning despite getting four hits.

In other Century League games:

El Modena 3, Santa Ana Valley 0--Dan White (3-1) pitched a three-hitter, striking out three and walking three for host El Modena (13-6, 10-2).

Villa Park 3, Orange 2--Jason Brown hit a two-run single in the third inning to give visiting Villa Park (9-13, 6-6) a 3-0 lead.

In the Angelus League:

Mater Dei 7, Bishop Amat 1--Bill Blanton and Taylor Ivey each had a two-run doubles in the sixth inning for host Mater Dei (12-8, 7-3).

In the Olympic League:

Orange Lutheran 13, Ontario Christian 1--Chris Campbell had four hits, including two doubles, scored three runs and had one RBI and Phil Mattheson had two hits and three RBIs for host Orange Lutheran (13-7, 7-4).

In the Pacific Coast League:

Trabuco Hills 4, Estancia 3--Jeff Beckley scored on a fielder’s choice in the bottom of the seventh for Trabuco Hills (9-10, 6-6).

In the Sunset League:

Huntington Beach 1, Santa Ana 0 (8 innings)--Jon Ward pitched 7 2/3 innings for the victory and Sean Lancaster got the save for Huntington Beach (11-11-1, 4-5).

Edison 3, Westminster 1--Bill Jensen (6-4) pitched a five-hitter, struck out seven and walked one intentionally for host Edison (12-11, 4-6).

Ocean View 5, Marina 3--Ocean View (14-7, 8-2) scored five runs in the fifth, on home runs by Kevin Bill, Rich Crowe and Micah Edwardson to win its 11th consecutive game.