Gingrich Lights Fire Under Edison Team

With one swing, Josh Gingrich ended a lot of futility--for him and for the Edison High School baseball team.

Gingrich came up with the clutch hit Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 5-A playoffs. His two-run triple in the sixth woke up Edison, which scored six runs in the final two innings for an 8-5 victory over Long Beach Jordan at Blair Field.

The Chargers--the third-place finisher in the Sunset League and a team that needed to win a tiebreaker to get into the playoffs--will play Diamond Bar on Tuesday in the semifinals.

After struggling through the last five games without a hit, Gingrich drove a 1-0 pitch to the base of the center-field fence to put the Chargers ahead for good, 4-2.

Gingrich then scored on a squeeze bunt to make it a three-run lead. He later doubled home a run in the seventh to finish with two hits and three runs batted in.

“I had a slump earlier this year and really got down on myself,” said Gingrich, a senior first baseman. “I tried to remain up this time and kept thinking positive. I broke through at the right time.”

Gingrich’s batting average had dropped more than 30 points in the past two weeks. To add to the frustration, he was hitting the ball well.

“Josh told me this week that he felt bad because he hadn’t been contributing,” Edison Coach Paul Harrell said. “I told him things would turn around, and they did. He picked a good time to break out of it. Josh got us going.”

The Chargers (16-12) had plenty of opportunities early but could not capitalize. They stranded 10 runners through five innings, leaving the bases loaded in the first and fifth.

Edison did manage to scrape together two runs with good baserunning and a few breaks. The Chargers scored a run in the first on a walk, a stolen base, a sacrifice and a single. In the fifth, they put runners on first and third on a ground-ball single, a wild pitch and an infield single. Mike Bellovich’s RBI single to right was the only hard-hit ball in the inning.

“We got a few breaks today for a change,” Gingrich said.

The two runs might have been enough for Shawn Albee. But he could pitch only 4 2/3 innings because of section rules that limit a pitcher to 30 outs per week. Albee pitched 5 1/3 innings in Tuesday’s game against Burbank.

Phil Jensen (6-4) replaced Albee in the fifth and labored to the finish, giving up four runs in 2 1/3 innings.

After Edison’s three runs in the top of the sixth, Jordan scored two in the bottom. The Panthers (18-9) had the tying run on first with two outs, but Jensen got pinch-hitter Jemoire Smith to ground out, ending the inning.

The Chargers scored three in the seventh to give Jensen a cushion.