HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL : Southern Section Playoff Semifinals : Norte Vista Cruises Past Fillmore, 12-2

Top-seeded Norte Vista High scored in each of the first five innings Tuesday and routed Fillmore, 12-2, in a Southern Section 2-A Division baseball playoff semifinal at Moorpark College.

Norte Vista (23-3) will play Yucaipa, a 12-3 winner over Temple City, in the 2-A championship game Saturday at Anaheim Stadium.

Fillmore, which has won four Southern Section titles and has appeared in the final six times in 18 years under Coach Tom Ecklund, finished the season at 17-4-1.

Norte Vista cranked out five consecutive singles off Fillmore starter Anthony Chessani in the first inning to take a 3-0 lead.

“It seemed that the ball had eyes on it (in the first inning),” Chessani said. “Everything they were hitting was falling in. I’m actually pretty happy with the way I played. Those guys have quick hands and hit the ball well.”

Fillmore scored its only runs in the bottom of the first to close to within one, 3-2. Pokey Sanchez led off the inning with a triple and Chessani drove him in with a single. After a fielder’s choice moved Chessani to second, his brother Phillip knocked him in with a single.

Norte Vista pushed across two more runs in the second to take a 5-2 lead, then added four more runs in the third and the rout was on.

Norte Vista had 11 hits and had sent 25 batters to the plate by the end of the third.

The Braves finished with 14 hits. Devin Kessler led the way with three hits, including a double, and three runs batted in. Steve Lackey and Brian Edmondson each added two hits and all but one of Norte Vista’s starters contributed to the attack.

“They were hitting everything we were giving them,” Ecklund said. “They deserve to be in the final. There is nothing else I can really say. Maybe if we stayed closer, it might have been a different story.”

Norte Vista starter Jason Hueth (7-1) picked up the win. Hueth allowed four hits before making way for reliever Edmondson in the fifth.