Millikan Dethrones Esperanza

The baseball team that made the great defensive plays and came through with the clutch hits Tuesday wasn’t from Esperanza High School.

The Aztecs, ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today, were shot down by unseeded Millikan, 6-0, in the semifinals of the Southern Section 5-A playoffs at Blair Field in Long Beach.

“Obviously they were fired up to be playing No. 1,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “Well, we’re not No. 1 now.”

That was the only thing Curran was certain of Tuesday. Everything else was a big question mark.

As in how the Aztecs could get 10 hits and no runs.

Or why Joe Foss, Esperanza’s most reliable pitcher, couldn’t get past the third inning.

And why Millikan, an average defensive team at best, made so many scout-awing plays in the field.

“I don’t know how to explain it,” Curran said.

For starters, there was Dante Powell, Millikan’s center fielder and the player Curran feared most. It was difficult to tell where he hurt the Aztecs more--at the plate or in the field.

Sure, Powell doubled twice and scored twice, but he also made two sensational catches. Those contributed considerably to the Aztecs’ being shut out for only the second time this season.

In the second inning, Powell made a one-handed grab that robbed Rich Hills of a leadoff single. Esperanza had two more baserunners that inning.

An inning later, with the Rams leading, 2-0, Esperanza’s Mark Allen hit a line drive toward the gap in left center. Powell raced to his right, leaped and caught the ball just before it hit the ground. He then doubled up Erickson Dumaual at first base.

Again, Esperanza (26-3) had two more baserunners in the third. The Aztecs stranded 10 runners in all.

“Dante’s catch was the play that turned the whole game around,” Millikan Coach Dan Peters said. “Otherwise, they could end up with three or four runs.”

Powell might have made the most spectacular plays, but he wasn’t the only Millikan player to shine in the field.

Third baseman Greg Negrete robbed Keith McDonald of a hit in the fifth, stranding a runner at second. Left fielder Scott Allen made a running catch in the sixth. One batter later, right fielder Jason Manack threw out Hills, who tried to go from first to third on a single by Jon Pitts.

Millikan’s defense helped pitcher Greg Gregory survive. Gregory (13-0) gave up 10 hits and hit one batter, but managed to win his 18th consecutive game.

“I’ve never had anyone throw a 10-hit shutout against me before,” Curran said. “We get 10 hits and no runs. They get six hits and six runs. I’m baffled by that.”

The Rams (23-6) made the most of what they got and they got most of that off Foss (9-2). He gave up four hits and three walks, which led to five runs, in 2 2/3 innings of work.

The biggest blow was a three-run double by Greg Walbridge in the third, which gave the Rams a 5-0 lead and chased Foss.

“We just did all the right things today,” said Peters, whose team will meet Edison (17-12) in the title game Saturday at Anaheim Stadium. “We can’t play any better than that.”

Just ask No. 1.