CENTURY LEAGUE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Canyon Loads Up on Runs, Beats Foothill, 16-10

It was a sumptuous smorgasbord of crunching hits, run-fattening walks, stomach-churning errors and an assortment of misplays for Canyon and Foothill in their Century League showdown Friday afternoon at Canyon High School.

By the time the three-hour-long feast was over, Canyon relief pitcher Matt Wood had slammed the refrigerator door on Foothill for a 16-10 Comanche victory.

Six Canyon and Foothill pitchers combined to allow 25 hits, 10 of them for extra bases. They walked 18, threw three wild pitches and a hit one batter while the fielders contributedeight errors to keep basepaths crowded.

Canyon starting pitcher Tim Sumner’s control went awry in the second inning, allowing Foothill to take a 3-2 lead on four walks, two wild pitches and Jason Vlcek’s run-scoring bouncer to second base.

The Comanches (13-7-1, 7-3-1 in league) responded in the bottom of the second by teeing off on Foothill starter Alden Weaver and reliever Jason Schwary, with consecutive doubles by Gunnar Strunz, Royce Valent, Jeff Brunswig and Sumner to pace a five-run outburst.

By the end of the second inning, both starting pitchers had been shifted to other positions, but the batters on both teams had merely whetted their appetites.

Foothill (14-7, 8-3) laid into Canyon reliever Jason Schifano for three runs on five hits, closing the deficit to 7-6 in the third inning on Jeff Bailey’s two-run single to shallow right field and Rob Higby’s run-scoring double to right-center.

Canyon answered with a five-run outburst in the bottom of the third, taking a 12-6 lead. Matt Kastelic’s two-run single with the bases loaded, Brad Shuckhart’s run-scoring single to left and Wood’s run-scoring single to left provided four of the runs.

But a 12-6 lead wasn’t safe Friday, as the Knights came back with a three-run fourth inning. Mike Urbanski doubled in a run and scored when Aaron Hoke’s fly ball to right-center dropped in between Strunz and James Jekum for a triple. Hoke scored on Chris Jordan’s sacrifice grounder to shortstop.

Foothill cut the deficit to 12-10 after Wood took the mound at the beginning of the fifth, when Higby hit his second double of the game and scored on David Trentine’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to deep right field.

Wood retired the last two batters in the inning, and held Foothill scoreless and hitless the rest of the game. The Comanches pulled away with a three-run outburst in the fifth and an insurance run in the sixth.

Canyon’s Kastelic four hits, including a double, in four at bats and three RBIs. Wood contributed three hits in three at bats with another three RBIs. And catcher Valent added two hits in three at bats plus another RBI.

In other league games:

Villa Park 11, Orange 2--Jason Johnson had three hits, including a home run, four RBIs and scored three runs for visiting Villa Park (9-10-2, 6-5). Johnson pitched the final three innings for his fifth save. Matt Parker had a three-run triple in the fourth for Villa Park.