SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFF ROUNDUP : Coudry Lifts Saugus to 5-1 Victory in Softball

Saugus High eliminated Golden League rival Canyon on Friday by pounding 11 hits in a 5-1 victory in a quarterfinal of the Southern Section 3-A Division softball playoffs.

The visiting Centurions (25-3) bunched six hits in the fourth and scored three runs to break a 1-1 tie.

Kerry Coudry’s single drove in Carrie Brown--who singled to lead off the inning--for the go-ahead run. Erin del Villar scored two batters later on Kim Weir’s grounder. Kerri Volpe followed with a two-run single to give Saugus a 4-1 lead.

Volpe went three for four, and Kim O’Leary had two hits.

Coudry (21-3), a senior right-hander, pitched a four-hitter, struck out 11, walked one, and gave up one earned run in the third.

Canyon fell to 18-9.

In other Southern Section softball playoff games:

Irvine University 6, Quartz Hill 0--Eight errors helped University (21-10) upset fourth-seeded Quartz Hill (21-3) in a 3-A quarterfinal at Irvine.

The Trojans scored single runs in each of the first three innings and three more in the fifth, and left-hander Michele Ponce (17-5) limited Quartz Hill to one hit in the first five innings. Ponce finished with a four-hitter.

Templeton 3, Lancaster Bethel Christian 2 (nine innings)--Senior right-hander Amy Crabtree tossed a four-hitter to lead Templeton (21-3) in a Small Schools quarterfinal at Bethel Christian.

Sophomore right-hander Jamie Johnston (19-3) struck out 20 and gave up two hits for Bethel Christian. With the score tied, 2-2, in the ninth, Templeton scored the winning run on a dropped third strike by catcher Tanya Keute and an overthrow at first base.

BOYS’ TENNIS

Southern Section individual championships--Harvard-Westlake sophomore Philip Tseng upset top-seeded Heath Montgomery of Santa Barbara, 7-5, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the two-day tournament at SeaCliff Tennis Club in Huntington Beach.

In the round of 16, Tseng defeated El Toro’s Chris Brown, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0. Tseng, who will face Peninsula’s Loren Peters, seeded fourth, in a semifinal match today at 10:30 a.m., has lost just four of 53 sets this season.

Montgomery, who has signed a letter of intent to play for UCLA next season, advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Nordhoff’s Derek Pope, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6.

Dana Hills’ Steve Lunbald and Jeremy Driscoll defeated Harvard’s Aaron Cohen and J.W. Hobson, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.