SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : 4-A SOFTBALL SEMIFINALS : Foothill Keeps On Going, Straight Into Title Game

Andrea Chambers rounded third at full speed with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Foothill Coach Joe Gonzalez wasn’t about to stop her.

After what he’d seen in the sixth, Gonzalez had good reason for waving Chambers home from second on Julie Metzger’s single to short left field.

The daring baserunning move proved to be a winning one for the Knights. Chambers scored to give Foothill a 3-2 victory over El Toro in the Southern Section 4-A softball semifinals Tuesday at Canyon High School.

Second-seeded Foothill (25-7) returned to the 4-A championship game, where the Knights will meet Newhall Hart at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Mayfair Park in Lakewood. Last year, the Knights lost to Irvine, 1-0, in the championship game.

Third-seeded El Toro finished 24-9-1.

Chambers was ruled safe on a close play at the plate after El Toro left fielder Korrie Allen’s perfect throw reached catcher Maegan Juggert at the same time Chambers began her slide.

“That’s a tough way to lose it,” El Toro Coach Jim Daugherty said. “I thought we got her, but I guess they probably should have blown us out the inning before.”

Foothill failed to score in the sixth after loading the bases with no outs, which prompted Gonzalez to take a chance on sending Chambers home in the seventh.

“I didn’t want another runner on third after what happened the last inning,” Gonzalez said. “We run the bases well, and I thought that (sending Chambers) would be our best chance to win the game.”

Metzger’s game-winning single duplicated her semifinal feat of last year, when her base hit scored the winning run in Foothill’s victory over Charter Oak.

Foothill took a 1-0 lead in the first on Christina Mazurie’s RBI infield single, but El Toro rallied for a 2-1 lead on Sam Smithson’s two-run homer to right in the third. The Knights tied the score, 2-2, on Mazurie’s double in the fourth, which scored Kelly Green.

El Toro threatened to take the lead in the sixth, but Smithson was stranded at third after Foothill center fielder Carley Rutledge made a spectacular diving catch of Wendi Melville’s two-out line drive.