PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Cypress Going to Playoffs

Tim Larsen isn’t exactly the type of pitcher you want to hand the ball to in a must-win situation. Oh, it’s not that the Cypress pitcher won’t come through. It’s just that he’ll make a coach squirm.

Thursday was just another nail-bitting experience for Larsen and the Centurions. He wobbled early, was hit hard and then pitched Cypress into the Southern Section playoffs.

Larsen pitched a five-hitter to beat El Dorado, 4-2, at Cypress. It not only put Cypress in the playoffs, it kept the Golden Hawks out of postseason play for only the third time in the last 13 seasons.

The two teams finished tied for third in the Empire League, but Cypress will get the playoff berth because it won the season series.

“I couldn’t wait for this game to start,” Larsen said. “I wanted the ball and I wanted to get going.”

Confidence like that is hard to doubt. Still, Coach Don Rayl has to hold his breath at times.

“Tim’s the kind of pitcher that will be wild, then will get hit and then will get on a streak,” Rayl said.

When the streak comes, look out.

The Golden Hawks started well. Five of their first eight batters reached base--including Jerry Weitzman, whose two-run single gave El Dorado a 2-1 lead in the second inning.

Then Larsen (4-2) reached his zone. He retired 11 consecutive batters and 17 of the final 20. He struck out five.

Cypress (13-10, 8-7) pecked away at starter Benito Flores (8-3). Bobby Brito’s sacrifice tied the score, 2-2, in the third. Dave Ojeda’s sacrifice fly gave the Centurions the lead in the fifth.

In both innings, Cypress scored without a hit. In fact, Flores gave up only two hits, both by Jack Peck. His infield single in the sixth gave Cypress a 4-2 lead.

Although Flores was tough to hit, he did walk eight batters. The Golden Hawks also made three errors, two of which led to runs.

In another Empire League game:

Los Alamitos 12, Loara 11--Visiting Loara rallied for eight runs in the seventh but still fell short. Mark Albert had three RBIs for Los Alamitos (15-10, 9-6).

In the Century League:

Santa Ana Valley 4, Orange 3 (8 innings)--Johnny Garcia walked with two outs and the bases loaded in the eighth to drive in Jeremy McClure for host Santa Ana Valley (13-12, 9-6), which clinched a tie with Orange (13-12, 9-6) for the league championship.

In the Freeway League:

Troy 12, La Habra 3--Rick Parmenter (8-1) pitched a six-hitter with 11 strikeouts and Brian Logan had three RBIs for host Troy (18-5-1, 12-2-1).

Buena Park 2, Sonora 0--Alfredo Garcia (9-3) pitched a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts for visiting Buena Park (17-6, 10-5).

In the Garden Grove League:

La Quinta 2, Bolsa Grande 1--Sean Carlson had two hits and a sacrifice fly and sophomore Corey Fox, in his first varsity start, had two hits and drove in the winning run for host La Quinta (21-5, 11-3), which earned a share of the league title with Kennedy, which lost Thursday. Kennedy beat La Quinta two of three times to earn the league’s top berth.

Santiago 3, Kennedy 2--John Pelayo (5-2) pitched a six-hitter for host Santiago (10-13, 7-7). Paul Menchaca made an outstanding running catch in deep center to end the game. Ruben Castaneda had a run-scoring triple and scored on an error in the fifth for Santiago.

Garden Grove 5, Pacifica 0--Bryce McHale pitched a one-hitter with eight strikeouts for host Garden Grove (14-8-1, 7-7).

Rancho Alamitos 18, Los Amigos 3--Marshall Brown and Tony Luce each hit two home runs for Rancho Alamitos (17-6, 9-5), which hit seven home runs, one shy of a Southern Section record.

In the Sea View League:

Irvine 19, Newport Harbor 4--Ryan Jones had four hits, including a home run, two RBIs and scored five runs for Irvine (20-7, 11-3).

Corona del Mar 3, University 2--Scott Patton’s RBI followed by Kevin Stuart’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh gave Corona del Mar (13-11, 5-9) the victory.