Fountain Valley Pounces on Kozlowski and Ends Simi Valley’s Season : Southern Section baseball: Ponchak blasts grand slam in five-run first inning to fuel victory over Pioneers in quarterfinals.

Kary Kozlowski said the fateful pitch he threw to Fountain Valley High’s Chris Ponchak was “up and away,” a reference to the ball’s location in the strike zone.

He was right. And then some.

“I thought it was an OK pitch,” Kozlowski said. “I didn’t even think it was a strike.”

Up, up and away also described the ball’s trajectory after Ponchak muscled it over the right-field fence for a grand slam. Fountain Valley’s ascent likewise continues.

Ponchak’s slam sparked a five-run first inning and right-hander Luke Hudson threw five scoreless innings as Fountain Valley trounced Simi Valley, 12-1, in a Southern Section Division I quarterfinal Friday.

Fountain Valley, the top-seeded team in the division, will face Crescenta Valley in the semifinals Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Blair Field in Long Beach. Crescenta Valley (19-5) defeated El Dorado, 4-3. Simi Valley finished the season with a record of 20-7.

Ponchak, a burly junior, couldn’t help but think about the long ball when he walked into Simi Valley’s cozy yard.

“I tried to keep (the size of the field) out of my head,” Ponchak said, grinning. “Sometimes, when you get in a little park, it gets to you and you try to hit everything out. That can mess you up.”

Kozlowski (8-1) entered the game with eight consecutive scoreless innings in postseason play. Fountain Valley (25-3-1), ranked second in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, messed that up in a hurry. The first three batters singled to load the bases and a one-out single by Dan Hoppie gave the Barons a 1-0 lead.

With two out, Kozlowski threw a 2-and-2 fastball to Ponchak, who belted it onto the Simi Valley football field. Before the blast, Kozlowski was one pitch from escaping the jam with minimal damage.

“Yeah, I was 400 feet from getting the third out,” Kozlowski said, dejectedly.

A five-run lead didn’t seem all that large when Hudson (8-1) wobbled through the first inning. Hudson, a junior right-hander, walked two and threw three wild pitches to put runners at second and third with one out.

Cleanup hitter Bryan Wall then sent a fly ball to medium right field, but Tim Nykoluk was thrown out at the plate on a 9-3-2 relay for an inning-ending double play.

“It’s the thing to do in the first inning,” said interim Simi Valley Coach Russ Stephans, whose team lost for the first time in seven games since he took over for suspended Mike Scyphers. “No question, with your leadoff hitter (Nykoluk) on third, you send him.”

Fountain Valley added two runs in the second and three in the third to take a 10-0 lead. By then, Hudson was finding the strike zone. He allowed three singles, walked five and struck out four in five innings before he was relieved.