AMERICAN LEGION AREA 6 BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : Westlake-Royal Fumbles Away Lead, Game in Ninth

You’ll find a record of Friday’s Westlake-Royal game filed under “Ouch.”

Westlake-Royal made four errors in the ninth inning and helped Arcadia rally for a 6-5 victory in the American Legion Area 6 playoffs Friday night at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Westlake-Royal began the inning with a 2-1 lead and closer Scott Morris on the mound. After a leadoff single, the team made errors on three consecutive plays, allowing Arcadia (32-7) to tie the game.

One out later, Morris walked Pete Paciorek with the bases loaded, forcing in the go-ahead run.

After Justin Stewart doubled home two more runs, Westlake-Royal made another error, allowing the sixth run.

“That’s baseball for you,” Morris said. “I have all the confidence in the world in our defense. It’s an unfortunate thing to happen, but that’s just baseball.”

Westlake-Royal (26-6-1) scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth, but Aaron Tapking grounded out with the bases loaded to end the game.

“We lost our composure a little defensively and my guess is we’re going to learn from that . . . when we lose at least we’re entertaining,” said Mike McClure, coach of Westlake-Royal.

Westlake-Royal will play Valley North in an elimination game at 10 a.m. today. The winner will play again at 6. Westlake-Royal, which was three outs from being in the tournament driver’s seat, now must win four straight games in two days.

Westlake-Royal seemed destined to win after escaping a jam in the seventh, when first baseman Matt Pitstick made a leaping catch of Paciorek’s bases-loaded line drive and stepped on the bag for an inning-ending double play, preserving the 2-1 lead.

Both starters pitched well. Westlake-Royal’s Todd Singleton went seven innings, giving up one run and four hits. He struck out six.

Pitstick started the eighth and got two outs. Morris (1-1) recorded the third out, but had the game blow up in his face in the ninth.

Arcadia’s Jason Cly pitched seven innings and gave up five hits and two runs. Left-hander Greg McClelland (7-3) picked up the victory in relief.

Camarillo 4, Westchester 1--Right-hander Manuel Chavira, who pitched primarily against the weaker District 16 teams during the regular season, gave up only five singles in eight brilliant innings.

Chavira (8-0), who will be a junior at Rio Mesa High, gave up one unearned run. He struck out five and did not walk a batter.

Richard Soliz pitched the ninth to pick up a save. Soliz had said he didn’t want to pitch in the Area 6 playoffs because he wanted to save his arm for the Area Code Games tryouts on Sunday.

“I asked (Chavira) how many innings he wanted to go and he said eight, so I said I’d go the ninth,” Soliz said. “I didn’t want any of our pitchers who might be able to go tomorrow to have to pitch today.”

Actually, Camarillo (27-7) has no more pitchers. Besides Soliz, Dan Martinez also said he won’t pitch before the tryouts. Soliz and Martinez were the team’s top two starters during the regular season.

“I have nobody else that has pitched this year,” Coach Ron Regalado said.

Camarillo will play Arcadia at 2 p.m. today. If Camarillo wins, it will advance to Sunday’s championship. If it loses, it will play again at 6 p.m.

Camarillo broke a 1-1 tie on an unusual play in the fourth inning. With one out and runners at first and third, Eric Flores hit a liner to first baseman Doug Espinoza, who dropped the ball.

Espinoza stepped on first to record one out, then threw to second for another. Because the third out at second was a tag play and the runner touched home before it was recorded, the run counted.

Jason Adamson and Rick Collier each had two hits for Camarillo. Adamson drove in two runs.

Valley North 11, St. Bernard 1--Jim DeBiase (6-1) helped Valley North avoid elimination by pitching a six-hitter and striking out 10 in eight innings. The game was then called because of the 10-run rule.

DeBiase’s complete game provided a much-needed rest for Valley North’s pitching staff. The team was playing its eighth game in 11 days.

It could get worse. If Valley North is to win the Area 6 title, it will need to play four more games in the next two days, winning them all.

The game Friday was scoreless through five innings, but catcher Brandon Murphy gave Valley North the lead with a run-scoring single in the sixth. Valley North led 3-1 going to the bottom of the eighth, but scored eight runs in the inning to end the game.

Valley North had only two hits in the inning, but St. Bernard (14-7) made four errors and walked four batters.

Tony Montiel was four for five with an RBI for Valley North. Rod Daryabigi and Murphy each had two hits. Luis Enriquez had two RBIs.