Valley North Gets a Little Relief in Nick of Time, 9-7

For seven innings of Valley North’s 9-7 victory over Van Nuys East on Thursday in the American Legion District 20 playoffs, Valley North, the designated home team, seemed to have a distinct advantage.

The way the teams went back and forth, it seemed likely the team to bat last would win the game at Birmingham High.

But Valley North relief pitcher Ismael Marin settled down in the seventh and eighth innings before Jacob Gutzman got North’s first save of the season. He retired George Piedra on a fly ball to right field with the bases loaded to end the game.

Valley North (22-6) plays tonight at 7 p.m. at Burroughs High against the winner of Thursday’s late game between Central Valley and Las Virgenes East.

Van Nuys East (19-9) meets Newhall-Saugus in an elimination game today at 4 p.m. at Birmingham.

Van Nuys East broke a 6-6 tie on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Stromsborg in the sixth, but Valley North answered by scoring three times in the seventh.

A two-run double by Greg Wold chased Van Nuys East starter Kevin Jerkens (4-2). Reliever Chris Cross got two outs before Micah Berger singled home Wold.

Valley North took a 1-0 lead on a run-scoring double in the first by David Sark, who had three hits and three runs batted in.

Valley North made it 4-0 in the second on run-scoring singles Sark and Joe Tillmon and a sacrifice fly by Wold, who had four RBIs.

But Van Nuys East, playing for the third consecutive day after winning a 22-21 game against Woodland Hills West that took two days to complete, mustered a rally of its own in the fourth.

East sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring six times on five hits, including a long two-run home run to left field by Mike Acosta.

Valley North starting pitcher Eric Buitrago did not register an out in the fourth.

Marin (2-1) allowed two inherited runners to score and allowed two runs of his own in the fourth. He allowed one run over the next 4 2/3 innings.

Panorama City 17, Palmdale 8--Ed Jung had a three-run home run and five RBIs for Panorama City (22-6), which eliminated Palmdale (19-10) at Burroughs.

Panorama City trailed, 3-1 heading into the top of the fifth, but Jung’s home run highlighted a five-run outburst.

Seth Barkley had a two-run homer in a seven-run seventh for Panorama City. Barkley drove in four runs and Sergio Franco knocked in three.

Panorama City plays the loser of Thursday’s late game in an elimination game today at 4 p.m. at Burroughs.