Esperanza, Pack Beat Los Alamitos

If all the Sunset League games are going to be as well played as the Esperanza-Los Alamitos matchup on Friday, the league race will be among the county’s most entertaining.

Both teams got excellent pitching from their starters--Brandon Pack of Esperanza and Mike Pieschel of Los Alamitos turned in complete games--and the defenses were nearly flawless. But second-ranked Esperanza left with a 3-1 victory at Los Alamitos.

Home runs by David Parrish (3) in the second and Tom Nicholson (1) in the fourth ultimately proved the difference against Pieschel (1-2), who gave up seven hits in seven innings while striking out seven and walking one.

Pack helped himself with a leadoff triple in the seventh. Sal Deanda ran for him, and scored on John McCollum’s infield single.

But what Pack--who struck out six and walked two in seven innings--did on the mound was more impressive. He stopped the Griffins on four singles and carried a shutout into the seventh. Los Alamitos scored its run on Parrish’s passed ball.

“Right now, Pack has emerged as our ace,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “But he still has to prove how much he wants to be ‘the man.’ We’re going to ride him as long as we can.”

Meanwhile, the Griffins (2-5, 0-1) have stumbled out the gate, and they have another gantlet to run next week when they face Fountain Valley and Marina before resuming nonleague play. The Aztecs are 5-2, 1-0.

“You always have to be concerned about your team’s psyche,” Los Alamitos Coach John Bryant said. “But we’re not going to panic. Early in the season we have struggled with our pitching, which is why the game Mike threw was encouraging.”

In other Sunset League games:

Fountain Valley 1, Marina 0--Nick Spatasore singled and stole second and then scored the winning run for sixth-ranked Fountain Valley on a throwing error after a grounder by Brian Jones. Kameron Nielsen (2-1) pitched a complete game, striking out 11 for the Barons (5-1, 1-0). Marina is 3-3, 0-1.

Huntington Beach 3, Edison 2--Jeff Ruziecki’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Huntington Beach a 3-1 lead. Luis Santos hit a home run for Huntington Beach (4-2 overall).