Thousand Oaks Cries Foul Over Controversial Rulings

UPLAND — Two questionable calls made for one disastrous inning for Thousand Oaks High on Tuesday.

Upland upset the No. 2-seeded Lancers, 2-0, in a Southern Section Division I softball semifinal in front of 300 at Greenbelt Park.

Thousand Oaks (26-4) battled with seven hits and had at least one baserunner in every inning except the second, but the Lancers could not overcome a nightmarish fourth.

With one out, Upland’s Jamie Farnworth hit a fly ball to right field that Shelly Teverbaugh made a tumbling catch on for what would have been the second out.

But, with Farnworth nearly back in the third-base dugout and Thousand Oaks preparing for the next batter, the third-base umpire ruled that the fly ball came after an illegal pitch.

Lancer ace Jennifer Sharron, who said she had never been called for an illegal pitch in four years of high school softball, asked the umpire for clarification so she wouldn’t make the same mistake, but he would not answer her.

“I did nothing different than any other game,” said Sharron (21-4), who allowed five hits and struck out nine.

Farnworth returned to the batter’s box and, after receiving a ball for the illegal pitch, walked on the next pitch.

One pitch later, Amy Plotkin hit a comebacker to Sharron, who turned and threw to shortstop Kristin Combe at second base. Combe dragged her right foot over the base, but threw late to first trying to complete a double play.

The same umpire who had called the illegal pitch called Farnworth safe at second, ruling that Combe never made contact with the bag.

“There was only one person that saw that play that way,” Thousand Oaks Coach Gary Walin said.

Said Farnworth: “I thought I was out.”

So did Combe. “I can’t believe he didn’t see it,” she said.

With one out, the runners advanced to second and third on Melissa Holnback’s groundout.

On the next pitch, Nikki Severin hit a line drive up the middle to give Upland (28-5) a 2-0 lead.

“That’s an embarrassment to CIF as far as I’m concerned,” Walin said of the umpiring.

Thousand Oaks, which stranded five runners--including four in scoring position--had a chance to tie the score in the fifth with runners at second and third and one out.

Teverbaugh hit a ground ball off her shin and didn’t immediately run because she assumed a “dead ball” call would follow. But the umpires didn’t see the ball hit her and she was thrown out by pitcher Sarah Farnworth (27-4), who then struck out pinch-hitter Lacey Cope on three pitches to end the inning.

Erika Hanson and Jenna Allen each had two hits for the Lancers.