Lancers, Chargers Left in Dark
Long after the Marmonte League baseball game Wednesday between visiting Thousand Oaks High and Agoura ended in near darkness, the scoreboard continued to glow, its message a reminder of what could have been.
Guest 6, Agoura 5, it said.
That was the score just before the game ended in bizarre fashion with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning. Because the inning was not completed, the result stands as a 5-5 tie--the score at the end of the 10th inning.
Thousand Oaks (9-1-1, 3-0-1 in league play) moved ahead in the top of the 11th, when Shea Johnson led off with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by David Perry.
Agoura (8-3-1, 1-2-1) came to bat in the bottom of the inning with light fading fast but sustained hope when Ryan McCann drew a leadoff walk off Lancer ace Matt Rogers, who had entered in relief at the start of the inning. Justin Richter pinch-ran for McCann and stole second.
David Johnson then hit a line drive to center field, from where Lancer Brian Forkin threw a strike to the plate that beat Richter by about 10 yards.
Richter tried to bowl over catcher John Perry, who held his ground and tagged Richter out as Johnson advanced to second.
Thousand Oaks Coach Bill Sizemore charged plate umpire Paul Cardone, demanding that Richter be ejected for not attempting to slide or dive under or around Perry’s tag.
After several seconds of shouting between the two, Cardone called the game and he and partner Eric Davis walked off the field.
Cardone had drawn Sizemore’s ire on two other plays during the game and Agoura Coach Bruce Beck was not surprised to see the umpire suddenly declare the contest over.
“[Cardone] was fed up and he said he wasn’t going to take it anymore,” Beck said.
“It was abrupt and I didn’t want to see it end. We would have had a man on second and a decent chance to tie or win the game.”
Thousand Oaks led, 3-1, after one inning on the strength of a three-run home run by Shea Johnson. The Lancers got single runs in the second and seventh and the Chargers scored once in the third and fifth, giving Thousand Oaks a 5-3 lead after 6 1/2 innings.
Agoura sent the game into extra innings with two runs in the seventh.
Matt Berstein led off by reaching first on a throwing error by Adam Leavitt, moved to third on a double by Chris Poling and scored on a double by Mike Falco that also scored Poling.
Agoura used four pitchers while Thousand Oaks used three. The most impressive performance was turned in by Lancer reliever Chris Cordeiro, who allowed two hits and two runs, one earned, in 5 2/3 innings.