Santa Ana Moves Into Fast Lane

Richard Lane spent the week improving his swing and the results were obvious Saturday.

Lane got five hits, including two home runs, to lead Santa Ana to a 12-4 victory over Sacramento in the first round of the state tournament Saturday.

Lane, a freshman center fielder from Tustin High, also had two doubles, a single and drove in five runs.

“I kind of struggled last week in the regionals,” Lane said, “but coach helped me get my swing back. . . . They made the mistakes and I just hammered them.”

Lane pulled a two-run homer to right field in the first inning on an 0-2 pitch and then had a run-scoring double as Santa Ana scored seven runs in the second to go ahead 9-0.

“That set the tempo and sort of rattled [Sacramento],” Santa Ana Coach Don Sneddon said.

Santa Ana advances to play Cypress at 2 today in the second round.

Sacramento (38-7-1) is the defending state champion and the top-ranked team from Northern California. The Panthers started ace Aaron Dean, who had a 12-0 record.

But Dean struggled from the start and was gone after the first seven Santa Ana batters reached base in the second inning.

Santa Ana starter D.J. Houlton (6-1) improved to 3-0 in the playoffs. Houlton gave up five hits and three runs, one earned, in 6 1/3 innings.

Art Garland had a two-run single in the second and Nick Swanson also had two RBIs for Santa Ana (33-12), but the big day belonged to Lane.

Lane’s second home run, which was also his team-leading 17th of the season, came in the fourth after Josh Shaffer singled. This time Lane lined a high changeup over the left-field fence.

Lane capped his day with a run-scoring single in the eighth to give him a team-leading 75 RBIs.

“[Lane’s] the type of guy you can ride to a championship,” Sneddon said. “That’s all this tournament is. It’s who gets hot at the right time.”