Dons, Sacramento Left in Dark With 12-12 Tie

Darkness was the deciding factor as Sacramento and host Santa Ana played to a 12-12 tie in 11 innings Friday in the Best in the State baseball tournament.

Santa Ana, which trailed by eight runs early, rallied to take the lead, but Garrett Schoenfelder hit a one-out home run in the ninth to tie it for Sacramento (4-0-1), the two-time defending state champion.

Santa Ana got a runner to third in the ninth with two outs but didn’t score. The Dons went out in order in the 10th and 11th. In fact, Santa Ana had only one hit in the final six innings.

But the Dons packed a lot of offense into the fifth, when they scored seven runs to take a 12-11 lead.

Tony Calderon capped the inning with a two-run double against reliever Jason Norderum, who had hit C.J. Wilson when he entered one batter earlier. But Norderum retired 10 in a row and 13 of 14 after Calderon’s double.

Santa Ana (4-0-1) also got strong relief from sophomore right-hander Jeff Groger, who gave up a run and three hits in five innings.

Jason Welch had a three-run home run and two singles and Wilson also had a home run for Santa Ana.

“The positive is that we were down 11-3 and didn’t roll over,” Santa Ana Coach Don Sneddon said. “We are young but we showed some character to come back like we did.”