Ejections Threaten Sunset League Rivals

Flared tempers and an altercation at the end of a softball game last week between Sunset League rivals Los Alamitos and Anaheim Esperanza resulted in three ejections, which, in turn, could mean early exits for the teams when the Southern Section Division I playoffs get underway this week.

Pairings for softball were released Monday.

Esperanza, a Division I finalist last season, shared the league title with Los Alamitos but goes into the playoffs as the league’s No. 2 team because it lost twice to the Griffins. The Aztecs will play at Downey (23-4), the San Gabriel Valley League champion.

Los Alamitos (18-11) drew an easier assignment, facing the winner of Wednesday’s wild-card game between Long Beach Wilson (15-11) and Downey Warren (15-7), but the Griffins will be handicapped by not having their starting pitcher and catcher.

Both pitchers, Esperanza’s Kristen Dedmon (11-7) and Los Alamitos’ Kim Dillon (12-9), were ejected from the game, along with Griffin catcher Cat Cusick. Each must sit out the next game which, in this case, is a first-round playoff game.

In the bottom of the seventh inning of a game Los Alamitos eventually won, 5-3, Esperanza’s Heather Rangel hit a two-run homer and knocked over Dillon, the pitcher, who was standing at home plate without the ball. Esperanza players were out of the dugout to congratulate Rangel when the altercation broke out.

“I’m a lot more fired up because I know that without Kristen, we’re going to have to try so much harder because we’re not going to have our dominating pitcher out there,” said Brittany Fox, Esperanza’s third baseman.

Her father, Coach Dennis Fox, said the incident has rallied them.

“I was worried about chemistry all year,” he said, “and this really seemed to bond the team.”

Valencia (23-4-2) is the No. 1-seeded team in Division I, Dana Point Dana Hills (21-7-1) is No. 2, Lakewood (19-6) is No. 3 and Capistrano Valley (19-1) is No. 4.

The premier division this season, however, is Division II, in which Santa Ana Foothill (27-3), Riverside Poly (24-2), Santa Ana Mater Dei (23-5) and Simi Valley Royal (23-5-1) are seeded Nos. 1-4.

Garden Grove Pacifica (25-2-1), the No. 1 team in The Times’ rankings, is top-seeded in Division III, followed by Orange El Modena (24-5), Laguna Hills (23-4) and Riverside King (22-2).

El Segundo (22-3) in Division IV, Los Angeles Baptist (16-6) in Division V and Oaks Christian (25-4) in Division VI are also seeded No. 1.