Carson Takes the Next Step

Three successful bunts, a double steal, a pickoff at third base. Carson executed baseball fundamentals Wednesday and it made all the difference in a 7-6 City Championship quarterfinal victory over visiting Woodland Hills El Camino Real.

Corey Camarillo’s double in the bottom of the seventh inning drove in Marques Jenkins with the winning run and sent third-seeded Carson (23-9) into a semifinal game against second-seeded Roosevelt (28-3) Friday at a site to be determined.

Carson opened a 4-1 lead through four innings, then fell behind, 6-4, as El Camino Real (22-9) rallied behind Chad Boyd’s three-run triple and Daniel Lee’s RBI double in the fifth.

But the Conquistadors couldn’t overcome their own mistakes. Pitcher Blake Gailen twice threw away balls for errors, the last Jenkins’ bunt in the seventh. Boyd was picked off third in the seventh by catcher Felipe Aguilar, who was instructed to call a pitchout and then made a perfect throw.

Aguilar had two singles and an inside-the-park home run. Eric Boranian contributed two doubles and a single for El Camino Real, which finished with 11 hits.

Eric Sondheimer

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In other City Championship quarterfinal games:

Los Angeles Roosevelt 11, Sylmar 1 -- The Roughriders scored 10 runs over the final two innings while the Spartans could muster only an infield hit and an unearned run off Andy Flores (16-1) in a quarterfinal game at Rio Hondo College shortened to five innings because of the 10-run rule.

Andres Verdugo’s two-out, two-run double in the fourth broke a 1-1 tie. Edgar Sedano singled in Verdugo with the third run of the inning for Roosevelt (28-3).

Ramon Marquez and Flores singled, Luis Rodriguez walked and Arturo Gonzalez was hit by a pitch to start the fifth, knocking out starter Chris Palma (5-4).

After a walk, two hits and an error, Marquez came back up and singled in Sedano to end it.

Sylmar (17-10), seeded 10th, scored its only run in the second, when a two-out throwing error by Sedano, Roosevelt’s shortstop, allowed Francisco Molina to score. Sedano was three for three, with two RBIs and two runs.

Steven Herbert

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Wilmington Banning 1, San Fernando 0 -- John Pierce (8-1) won a pitchers’ duel, giving up eight hits over 6 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and two walks, to lead the Pilots at San Fernando.

Daniel Macias retired the last two batters for the save. Banning will play defending champion Chatsworth in the semifinals at a site to be determined.

“We knew this was going to be a close game,” Pierce said. “They’re a good team just like us. In the end it just came down to one hit.”

Banning (23-11) got that hit in the fifth inning, when Phillip Deleon drove in Frankie Arellano on a grounder to left field.

San Fernando left two runners stranded in the same inning and left two aboard in the sixth. The Tigers (19-12) stranded seven runners in all. Sophomore Steve Pujol (10-4) went the distance for the Tigers, allowing five hits with two strikeouts and two walks. He also went two for three.

Rafer Weigel

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Chatsworth 2, Granada Hills Kennedy 0 -- Justin Cassel (14-0) pitched a four-hitter with seven strikeouts and no walks to record his seventh shutout of the season for the top-seeded Chancellors (31-1).

Jordan Sisson had two hits, including a two-run single in the third inning, and Bryan Petersen had two hits and scored a run.