White Helps Esperanza Win Easily

Matt White of Anaheim Esperanza aspires to command an aircraft carrier someday. If he can navigate as well as he did Tuesday against Palm Desert in a quarterfinal game of the Placentia El Dorado National Classic baseball tournament, he should earn his stripes.

White, who is competing for the No. 3 pitching role, gave up two hits and seven walks over five innings to lead the Aztecs, ranked No. 2 in the Southland by The Times, to an 8-2 victory over No. 14 Palm Desert at Cal State Fullerton.

Palm Desert (10-1) had been averaging more than 10 runs.

“Obviously, this turned into a little bit of a walk-a-thon,” said White, a 6-foot-3 right-hander who has been accepted to the Naval Academy. “But they were having trouble hitting my fastball.”

White (2-0) worked out of his biggest jam in the bottom of the third, when he walked four batters to force in a run. Coach Mike Curran was able to stay with White because the Aztecs (10-2) had scored five runs in their half of the third to take a 6-0 lead.

Joe Dickerson doubled and scored on a ground out by Kyle Muhlsteff in the first inning and doubled off the wall in the third inning to ignite the five-run rally.

Ernie Cho reached on a fielder’s choice and scored in the third inning and had a run-scoring single in the sixth inning for Palm Desert.

-- Dan Arritt

Softball

Tiffany Wright had a three-run homer, three triples and 12 runs batted in, and Corona Santiago beat Moreno Valley in five innings, 46-0, on March 21. The Sharks fell well short of the 1987 record of 62 runs scored by Simi Valley Lutheran against Calabasas Viewpoint, but it is believed to be the most runs scored in the Southern Section since Liberty Christian scored 54 in 1994.

There is no 10-run rule in the Mountain View League, but the game was stopped after five innings by mutual agreement, said Santiago Coach John Perez, who insisted his team wasn’t running up the score. He replaced five starters after three innings, and two more after four.

“The situation is that bad right now,” said Eric Johnson, Moreno Valley’s athletic director, of the lopsided outcomes. “But the girls have a surprisingly good attitude.”

Moreno Valley, which won an Ivy League title in 2003, has only 16 players. Its first-year coach resigned after the Valley View tournament ended March 16. Perhaps the biggest blow was the transfer of pitcher Charlotte Morgan to Moreno Valley Valley View, where she is sitting out this season.

--Martin Henderson