Familiar foe stops Foothill
GLENDALE — In the budding rivalry between the 10-11 Foothill All-Stars and their Quartz Hill counterparts, every game has been close, but every contest has ended with Foothill on the wrong end of it.
It was true once more on Monday evening, as District 16 champion Foothill fell, 1-0, to Quartz Hill in the Section 2 Tournament title game at El Dorado Park in Lancaster.
“It was a great softball game, we just came out on the wrong end of it,” said Foothill Manager Tyson Howard. “We just can’t beat ‘em. [Quartz Hill is] really good.”
Last summer, both teams squared off in San Marino for the 9-10 softball title and Quartz Hill won both encounters, rallying for a 17-12 win in the finals with a sixth-inning rally.
It played out in similar fashion this summer, as Foothill lost, 5-4, on Saturday against Quartz Hill, promptly dismantled San Fernando in an elimination game on Sunday, 19-1, and then was on the wrong end of a 1-0 heartbreaker.
“It was a tough game,” Howard said. “Our girls just played great, we just couldn’t get over the hump [and score.]”
In fact, Foothill had the bases loaded in the final inning, but couldn’t get a run across in a game in which it only had two hits. It was Alex Howard and Jordan Lousararian who mustered the hits and it was the same tandem that held Quartz Hill to just one hit in the game as both turned in excellent performances from the pitching circle.
That one hit was enough to drive in a runner that had walked to reach base in the bottom of the second.
Neither team made an error according to Howard and it was a game he said the umpires and park officials told him was one of the best they had ever seen.
“Just an incredible softball game,” Howard said, “we just didn’t score.”
Nonetheless, Howard believes the teams will see each other again next summer as most of the teams’ players are expected back. And, despite the loss, Howard was plenty please with his team’s run through District 16 and into the Section 2 title game.
“We’re super proud of the girls,” he said. “They just played great softball the whole way.”