Big inning sparks locals

TUJUNGA — The base hits kept coming from the stacked lineup.

By the time the Crescenta Valley 9-10 All-Star baseball team finished batting in the first inning against Foothill in a winner’s-bracket contest of the District 16 Tournament, it had a double-digit lead and was well on its way to a statement-making victory.

“We have a good lineup and we always stress getting hits and don’t help the pitcher out,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Dan Mulcahey said after Crescenta Valley cruised to an easy 20-1 victory on Friday night in a game called after four innings because of the 10-run mercy rule. “We can hit and we’ve got a lot of pitching, too.

“That can put the other team behind the 8-ball.”

Crescenta Valley scored 11 runs in the first inning. It recorded 12 hits in the first frame and 18 overall and will face Vaquero or Burbank in a semifinal game at 5 p.m. Monday at Tujunga Little League Fields. Vaquero and Burbank played later Friday.

JD Schaffer had a run-scoring triple in the first to give Crescenta Valley a 1-0 lead. Schaffer finished the game with four hits and four runs batted in to pace Crescenta Valley, which began the tournament Thursday with a 14-2 win against Jewel City/Jewish War Veterans at Pacific Park.

Justyn Chang and Gabe Kessell contributed three hits for Crescenta Valley, which got two apiece from Colin Jacobs and Joe Vines.

Foothill scored its run in the second. Andy Howland drove in George Yegiaian with a double to bring Foothill to within 11-1. Foothill, which will meet Burbank or Vaquero in an elimination game at 11:30 a.m. today at Pacific Park, finished with two hits.

“Even though we were outclassed, our guys played hard,” Foothill Coach Erik Hovland said. “We made some good plays on defense, but they just have a good lineup.”