SANTA ANA >> Andrew Parker’s infield single in the seventh inning Tuesday helped score the winning run for Foothill in a 5-4 win over Santa Margarita in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 baseball playoffs at Foothill High.
Foothill (20-9) will host Huntington Beach in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon. The Knights have not played Huntington Beach since 2018.
“These guys have a ton of fight in them and they just never give in,” Foothill coach Chris Price said. “There was a good crowd here today and it will be a lot more busy on Friday. I know they (Huntington Beach) are a really good team so we have to prep up the next couple of days.”
With the score tied and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Foothill’s Grant Johnson singled to right field and advanced to second on a walk by Mason Souter.
Parker hit a soft ground ball to the shortstop, who tried to throw him out at first base. The throw bounced to the first baseman, who came off the bag to field the throw. As pinch runner Jake Fenton raced around third base and headed home, the throw to the plate was too late to get Fenton, who scored with a headfirst slide.
The winning run set off a wild celebration that wound up with Parker being mobbed by his teammates in right field.
The Knights were in position to win the game due to two incredible defensive plays in the top of the sixth inning to prevent what would have been at least one run. With one out, Brady Schrank made a diving stop at second base and an off-balance throw to get the second out.
On the ensuing at-bat, USC signee Austin Overn made a diving catch at full speed up the hill in center field of Foothill’s stadium to record the third out.
“He made another one in the left-center gap against Villa Park which was ridiculous that I thought was the best catch I’d ever seen in 20 years of coaching,” Price said. “But that one up the hill, it’s hard to go up the hill to catch that ball and to dive? That was unreal. You really saw a treat there.”
In the bottom of the first, Overn led off with a solo home run that put the Knights ahead 1-0.
Santa Margarita (19-11) tied the game in the third on a sacrifice fly by Blake Balsz.
The Eagles scored three runs in the fifth inning and took advantage of defensive miscues by the Knights. Luke Johnson executed a safety squeeze bunt to score the first run.
After an error, Balsz drove in a run with a single. The Eagles scored another run off an error to go ahead 4-1.
Foothill responded with three runs of its own in the fifth. After two batters walked, Blake Castillo drove in a run with a single that cut the lead to two. The next batter hit into a fielder’s choice and a run scored on a throwing error from first to home.
Parker hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning to tie the score.
Santa Margarita’s defense made six errors. Two of Foothill’s five runs were unearned.
Foothill’s Cameron Kessel pitched three innings, allowed one hit and one unearned run with three strikeouts to earn the win.
“We’ve used him in a hybrid role. Sometimes he starts, but he’s really great in the back end of a game,” Price said. “He just doesn’t feel any pressure. He goes out and executes his pitches.”
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