DIVISION II : South Hills’ Homers Help Bury Orange

Before the Southern Section Division II quarterfinal game Friday at Orange High, each team predicted big things while watching the other take infield.

West Covina South Hills players were looking at the short left-field fence and dreaming of the home runs they were going to launch over it.

Along the Orange bench, the talk was of how well the Panthers had played in the first two playoff games and how the streak was going to continue.

As it turned out, South Hills was more accurate in its pre-game talk. The Huskies, helped by home runs from Pat Lodes and Brett Pierce, won, 9-5. South Hills (26-2) is the defending Division II champion and top-seeded.

The loss ended a season in which Orange (15-12) won a share of the Century League title after finishing last in 1992.

“(South Hills) hit the ball as well as any team we played this season,” Orange Coach Ed Howard said. “We gave it everything we could. Our boys left (everything they had) on the field.”

South Hills led, 4-1, after three innings but Orange rallied for four runs in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead. South Hills then rallied back for five runs in the fifth.

Orange’s Pat Harris took the mound in the fifth and gave up three consecutive singles to load the bases. He was relieved by Eric VonBehren, who had pitched a three-hit shutout in the Panthers’ 4-0 victory over Riverside Arlington Tuesday.

The first batter he faced, Bobby Medina, rammed a single up the middle that should have scored only one run. But the ball got past center fielder Dean Schmaus, allowing three runs to score, giving South Hills a 7-5 lead.

Two outs later, Brett Pierce hit a two-run home run just over the left-field fence and South Hills was ahead, 9-5. It was his first home run of the season.

The Panthers tried to rally in the sixth when they loaded the bases with two outs. Meresh Marshall bounced a pitched down the third-base line that South Hills’ Jason Wiedder gloved near the line then dived back to the bag for the final out.

South Hills had taken a 1-0 lead in the first on a two-out double by Randy Vickers. Orange came back to tie the score in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, David Matranga was hit by a pitch. After a walk and single, Matranga scored on an infield single by Gary Folsom.

Alex Ponomaroff had an RBI single as South Hills took a 2-1 lead in the second. Pat Lodes had a one-out home run well over the left-field fence in the third for South Hills. It was his seventh home run of the season.

Vickers doubled and scored on a single by Medina to put South Hills up, 4-1, in the third.

But Orange showed some resiliency in the fourth.

Harris, Meresh, and Saul Archuleta singled to load the bases with one out. Matranga tied the score with a three-run double to the fence in left-center field. He scored on an error on grounder hit by Folsom to put Orange ahead, 5-4.

In another Division II quarterfinal:

Temecula Valley 3, Canyon 2--Temecula Valley (20-7-1) advanced to the semifinals to play Lompoc, a 6-4 winner over Redondo Beach Redondo Union in eight innings. Canyon ends 16-12.