Spring break is over. Foothill League baseball has resumed.
For Hart and Valencia High baseball, that meant a pitchers’ duel on Wednesday afternoon at Hart.
The Vikings came out on top, 2-1, led by pitcher Chase Farrell, who allowed three hits and recorded five strikeouts in seven innings.
MORE: Valencia baseball’s Farrell throws no-hitter in win over Canyon
“He basically won us this game,” said first baseman Lukas White. “We made some plays for him, but if he hadn’t had the day he did then we wouldn’t have won the day.”
The Indians’ Cody Turner also pitched a complete game, allowing five hits and striking out five.
“He pitched really well,” said Valencia coach Mike Killinger, of Turner. “He mixed up the speeds. He was able to keep us off balance. He threw a lot of off-speed for first pitch strikes.”
White dented the scoreboard first, with an RBI single in the top of the second inning. Hart (11-7 overall, 3-3 in Foothill) struck back in the bottom of the second to even the score when Brendan Henry hit an RBI double.
Valencia (14-5, 5-1) clawed its way to one final run in the fifth inning. Ryan Sheer’s single driving in the game-winning run.
“We have a little bit of a plan on what to do against (Farrell), and we didn’t execute that plan,” said Hart coach Jim Ozella. “You’ve got to look at it two ways. We didn’t execute our plan. Well, that’s on us, but it’s all on him. Give him credit where credit is due.”
White, who had knee surgery prior to the season, was 3-for-3 on the afternoon.
“Lukas did a great job out there,” Farrell said. “He has been for weeks now. He’s been going out there, sometimes in very tough situations, and sparked rallies and he’s been awesome. Lukas has really been grinding for us.”
The two teams meet again today at Valencia at 3:30 p.m.
“This first game coming back was huge,” Killinger said. “We were able to win the first one, so let’s just win the series. It’s a very big win.”
West Ranch 8, Golden Valley 6
The Wildcats remain undefeated in league at 6-0 (13-5 overall), but the Grizzlies didn’t let them have it easily.
“We thought that they were really hungry and looking to beat us today,” said West Ranch coach Casey Burrill. “We expect the same thing to happen tomorrow.”
Christos Stefanos was 2-for-3 at the plate with a home run and four RBIs for the Wildcats. Austin Hernandez was 1-for-3 with four RBIs.
For Golden Valley (6-10, 1-5), Leon Jackson homered in the third inning and was 2-for-4 with two hits and two RBIs.
