Foothill Wastes Scoring Chances

The game ended much the way it began for the Foothill baseball team, and the middle wasn’t much different either.

First a threat, then failure to capitalize on it.

The result was a 6-4 loss to Hemet in the second round of the Southern Section Division III playoffs Tuesday at Foothill.

The Knights (16-11) had a runner in scoring position in six of their seven innings, but a series of baserunning blunders and the inability to deliver clutch hits eventually ended their season leaving a silent Knight dugout with many heads hung.

“We take it pretty tough,” Foothill Coach Vince Brown said of the somber mood. “We don’t ever prepare for a loss and when it happens, it’s like a death-in-the-family type of tragedy.”

Foothill’s final rally ended in typical fashion when Hemet relief pitcher Trevor Subith threw a low slider at the knees and Matt Meadows swung and missed for strike three, stranding runners at first and second.

In the sixth, pinch hitter Cory Hunter doubled in a run to pull Foothill to within two, at 6-4, but two pitches later, Phil Alderson lined out to second and Hunter did not get back to the base in time and the Bulldogs turned a double play.

Meadows hit a two-out single in the fifth that would have given the Knights runners at first and third, but when he tried to stretch it into a double, Bulldog right fielder Ryan Rocheleau threw him out.

Foothill had runners at first and third in the first inning, but a double-steal attempt failed when Hemet second baseman Mark Busby threw out Jon Stephens at home.

Alderson’s third-inning single gave Foothill runners at first and third with one out, but he was picked off for the second out.

“We had a couple of little errors out there,” Brown said. “Nothing that I think cost us the game. I think what hurt us more was that we just couldn’t get a real rally going.”

The big blast for Hemet (22-5-1) was a two-run home run by Subith in the sixth that gave the Bulldogs a 6-3 lead. It was a two-out blast that came after No. 9 hitter Kyle Washburn singled on a 1-2 pitch.

“The two-run shot hurts,” Brown said. “But we made a bad pitch to the No. 9 hitter that set it up.”

The Bulldogs play Los Altos, a 14-8 winner over Palm Desert, in the quarterfinals.

In other Division III games:

El Dorado 8, Riverside Norte Vista 3--Seniors Mitch Nord and Dan Franklin each drove in two RBIs for El Dorado (23-5). The top-seeded Golden Hawks will play the Hesperia-Paso Robles winner.

La Habra 9, Culver City 7--Dave Zamarano (6-0) struck out four in 5 2/3 innings and went two for three with a home run and two RBIs for host La Habra (21-6). La Habra will play San Luis Obispo. Culver City finished 19-5.

San Luis Obispo 2, Trabuco Hills 0--Host San Luis Obispo (16-9) upset second-seeded Trabuco Hills (19-7) and advances to play La Habra.