Baseball: Los Alamitos Can't Make it an All Sunset League Final

For the first time in the Southern Section baseball playoffs, Studio City Harvard-Westlake is playing in the marquee division. And in the Wolverines' first go through Division 1, they are eating it up.

Their streak through the playoffs continued Tuesday night at Blair Field in Long Beach where third-seeded Harvard-Westlake scored a 3-2 semifinal victory over Los Alamitos.

Harvard-Westlake got all the runs it needed in the bottom of the first inning when it took a 3-1 lead on the Griffins, and then the Wolverines simply held on, surviving a rally in the fifth inning when Los Al pushed one run across and had runners on first and second bases with two outs. However, reliever Hans Hansen got out of the jam and saved the victory for starter Conor Cuse (6-1).

James Stea scored for Los  Alamitos in the top of the first inning on a groundout by Cody Marshall, and drove in Dallas Probert in the fifth.

Darren McCaughen (3-4), who pitched a five-hitter with four strikeouts, was the hard-luck loser for Los Alamitos.

An error, a hit batter and three singles gave Harvard-Westlake the three runs it needed.

With its victory, Harvard-Westlake advances to play Marina in the Division 1 Championship at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

Marina, the second-place team from the Sunset League, came from behind and defeated Los Angeles Loyola, 6-5.

The division was laden with upsets, and Harvard-Westlake—currently ranked No. 2 in the nation by Maxpreps—will manage to get through the playoffs without having faced another league champion.

It defeated Valencia (third in the Foothill League), 7-1; El Dorado (second in the the Century League), 12-1; Santa Margarita (third in the Trinity League), 5-0; and Los Alamitos (third in the Sunset League), 3-2.

When HW (27-4) steps on the field with Marina (22-8), it will be the first playoff opponent with fewer than 10 losses. Marina has worked its way up to No. 14 nationally, one spot of ahead of Sunset League champ Fountain Valley, which it beat two out of three times.

In the other semifinal

Marina 6, Loyola 5—Loyola (22-11) scored five runs in the top of the second inning to take a 5-2 lead before the Vikings (22-8) mounted a comeback. Marina scored once in the third and three in the bottom of the sixth inning, the last two on Max Willingham's bases loaded single with two outs. The Vikings won despite committing four errors.

Steve Gingery (3-0) got the victory in relief of Jack Westermeyer, who gave up five runs (four earned) on seven hits and a walk in two innings. Gingery struck out five and gave up two hits and two walks over the last five innings.

Both teams got nine hits.

Marina last won a title in 2003.