Eagles falter in regional semifinal at La Habra
No. 1 La Habra routs Lancaster in SoCal semifinals
LA HABRA — The Lancaster baseball team was greeted with loud support from family and friends as they left the La Habra High field on Thursday afternoon.
The unbelievable playoff run by the Eagles came to an end as the Eagles lost to La Habra 11-1 in six innings in a CIF Southern California Regional Baseball Championship Division 5 semifinal game.
The Lancaster players and coaches were far from dejected walking off the field and were supported by a sizable crowd that made the two-hour drive.
“I just want them to understand, I don’t want them to think of this last game as kind of that final nail, that final vision in their heart of what this year was,” Lancaster coach David Fischenich said. “We accomplished so much. They’re CIF champions. They’ll be CIF champions forever. That’s what I want them to understand.
“Yes, it’s fun to be in a regional tournament, but I want them to understand we’re still CIF champs. We’ll always be CIF champs.”
The Eagles (19-10) qualified for the inaugural regional tournament by winning the CIF-Southern Section Division 7 championship on June 18, defeating Arroyo Valley 3-2 at Long Beach State.
“It feels good to win the championship, but it also would have felt good to win this one,” Lancaster senior Brian Richards said. “We came out here just to play right now. Of course, we hope to win this championship, but we already won ours.”
Lancaster defeated Bakersfield Christian 11-4 on Tuesday in a CIF Southern California Regional Baseball Championship Division 5 first round game for the Eagles’ sixth consecutive victory.
The Eagles had an inauspicious start to the game on Thursday.
Richards drew a one-out walk in the top of the first and Lancaster
senior Isaiah Pruitt reached on an infield single, but La Habra senior starting pitcher Matthew Coats pitched out of the jam, striking out the final batter.
Coats gave up one run on four hits, one walk and two hit batters in six innings, striking out eight.
“It sucks losing, but it feels pretty good being one of the only schools to win a CIF championship in the AV,” said Pruitt, who was 2-for-3. “I wish we could have won this. It would have been great.
“I feel that we can compete and win. We can compete against any team we play. We just had a few minor errors here and there. But I feel we can beat any team we play.”
La Habra (23-10), which won the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 championship, was able to capitalize offensively in the first.
The Highlanders loaded the bases with no outs in the first and scored one run on a fielder’s choice and another on a suicide squeeze bunt to take a 2-0 lead.
La Habra loaded the bases again in the second and scored three runs on three hits and an error.
“We got a tough draw,” Lancaster third-year coach David Fischenich said. “Hats off to them. They can swing the bats. They pitched very well.
“We just finally, after six games in a row our seventh game, didn’t play solid all three aspects of the game like we have been for six games in a row. Playing against a good team like that, it’s going to hurt you.”
Lancaster was outhit 9-4 and committed three errors, while La Habra made two errors.
The Highlanders broke the game open with four runs in the fourth inning, loading the bases with no outs. Coats hit a three-run triple.
“It was almost one-sided in this game,” said Richards, who was 2-for-2. “It happens.”
Richards and Pruitt hit back-to-back singles with two outs in the third, but the Eagles were unable to capitalize.
Lancaster struck in the sixth, when Richards reached on an infield single to lead off the inning, sophomore Peter Hebert reached on an error with one out and junior Jack de Leuw was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Junior starting pitcher Logan Fekety followed by getting hit by a pitch to force in a run.
La Habra scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth, with the umpire signaling it invoked the mercy rule.
Fischenich wanted to continue playing, but was overruled.
La Habra will host Christian in the Regional Championship game on Saturday at 4 p.m. Christian defeated Elsinore 11-1 in the other semifinal game.
La Habra, the No. 1 seed in the division, received a firstround bye after winning the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 championship.
The Highlanders beat Elsinore 8-3 in the Div. 6 championship game at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.
La Habra was ranked No. 2 in Division 6, while Lancaster was not ranked in Division 7.
“As a coaching staff, when we were kind of going through the playoffs, we didn’t even want to talk about this,” Fischenich said. “We wanted our sole focus to be on the CIF championship, so I think having that high of winning it and then the bus ride home saying, ‘By the way, we’re going to continue to play.’ I think the emotions are up and down, definitely after that.”