FOUNTAIN VALLEY – The Sunset League baseball opener between Edison and Fountain Valley on Friday wasn’t played flawlessly by either team.
But there was no shortage of drama and late-inning heroics, as the Barons scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 3-2, come-from-behind victory over the Chargers at Fountain Valley High.
Every seat in the four bleacher sections was filled equally with fans from Fountain Valley (5-3, 1-0) and Edison (6-4, 0-1), with dozens more spectators standing along the fences on both sides of the field.
“Whenever these two schools get together, you are going to have a competitive game,” Fountain Valley coach Deric Yanagisawa said. “The atmosphere today was awesome.”
With one out in the sixth, Barons left fielder Trevor Staffieri hit a solo home run that just cleared the left-center field wall to tie the score.
One out later, Shea Adame doubled, took third on a passed ball and then scored what would be the winning run on a wild pitch.
“I didn’t even know it went over until I was at second base,” Staffieri said of his home run. “I felt like I was just floating around the bases. It was a great team win, which makes it that much better.”
A pair of superb defensive plays by Fountain Valley then sealed the victory in the Chargers’ final at-bat.
Nolan Funke led off the frame with a single off reliever Cedrick Perez, who was then replaced by Justin Yang.
Leadoff hitter Vince Inman hit a ground ball to the right side of second base. Second baseman Sebastian Murillo moved to his right to snag the grounder, stepped on second and made an off-balance throw to first to compete the double play.
No. 2 batter Chase Hanson hit foul ball that sliced away from Adame, who extended his body to make the game-ending final out.
Edison scored on an error to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth, setting the stage for the Barons’ come back.
“We gave up a tough run … an unearned run,” Yanagisawa said. “But our guys picked each other up. These guys showed a lot of heart at the end of the game.”
