Edison tickled pink with 12-inning victory
HUNTINGTON BEACH — This one was for Joanne Phillips.
The Edison baseball team wore pink uniforms in Wednesday’s home game against Huntington Beach in honor of Phillips, the mother of a Chargers team member who passed away from breast cancer. Both teams honored her memory by playing an extra-inning thriller that was played under a light drizzle and nearly had to be stopped as the rain clouds sat above Edison High.
“It’s really one of those games where neither team should have lost,” said Chargers coach Steve Lambright, whose team just last week dropped a similar one-run affair in nine innings to Fountain Valley.
The 12th inning was the charm this time around for Edison, as it outlasted Huntington Beach, 2-1, in another Sunset League classic. Chargers center fielder Brett Adams delivered the game-winning single, driving in left fielder Kevin Ando.
“My team believed in me and I got it done,” Adams said. “It hit me when I saw my whole team running out there. I felt blessed. I was so excited. It’s a great feeling. We’re wearing our pink jerseys. It was nice to get that win with everyone watching and all the support.”
Edison (9-10, 7-3) remained in a three-way tie with Los Alamitos and Marina for first place in league with less than three weeks to play. Huntington Beach (13-5, 5-5) remained in fourth place, now two games back.
“It’s just the way the Sunset League is,” Lambright said. “I'm proud of these guys in terms of their resiliency. We’ve had some tough situations. We don’t score a lot of runs. We got to pitch and we got to play defense. The next five games are going to be like this.”
The starting pitchers went pitch for pitch, as each team had just one run on three hits through 10 innings. The Oilers struck first when center fielder Brett Urabe led off the game with a home run. It almost held up as Huntington Beach starter Christian Abe had a no-hitter through four innings.
Abe got a hand from teammate Matt Urabe in the sixth inning when the left fielder jumped into the fence to rob Adams of an extra-base hit. Edison’s next batter, Timmy Lopes, smacked the ball few feet to the right of Adams’ hit and a few feet farther for a solo home run.
Lopes, who has signed with UC Irvine, seamlessly moved from shortstop to the mound in the eighth inning. He threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit to earn the victory.
“He's one of the best athletes I've ever coached,” Lambright said. “He's a next level guy. Whether he ends up going to UCI or gets drafted, he's going to have success. It’s been ingrained in him to work hard. He’s blessed with some ability but the kid really does work hard. He's our leader.”
Edison starter Tyler Jones allowed three hits and struck out two over 7 2/3 innings. Abe, who gave up only a bunt single and threw a shutout and in the teams’ previous meeting, went eight innings and allowed three hits while striking out four.
The Oilers have lost three games in a row. Their five defeats have come by a combined eight runs.
“I told them there’s a lot of season left,” Oilers coach Benji Medure said. “That one stings. That’s going to hurt for a while. But this is a good team and we have good character and I expect us to battle back.”
All proceeds from the game went to the Be Aware Foundation, which funds clinical research on breast cancer.
