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Pitching, hitting coming through for Edison

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For the second time in her last two outings, Ally Hecht did her thing in the pitcher’s circle.

Edison’s senior pitcher threw a one-hitter in Tuesday’s Sunset League opener against rival Fountain Valley and, combined with 11 strikeouts, paved the way in a 9-3 victory over the visiting Barons.

At the Woodbridge Tournament Monday, Hecht also pitched a one-hitter and fanned nine in taming El Modena.

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In Tuesday’s win over Fountain Valley, the Chargers had plenty of offensive firepower. Juniors Megan Feuerstein and Madison Hickman both went three for four with two runs batted in, sophomore Karley Wester went three for four with three runs scored and junior Jessica Plaza hit a three-run home run.

Edison started play Saturday at the Woodbridge Tournament and won its first two games, beating Tesoro, 11-1, in five innings, and Corona, 9-2. On Monday, the Chargers shut down El Modena, 6-0, in a quarterfinal round game that went six innings. In addition to Hecht’s one-hitter, Feurestein and junior Casey Africano both hit solo home runs.

The Chargers improved to 10-1 and are on a five-game win streak heading into Thursday’s 3:15 game at Huntington Beach.

“The girls are playing a ton of softball this week with the Woodbridge Tournament and our first week of league play,” Edison assistant coach Brittany Hyams said. “They are doing a fantastic job of coming out ready to play, and they have been solid both offensively and defensively. Its been a really exciting season so far.”

Edison will play a semifinal game at the Woodbridge Tournament against La Habra at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.

Prior to facing Edison, Fountain Valley took on Ocean View in nonleague play March 29 and scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth to break a tie and take a 7-2 win from the visiting Seahawks.

The Barons host Marina at 3:15 p.m. Thursday.

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In other softball action:

Marina: Well, No. 400 is in the books for Marina head coach Shelly Luth, who, in her 20th year at the school, recorded her 400th coaching victory with a 9-1 win Tuesday against visiting Newport Harbor. Freshman Tera Blanco struck out 13 in a complete game to run her record to 8-0. Senior Chloe Kaneko went three for four with five RBIs and junior Sandy Simmons two for two.

“It was a fun game,” said Luth, whose team improved to 2-0 in league and 9-1-1 overall. “The kids are really playing well right now. I’m very happy for them.”

In a league opener Friday, the Vikings rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth to erase a 1-0 deficit against Huntington Beach and went on to score a 5-1 win over the host Oilers. Blanco and Kaneko both doubled in the sixth and Blanco went the distance for her seventh win.

Marina travels Thursday to face Fountain Valley at 3:15 p.m. and hosts Los Alamitos in a key league game Tuesday (3:15 p.m.).

Huntington Beach: The Oilers saw their Sunset League record fall to 0-2 Tuesday after a 9-0 loss at Los Alamitos, which played its league opener and won its fifth-straight game.

In a league opener Friday, Huntington held a 1-0 lead heading into the sixth against visiting Marina but fell to the Vikings, 5-1. Jillian Martinez had two hits and Miceala Vierra pitched 6 1/3 innings and gave up five hits with four strikeouts.

The Oilers host Edison at 3:15 p.m. Thursday

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Baseball

Marina: The Vikings improved their Sunset League record to 4-2 Tuesday with a 6-0 home shutout of Newport Harbor. Senior Jake Tillinghast threw a three-hit, complete-game victory. Marina banged out 10 hits and sophomore Tyler Mildenberg had three RBIs and senior Payton Lobdell two RBIs to lead the way for Marina, which moved to 8-5 overall.

Marina scored its first two runs in the bottom of the second with senior Nick Marshall getting a leadoff single and junior Trevor Megill doubling. Two outs later, Mildenberg doubled over the third base bag to score Marshall and Megill. The Sailors still were within 2-0 entering the sixth where the Vikings scored four runs capped by Lobdell’s two-run double.

“Our offense stepped up with 10 hits,” Marina Coach Bob Marshall said. “I can’t be more proud of this entire team. All year we have been relying on pitching and defense to keep us in the game and then hopefully our offense can scrap a few runs. All year our middle of our line-up has not provided the pop to get us back into games when we are trailing by a run or two, or to jump out with a few run lead to get us that cushion we need.

“Today, our offense came through. I have said this entire year if we can get our middle of our line-up to start swinging the bat productively, we will be a team that will have all the pieces together.”

Junior Trevor Megil had a complete game March 30 against Huntington Beach, a 5-3 win by the Vikings. Last Friday, Marina lost, 3-0, at Edison.

“We had a tough loss to Edison last week,” Marshall said. “Mitch Huffman threw a gem but got the loss because we could not score. I had a long talk with our hitters about making adjustments and against Newport, they made those adjustments.”

The Vikings play 3:15 games Friday at Newport Harbor and Wednesday at Fountain Valley.

Edison: The Chargers ran their win streak to five and completed the first round of Sunset League play undefeated Friday by defeating visiting Marina, 3-0, scoring single runs in the first, third and sixth innings. Henry Owens allowed just two hits in improving to 5-0 and senior Sean Whiteman and sophomore Jake Lesinski both doubled.

Edison plays Friday at Fountain Valley and Wednesday at Huntington Beach. Both games are 3 p.m. starts.

Fountain Valley: The Barons picked up two more Sunset League wins to put their win streak at three games, beating Newport Harbor, 6-3, and Los Alamitos, 9-5, to improve to 3-2 in league.

Against Newport, senior Turner Clouse threw five innings and got the win. Freshman Nate Rodriguez went two for three with two RBIs, senior John Goldsby two for three with two runs, junior Matt Gasparro homered and drove in two runs and senior Dan Jimenz had a hit and two RBIs. In the win over Los Alamitos, junior Zack Milan (four innings) recorded the win and senior Taylor Martin threw the final three to get the save. Martin also was a key figure on offense with two hits and four RBIs. Gasparro went two for two with two RBIs and Clouse two for three with two runs.

The Barons host league-leading Edison at 3 p.m. Thursday ). It’s the third and final league meeting of the season between the two rivals.

“Edison is in a class by themselves, but there is a five-team race for the two remaining playoff spots,” Barons Coach Ron LaRuffa said.

Huntington Beach: The Oilers took a 7-4 victory Friday from host Newport Harbor to pick up their second Sunset League win in five starts. Junior Shane Grace (2-1) threw five, strong innings giving up one hit and a run. Senior Sean Anderson went three for three with a double and three RBIs and closed for Grace to earn his third save of the season.

“We are starting fresh this week,” said Oilers Coach Benji Medure, whose squad hosts both Los Alamitos Friday and Edison Wednesday . “If we are going to make a run at this thing (league), we need to stop beating ourselves. If we can eliminate the mistakes on defense and stay aggressive at the plate, we can turn this around. I like our chances.”

Ocean View: The Seahawks completed the first round of Golden West League play with victories over Segerstrom and Santa Ana to improve to 3-2 and share second place with Loara and Orange behind first-place Westminster.

In a 9-5 win March 29 over Segerstrom, Alex Knowles notched his second win of the season, Blake Walker went three for four and Robert Fogarty, who Coach Shane Borowski said “improved on his break-out year,” went two for four. The junior leads the team in hitting with a .436 average and is tied for the team lead in RBIs with 13. Timmy Robinson, who also has 13 RBIs and is hitting .377, had a hit and Freddy Sepulveda had a hit and drove in three runs.

In Friday’s 21-2 romp past Santa Ana, Sepulveda took a no-hitter into the fourth inning where he gave up an infield single, walk and bloop single, but still improved his season’s record to 3-0. Robinson powered the Seahawks’ offense, going five for five with a double and home run and four RBIs. Junior Travis Sparks-Jackson had a team-high five RBIs. Sepulveda, Walker, Fogarty, and senior Trey Gourdine, all doubled. Sophomore Luke Fell and junior Chad Hackworth each had two RBIs.

On Saturday, Ocean View started play in the OC Nissan Classic tournament and defeated Torrance, which played in the CIF Division 4 title game last June, 5-1. Walker (2-2) got the win behind a solid, four innings before he was taken out due to the 10 innings-a-week rule. Walker also tripled in going three for three with an RBI. Fogarty also had three hits including a double with three RBIs, senior Blake Hitchcock had two hits, Robinson a double and Sepulveda a hit and RBI.

The Seahawks dropped tournament games Monday to Beckman (8-4) and Tuesday to Tustin (4-1). They host league foe Orange at 3 p.m. Wednesday .

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