ANAHEIM LIONS TOURNAMENT : Sunny Hills Hangs On to Win

Wednesday night’s championship game of the Anaheim Lions baseball tournament turned out to be a question of who would stay on the see-saw longer.

Sunny Hills finished the ride on top.

Jeff Templeton’s bases-loaded single in the ninth inning gave the Lancers a 9-8 victory over Cypress at Glover Stadium.

The game featured seven lead changes and 26 hits.

With Cypress trailing, 7-4, in the top of seventh inning, tournament MVP Bob Brito doubled over Lancer left fielder Bryan Huskey’s head to draw Cypress within a run. First baseman Brian Flanagan then tripled to center, scoring Matt Sheldon and Brito with the tying and go ahead runs.

But Sunny Hills came right back. The Lancers (14-4) loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, and Andy Volpp scored from third base on a Pat Murphy wild pitch to tie the score, 8-8.

In the ninth inning, Brito, who was three for five with two runs batted in, came to the plate with a runner on third and two outs. But Scott Warkentin got him to ground to short to end the rally for Cypress (9-8).

“We showed everybody we can come together at the right time to win it,” Templeton said.

Sunny Hills took advantage of early Cypress mistakes to lead, 5-3, after two innings. The Lancers scored three unearned runs in the second inning on four passed balls, a wild pitch and an error.

Warkentin pitched the final 2 1/3 innings and gave up two hits and no runs to earn his first victory of the season.

Sunny Hills right fielder Mike McCue was three for four with a double, a triple and two runs scored.

“Our guys didn’t give up in the seventh inning. I was just happy we could get out of it and still have a chance,” Sunny Hills Coach Doug Elliott said. “And they showed a lot of heart.”

In the third-place game:

Anaheim 4, Loara 3--The Colonists (5-13) rallied from a three-run deficit to win. Lucas Sanchez’s groundout scored the winning run with one out in the seventh. Sanchez also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Joe Palacio (2-5) went the distance, striking out four.

Magnolia 7, Katella 2--Josh Reding had a three-run double in the third inning for Magnolia (9-4) in consolation play.

Western 5, Downey Warren 2--In his first varsity start, sophomore Anthony Ortiz (1-0) gave up four hits in 6 1/3 innings. David Bell drove in two runs for Western (6-11).