Wild pitch in ninth helps South beat North in Orange County All-Star baseball game – Orange County Register

IRVINE – It was a great night for Crean Lutheran baseball at the Orange County Baseball All-Star Game.

Crean Lutheran coach Jake Haney was the head coach of the South team. His son Jackson, Crean’s receiver, was on the South team. And Crean’s Sho Garcia scored the winning run for the South in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Garcia scored from third base on a wild pitch Wednesday to give the South a 3-2 victory over the North in the county all-star game played for the first time at Great Park.

The Ryan Lemmon Foundation assumed organizational and management duties for the game after the Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim could no longer continue hosting the game it started in 1968.

Carter Danz of Corona del Mar was the MVP of the South team. Justin Tillar of Cypress was the North MVP. Noah Neufeld of Laguna Beach won the game’s Hustle Award.

The South leads the series 32-23-1. The South won last year’s game 11-8 at Glover Stadium, where the game had been played for many years. The North won the 2022 match.

With the score tied 2-2, Garcia walked to lead early in the bottom of the ninth inning. Garcia stole second base and went to third on a one-out single to right by Tesoro’s Owen Faust. One out later, Garcia scored on the wild pitch.

“I was super aggressive,” Garcia said. “With two outs, I was looking for anything in the dirt and going for it no matter what.

Garcia enjoyed the All-Star Game experience.

“It was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had on a baseball field,” Garcia said. “Being with all the kids I was competing against? It was a lot of fun being part of their team this time.

Jake Haney appreciated all the Crean-Lutheran angles.

“It was cool to have them here one more time,” he said. “They are very deserving, their kids are great and they appreciate it. Jackson, as a kid, went to some of those games to watch our old kids play, so that was pretty cool.

Danz drove in Faust in the bottom of the first inning with a double to give South a 1-0 lead. Danz hit another double in the third inning, went to third base on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.

Tustin’s Andrew Olsen scored on a wild pitch in the fifth inning to give the North its first run. The North tied it in the eighth inning when Tillar hit a triple to the right field corner and scored on a ground out by Yorba Linda’s Jacob Talbott.