Baseball: Downey wins longest-ever Southern Section playoff game

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The longest playoff game in Southern Section history came to an end when Ivory Thomas III walked home in the 20th inning to help host Downey defeat Harvard-Westlake, 3-2, in a Division III wild-card game Tuesday.

Thomas got his fifth hit of the game with a no-out single in the bottom of the 20th. After stealing second and third, he later scored on a no-out walk to Bryant De la Campa to put an end to the game that tied the record for longest game between two Southern Section teams.

‘It was just good to get a win,’ Downey’s eighth-year Coach Jess Gonzalez said. ‘We had quite a few chances in a lot of the innings and we didn’t capitalize.’

Thomas also tripled in the 10th inning and had an RBI and three stolen bases. Other heroes for the Vikings included sophomore Jonathan Lopez, who pitched 10 scoreless innings after entering the game in the seventh inning, and junior Cesar Valtierra, who pitched three scoreless innings for the victory.

The only other game between Southern Section teams to last this long took place in 1962, when Orange defeated Santa Ana, 7-6, in 20 innings. The Southern Section’s listed record for longest game is a 23-inning game between Pomona College and Fullerton High in 1926.

-- Chuck Schilken