Lakewood Delivers in Clutch

Lakewood High lived up to its mantra Tuesday at Cal State Fullerton, driving in three runs with two outs in a 4-1 victory over Santa Maria Righetti in a Southern Section Division I semifinal.

Afterward, Lakewood Coach Spud O’Neil unbuttoned his jersey to reveal a red T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Two outs ... so what!” The Lancers have worn the shirts under their uniforms all season.

Bo Banach had a two-run double in the first inning and Aljay Davis drove in a run with a two-out bloop single in the fourth. Davis also had a sacrifice fly in the second inning

“They had the timely hitting,” Righetti Coach Scott Nickason said. “That was huge.”

The second-seeded Lancers, who set a school record with their 28th victory against five losses, will play top-seeded Camarillo in the championship game Saturday at Edison Field.

Camarillo swept Lakewood in a doubleheader earlier this season.

Lakewood right-hander Jon Ortega (8-1) made his team’s clutch hitting stand up by throwing a two-hitter for his second complete game.

The Warriors (21-11), who upset third-seeded Arcadia in the second round, got their only run in the fourth inning when Ryan Demchak scored on Pat Dolan’s sacrifice fly.

Lakewood, making its first championship-game appearance since 1994 and bidding for its first title since 1987, will face a tougher batting order in the final.

Slugger Delmon Young is the centerpiece of a Camarillo lineup that has no apparent weaknesses.

Young is 10 for 10 against Lakewood pitching the last two years, although he has not faced Jason Wanamaker (11-0), who will take the mound Saturday.

“He’s a good enough pitcher,” Ortega said of Wanamaker. “He’s handled [Anaheim] Esperanza and [Huntington Beach] Edison, a couple of good teams. He’s proved himself this year.”

Camarillo 7, Long Beach Poly 3--Delmon Young gave up four hits over 61/3 innings and had three hits, including a two-run home run, and three runs scored for the Scorpions (29-4) at Cal State Fullerton.

Young (5-1) struck out seven and finished a double short of the cycle. His sixth-inning home run was his section-leading 17th.

Travis Sutton got the last two outs for Camarillo, which will attempt to win its first section title on Saturday.

Poly finishes 22-9.

Ben Bolch

Villa Park 5, Santa Barbara 3--Ben Hanna hit a two-run homer and scored twice for the Spartans (23-7) in a Division II semifinal game at Santa Barbara (23-6).

Chris Bragg scored once, drove in a run and took the mound in the bottom of the seventh to get the game’s last two outs with the tying run at first base.

Villa Park advances to play Canyon Country Canyon, an 8-4 winner over Mission Viejo, on Saturday at Edison Field.

Santa Margarita 5, Cerritos Gahr 3--Michael Beattie hit his second home run of the game, a two-run shot in the bottom of the seventh inning, to give Santa Margarita (17-10) a victory over Gahr (22-8) in a Division III semifinal game at Santa Margarita High.

Jared Hughes (8-4) scattered five hits and had four strikeouts for Santa Margarita, which advances to play Riverside Arlington, a 2-0 winner over top-seeded Santa Ana Mater Dei, Saturday at Edison Field.

In the City Section playoffs:

Chatsworth 13, Woodland Hills El Camino Real 6--Jason Dominguez, Bryan Lee and Jordan Sisson each hit home runs to power Chatsworth (25-5) to a City Championship quarterfinal victory at El Camino Real (25-5).

Chatsworth will play West Valley League rival Cleveland in a semifinal Thursday at Pierce College. The Chancellors have lost three times to Cleveland.

San Fernando 6, Bell 1--Miguel Gonzalez (4-1) threw a five-hitter and had two hits and two runs batted in for host San Fernando (16-13-1), which will play Sylmar, an 8-3 winner over Carson, in a semifinal Thursday at Van Nuys Birmingham High.