Edison charged up to play for title

Mike Sciacca

The Edison High baseball team faced a tall challenge Tuesday when it

battled second-seeded Mater Dei in a CIF Southern Section Division II

semifinal game on the Monarchs’ home field. That challenge became even

more daunting after one inning of play, where the Chargers found

themselves facing a 3-0 deficit. But Edison showed tremendous poise and

perseverance the rest of the way, and rallied for a 6-5 victory. The

triumph thrusts Edison (21-8-1) into Saturday’s Division II final (4:30

p.m.) at Dodger Stadium, where the Chargers will face Riverside Poly

(23-7), a 5-3 winner Tuesday at Trabuco Hills.

“It was our destiny that we got there,” Edison Coach Dave Tallman said

of his Chargers’ berth in Saturday’s title game.

It will be the third championship-game appearance for the Edison

baseball program, and this year’s Chargers have joined the school’s

10-year club, as the 1981 and ’91 Edison teams reached the title game.

This team , however, can create its own history by winning the school’s

first title.

It didn’t appear early on in Tuesday’s showdown that Edison would ever

make it to Dodger Stadium, as Mater Dei (25-5) took advantage of three

Charger errors and scored three runs in the first inning for a 3-0 lead.

The Monarchs threatened for more in the second, but starter Jeff Gilmore

(8-2) got out of a bases loaded jam to escape further damage. Cory

Vanderhook’s RBI sacrifice fly in the fourth inning narrowed the gap to

3-1, and the Chargers exploded for five runs in the fifth inning. This

time, Edison was able to capitalize on a pair of Mater Dei errors.

Vanderhook collected another RBI when his single scored Chris Brannan to

tie the game at 3-3. A key two-RBI single by Marcus McCutcheon gave the

Chargers a 6-3 lead. Mater Dei pulled to within 6-4 on Mike Harris’ home

run in the fifth inning, and Garrett Gipe had an RBI single in the bottom

of the seventh to make it a one run game, but the Monarchs could get no

closer.

Edison right fielder Andrew McEachin provided a big blow to the

Monarchs’ comeback chances when he turned a double play in the seventh.