Baseball: San Pedro advances to City Section semifinals, 1-0
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Jesse Betancourt, a 5-foot-3, 136-pound senior right-hander, limited Granada Hills Kennedy to two hits, striking out eight and walking one, to help San Pedro pull out a 1-0 victory in a City Section quarterfinal playoff game at San Pedro.
The game featured a controversial umpire’s reversal in the sixth inning. Chris Mallon hit what third-base umpire Johnny Johnson signaled was a fair ball down the left-field line for an RBI double to tie the game, 1-1. San Pedro Coach Bob Ramirez came out of the dugout to appeal the decision. There were four umpires used in the game. Johnson consulted with the home-plate umpire and then reversed his call, ruling it was a foul ball. Mallon then struck out, ending the inning.
San Pedro scored its only run off Pablo Gonzalez in the fifth inning on back-to-back doubles by Nico Padovan and Michael Samperio.
It was San Pedro’s 19th consecutive victory. The Pirates (23-8) will play El Camino Real in Wednesday’s 6 p.m. semifinal at USC. Chatsworth will play San Fernando at 3 p.m.
El Camino Real defeated Verdugo Hills, 5-1. Owen Perry threw a four-hitter. Justin Russell had two doubles.
In a Division II quarterfinal, University defeated Van Nuys, 9-2.
-- Eric Sondheimer