Paraclete Suffers a Long-Ball Loss

Home run. Home run. Home run.

No relief.

Single. Walk. Double. Home run.

Still, no relief . . and none out.

That’s how South Hills High scored seven runs in the fifth inning of its 14-8 victory Friday over host Paraclete in a Southern Section Division IV quarterfinal game.

With Paraclete ace Matt Parris struggling to maintain velocity and keep his fastball down and No. 2 pitcher Jason Brown unable to step in and help stop the slugfest, the Spirits could do little to slow No. 2-seeded South Hills.

“There’s nothing much to go to,” Paraclete Coach Steve Hagerty said. “We’re a little thin right now.”

Because Brown used up his 10-inning, one-week allotment Tuesday in a 4-1, 11-inning victory over Anaheim Western, Shane Canal and John McMurtry were called on for relief in the sixth and seventh.

But the pair struggled.

Parris (8-4), who tried to pitch despite a strained pectoral muscle he injured last week, was like a fighter who couldn’t get off the ropes as South Hills slugged 13 hits, including five home runs, in 6 1/3 innings.

All told, South Hills (25-2-1), the Division III champion last year, had 16 hits, including six home runs and three doubles.

Paraclete (19-8) missed an opportunity to cash in on a bases-loaded opportunity in the third, and South Hills broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth with a run-scoring single by Ryan Varela.

“That was the momentum-twister right there,” Hagerty said.

The Spirits rallied for three runs in the fifth on a three-run home run by Brown, his ninth.

But South Hills, which scored in every inning but the first and second, took a 14-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

A four-run rally, helped along by two Husky errors, fell short for the Spirits, who had 10 hits.