Edison’s Victory Keeps Race Tight

The most interesting aspect of the Sunset League baseball race might not be which team wins the title, but which finishes fourth and misses the Southern Section Division I playoffs.

Huntington Beach Edison kept its hopes alive Friday for both a postseason berth and a league championship by defeating host Los Alamitos, 9-1.

The victory not only kept the Chargers (16-9, 7-6), ranked No. 24 in the Southland by The Times, within a game of the final playoff spot but moved them within one game of the league lead, shared by No. 7 Anaheim Esperanza (17-7, 8-5), No. 11 Los Alamitos (17-8, 8-5) and No. 17 Huntington Beach Marina (16-8, 8-5).

“A lot of teams right now are playing for nothing,” Coach Matt Mosiello said.

Edison will close the regular season next week with two games against Marina, which the Chargers defeated, 11-1, this season. Los Alamitos will play two games against Fountain Valley, and Esperanza will play two against Huntington Beach.

Dan Arritt

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Softball

Kirsten Slouber of Van Nuys Montclair Prep had 40 strikeouts in 17 innings Tuesday in a game against Santa Monica Crossroads that was suspended for darkness with the score tied, 1-1. The game will be resumed at 3:15 p.m. Monday at the Mid-Valley Softball Complex in Encino.

She is tied for fourth in the Southern Section with Placentia Valencia’s Michele Granger, who struck out 40 against La Mirada in 1988, the same year that Terry Carpenter of Huntington Beach Edison struck out 43 Burbank Burroughs batters.

In a 29-inning game in 1986, De De Weiman of Cerritos Gahr struck out 56, and Lakewood St. Joseph’s Lisa Fernandez struck out 48. The national and state record is 61 by Alicia Hollowell of Fairfield, set in a 30-inning game in 2001.

-- Martin Henderson