Firecrackers Lutterloh-King happy to ‘survive and advance’ in first round of PGF 14U Platinum bracket

IRVINE – In sports, the game is not always executed according to plan.

Some results defy logic or explanation, but that does not preclude the coach from having to make sense of the events for his or her team.

Kraig King had the perfect reference stowed away for such an occasion, and he went to it after his team escaped as the beneficiary of four unearned runs in the first round of the Premier Girls Fastpitch 14U Platinum bracket on Tuesday.

“I just told them that as you get deep into tournaments, it doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you ‘survive and advance,’ ” King said. “We’ve lost games like that, so when it happens to us, we’ll obviously take it. It’s not the greatest way to win, but a win’s a win in a tournament that you prepare for all year.”

It was one way of looking at Tuesday’s result, a 4-3 over the Dirtdogs Heffley of Hanford at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.

At no point until the conclusion did the Firecrackers Lutterloh-King hold a lead. They walked off when Dirtdogs third baseman Marissa Fondtain’s throw was high to first, allowing Briana Gonzalez to score the winning run from second.

The Firecrackers rallied to tie the score in the fourth and fifth innings. Taylar Lannon forged the first deadlock at 1-1 with an RBI-single that scored Gonzalez.

In the fifth, Fondtain’s first error of the game allowed two runs to score, knotting the game, 3-3.

Gonzalez was unapologetic about the manner in which the Firecrackers won the game, saying that her team earned the win. While all four runs scored by FC Lutterloh-King were unearned, they had to get runners on base to be in position to capitalize on those mistakes.

“It was really close, but we did earn it,” she said. “We worked our butts off to get here, and we deserve the win.”

Gonzalez took a pitch to her left shoulder blade before coming around to score the winning run in the seventh. She reached base two other times (on a fielder’s choice and infield single), scoring a pair of runs.

The Firecrackers outfielder will be enrolled at Marina High in the fall, where she will join with club teammate Paige Shafer at the high school level. Batting out of the leadoff spot, Shafer went 2 for 4 against the Dirtdogs.

Tanna Schweitzer went the distance for the Firecrackers. She allowed three earned runs on five hits, striking out three and walking two. After pitching the whole game without a lead, Schweitzer was happy to accept the win.

“It was pretty nice,” she said. “I had to keep throwing my pitches where they’re supposed to go. My team backed me up, and it worked.”

Dirtdogs clean-up hitter Susannah Campos went 3 for 3 with two RBI. Her ground-rule double in the fourth provided the first lead of the game.

Second baseman Marissa Montelongo added two hits, including a double that broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth.

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Twitter: @ProfessorTurner