Aggressive Foothill Wins Softball Title : High schools: Knights score three runs in fourth inning to beat Newhall Hart, 5-2, in 4-A final.

LAKEWOOD — For a championship game, in which only the supposedly polished meet, it wasn’t a particularly well-played affair.

But it kept everyone in suspense, if not by its lack of artistry, certainly by its unpredictability.

In the end, Foothill got the best of an otherwise forgettable defensive effort by both sides to defeat Newhall Hart, 5-2, in the Southern Section 4-A championship game Friday night at Mayfair Park.

The victory gave the Knights (26-7) their first section softball title. Foothill lost to Irvine, 1-0, in the final last season.

This time, the Knights used nine hits, four Hart errors and clutch pitching from right-hander Leeann Gonzalez (24-5) to win a game that included nine errors.

“Defense has really kept us in the games, but we didn’t play good defense tonight,” said Foothill Coach Joe Gonzalez, Leeann’s father.

Hart (22-8), the Foothill League champion, opened the scoring with a run in the top of the third inning.

With one out, Shannon Turk singled to right. Tracy Clark then was called out after being hit by the batted ball outside of the batter’s box, but Jamie Bean reached on an obstruction by Foothill catcher Kelley Green. Cindy Abrams followed with a line single to center field, driving in Torrey Stotts, who was running for Turk.

The Knights answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.

Melissa Wielandt led off with an infield hit, Amy Tessman bunted her to second and Green moved her to third with a bloop single to left, that Hart left fielder Amanda Deutschman bobbled, allowing Green to take second.

Christina Mazurie then grounded out to shortstop, but Wielandt scored from third with a hook slide around catcher Kim Neighbors, ahead of the throw from first baseman Danielle Bragdon. Green later scored when Deutschman dropped Jessica Lindquist’s fly ball.

The Indians evened the score, 2-2, in the top of the fourth on a Foothill error, but then let the game get away in the bottom half of the inning.

Gonzales opened with her second infield hit of the night, Julie Metzger followed with an infield single. Neighbors then threw Michelle Churnock’s bunt into right field for a two-base error, allowing Gonzales to score and Metzger to take third.

Metzger then scored on a wild pitch by right-hander Lauren Fenstemaker (19-6). After Wielandt lined out to the pitcher, Tessman drove in Churnock from third with a single to left field.

Many of Hart’s defensive lapses perhaps were caused by the aggressiveness of the Foothill base runners, who took chances from the start.

“Our base runners have worked real hard at being aggressive,” Joe Gonzales said. “In this game, which is really dominated by pitching, it helps to be aggressive.”

Leeann Gonzales struck out six and walked two, and Fenstemaker struck out five and walked one.

Abrams had two of Hart’s four hits and Tessman was two for three for Foothill.