Foothill rallies against rivals

CANYON COUNTRY — For five innings on Thursday afternoon, the Foothill Major Softball All-Stars allowed rival Quartz Hill too many chances and squandered the few they were afforded.

Unpredictably, it turned out to simply be setting the stage for an amazing Foothill comeback.

Held to just one hit over the first five innings and down by three runs entering the final inning, the District 16 champions rallied with seven hits, two walks and seven stunning runs in a come-from-behind 7-3 win for Foothill over Quartz Hill in the opening game of the Section 2 Tournament at the Canyon Country Little League facility.

"They're just a great bunch of girls, they don't give up," said Foothill co-Manager Tyson Howard, whose team is now 3-0. "We haven't really been down. To see these girls come back really makes me happy. It was impressive."

Foothill won its two District 16 games by a combined 26-7 score and features a core group of players from the Foothill Giuseppe's squad that won a Tri-Cities title in dominant fashion. Making Thursday's game even more improbable was that the comeback came over the District 51 champions that had defeated Foothill in last season's championship game for the third straight year.

"It's huge because we never beat them," Howard said. "We lost to them three years in a row. …I thought they were gonna get us again."

Both teams will now await the winner of today's District 17 San Marino-District 40 Mission Hills contest. Foothill will play the winner on Saturday at 9 a.m., while Quartz Hill will play the loser in an elimination game at noon.

Alex Howard and Jordan Lousararian each had a pair of hits, with Howard shining in the circle over three innings of no-hit relief for the victory. But for Foothill, the rally was indeed a team effort, as the lineup caught fire after pinch-hitter Katie Colwell's bloop single over second in the fifth inning had stood as the team's only hit.

"We just started coming alive with our bats," said Lousararian, who had a run and an RBI in the sixth.

Until the sixth, Quartz Hill twirler Sam Arriola had handcuffed the local all-stars, allowing just one hit and no walks over the first five innings.

"She was money," Tyson Howard said. "I thought we'd hit her better, but we just didn't."