The Banning baseball team used some late-inning magic to advance in the CIF SoCal Regional playoffs.
The top-seeded Pilots (23-9) scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat No. 8 Lemoore 3-2 in the Division IV first-round.
Banning will host No. 5 Rancho Mirage in Thursday’s regional semifinal at 4 p.m.
Angelo Duarte drew a bases loaded walk to score Pedro Ibanez-Eddy as the winning run.Oscar Chavez picked up the win in relief for Pilots. AJ Herrera had two hits, two walks and drove in two runs.
Also in Division IV, Mary Star’s road game at Estancia was postponed until Wednesday. The game was called Tuesday at 5 p.m. due to inclement weather and will resume at 3:45 p.m. in the top of the second inning.
Port of Los Angeles’ first-round game in Division V on the road against No. 4 Nuview Bridge will be played Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Softball
Both Port of Los Angeles and Westchester lost their opening round games.
In Division III, POLA, the eighth-seed suffered a 9-2 loss against No. 1 seed Point Loma.Jimena Vargas and Makayla Samora had an RBI apiece for POLA (19-5).
In Division IV, No. 4 Culver City defeated No. 5 Westchester 20-7