El Segundo Tournament : Hart, Edwards Pick Off South Torrance, 4-2

While Jason Edwards was busy pitching a crafty game and handcuffing South Torrance High, his teammates were not so busy, supplying him only 4 hits on offense.

So was the Hart pitcher ticked off?

No way, because the Indians made good use of those 4 hits, producing a 4-2 win in the quarterfinals of the championship bracket Wednesday at South Torrance High.

Even so, Edwards’ heady complete game was in danger with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning when South Torrance had runners on second and third and leadoff batter Chris Kredo at the plate.

A problem for some, to be sure. But Edwards simply ended the threat by firing a pickoff throw to second baseman Darrin Tsukashima, who laid the tag on Jason Walton for the final out. With the win, Hart (3-0) moves on to the semifinals.

“We’ve worked on that play a lot in practice,” said Edwards, who scattered 5 hits, struck out 5 and walked none. “We just felt it was a good time to try it.”

On a day when South Torrance pitcher Zak Krislock had Indian batters baffled for the most part, Hart required a team effort to scrap for each of its runs.

Hart received clutch hitting from first baseman Ray Gardocki, who provided RBI singles in the first and seventh innings. In between, Tsukashima drilled a fifth-inning triple that scored Lance Migita, who was aboard after being hit by a pitch.

Then the offense stepped aside to let Edwards miss Spartan bats with curveballs and sliders.

“I throw a lot of off-speed pitches in general,” Edwards said. “But today they were hitting my fastball, so I stuck mainly with my curve and slider.”

And a nice pickoff move.