Baseball: NHBA bombs Los Alamitos

Joseph Boo

GARDEN GROVE - If the Newport Harbor Baseball Association Bronco

Blue All-Stars had to go through the trouble of playing an extra game in

the District Three Tournament, it might as well have made good use of its

time.

NHBA bombed Los Alamitos Red early, often and thoroughly on Friday. By

the time the carnage was over, NHBA was sitting on top of a 19-0 victory

after a first-round game at Westhaven Park.

“We certainly hit the ball well,” NHBA manager Kevin Heenan said.

With nine teams in the tournament, two teams had to play an extra game

and NHBA and Los Alamitos were the unlucky two. With the win, NHBA stayed

in the winners’ bracket advancing to play Westgrove Saturday.

“I actually like the extra game,” Heenan said. “It gives us a chance to

develop a nice rhythm for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

NHBA played Los Al’s B squad in the Los Alamitos Fish Fry tournament

earlier this season and got a 6-1 victory. Though the results were both

NHBA wins, the actual games were completely different.

NHBA put up three runs in the first and second innings to put Los Al in a

hole early. Alec Martinez started his team’s onslaught when he drove in

Dennis Heenan with a groundout to the second baseman. Billy Munce then

scored on a wild pitch, and Dustin Schuler added an RBI single.

NHBA reached six runs against Los Al a lot faster the second time around.

An RBI double down the third-base line by Kurt Yacko and run-scoring

singles from Heenan and Martinez gave NHBA a 6-0 lead after two.

“Los Al got its pitches too high and gave us easy pitches to hit,” Heenan

said. “They definitely pitched tougher in the last game.”

Los Al exhausted four pitchers before the game finally ended after the

fifth inning.

On the NHBA side, Heenan, Davis Pemstein and Martinez combined for a

three-hit shutout.

“They all pitched well,” Heenan said, “and our fielding was good too.”

Things were going so good for NHBA, it didn’t want the game to end. It

was 15-0 after four innings, both teams lined up for the postgame

handshakes. But the mercy rule takes effect in the Bronco Division after

five innings. While NHBA was ecstatic about the extra inning, Los Al

marched out to absorb four more runs before the game was over.

Heenan was the offensive star for NHBA, going 5 for 5 with five runs. He

lacked only a home run for the cycle.

While Heenan needed a homer, that was Munce’s only hit. In the fourth, he

ripped a shot into the left-center gap, which also scored Heenan.

Yacko did nicely at the plate too. He went 3 for 5 with two doubles,

three RBIs and four runs. NHBA batted around twice.

Yacko and Heenan were the only two NHBA players with multiple hits as

nine different NHBA players fueled a balanced offense. The only starter

not to get a hit, Pemstein, crippled Los Al by scoring four times.

Martinez, Schuler, Nick Frazier, Donny Hart, Blake Fogg and Tim Cramer

all had singles for NHBA.