Baseball: Newport moves on to sectionals

Joseph Boo

GARDEN GROVE - All the Newport Harbor Baseball Association Bronco

(11-12) All-Star Baseball team needed was one win on either Saturday or

Sunday in the Pony League District Regionals at Westhaven Park to clinch

its first trip ever to the Sectionals.

And Newport got that win with a 12-1 wipeout of Anaheim “B” on Sunday

morning. But it came within two outs of achieving much more.

Newport came within two outs of upsetting powerful Fountain Valley “A”

Saturday in the winner’s bracket semifinals. Instead, Fountain Valley

scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to escape, 7-6.

If Newport held on to that game, it would have guaranteed at least a

No. 1 seed in the Sectionals. It also would have faced Los Alamitos, a

team it beat once before in the Fish Fry Tournament, in the final game

for the right to skip the sectionals and move on to the Zone Tournament.

Despite the near-miss, Newport got what it wanted, a road trip to

Moreno Valley. It’s Sectional opener is on Friday, 5:15 p.m. against a

Riverside representative. Newport will make it’s first trip ever to the

Sectionals as Orange County’s No. 3 team.

“This is a big deal, more so for our kids,” Newport Manager Kevin

Heenan said. “They’ve never made it this far before. They made it to the

Regionals, but they never went to the sectionals. They really worked hard

for this, and I can’t think of any team that deserves it more. I think

we’ll be a team to contend with in the tournament.”

Newport took any drama about whether it would qualify for the

Sectionals by hammering Anaheim “B.” Newport’s potent offense put up the

runs, but it was starting pitcher Dennis Heenan who took away any chance

Anaheim had.

He pitched a no-hitter for 5 1/3 innings before he gave up a single in

the sixth. It was the only hit he gave up in six innings of work. He was

helped by a solid defense, especially from infielders Kurt Yacko, Donny

Hunt and Blake Fogg. Heenan only allowed three balls out of the infield.

Newport jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead. Alec Martinez hit an

RBI single. Dustin Schuler and Hunt also had RBIs in that inning.

Newport scored four times in the seventh inning to put an exclamation

point on the win. Yacko led off with a single, followed by a double by

Heenan. After Billy Munce walked, a ground ball by Martinez brought Yacko

home. Schuler later hit a two-run double, and he scored on an error.

In the game, Heenan went 3 for 4 at the plate with two doubles.

Schuler went 3 for 5 with three RBIs. Hunt also had three hits. Yacko,

Martinez, Schuler, Pemstein, Nick Frazier and Tim Cramer all had a hit.

Newport was forced to play for survival on Sunday morning because of

an agonizing loss to Fountain Valley the previous day. Newport led until

the winning run crossed the plate in the bottom of the seventh.

Fountain Valley, which some observers’ peg as the favorite to win the

Pony League World Championship, looked like anything but a contender as

it shockingly committed five errors in the first inning.

That helped Newport put up four runs in the first inning, all with two

outs. Munce got Newport’s rally started when he reached on an error.

Martinez then followed with a single. That moved Munce to third and he

scored on a passed ball.

The next Newport batter, Frazier, was aided by two errors by the third

baseman. He hit a high chopper which the third baseman erroneously

deferred to the pitcher, who didn’t make the play. That put runners on

first and third. Schuler then singled in a run. The next batter, Hunt,

hit a sharp grounder that the third baseman missed, and Frazier scored.

Schuler later came home on a wild pitch.

With Fountain Valley staggered, Newport kept its opponent’s powerful

hitters in check. Fountain Valley did chip away at the deficit. It scored

three times in the first, and once in the third off three errors. Newport

put up two runs in the third to take a 6-3 lead, as Hunt and Davis

Pemstein singled and scored.

“We feel that we could play with anybody if we get good pitching and

play good defense,” Manager Heenan said. “I was actually worried about

our offense, but we hit well. We just made some defensive mistakes.”

Once Fountain Valley put its ace pitcher, Jeff Hann, in, it shut

Newport down. Fountain Valley scored once in the sixth to cut Newport’s

lead to 6-5, and it didn’t waste any time loading the bases in the

seventh.

With the bases loaded, Branden Lawson was walked, and that brought

home the tying run. Hann then hit a chopper that got through the infield,

and that scored the winning run.

Though the loss stung immediately afterward, Newport immediately came

back and qualified for the Sectionals the next morning.

“Our kids came back very well from that loss,” Heenan said. “That was

a very tough loss, but they didn’t dwell on it, and they played well

(Sunday) morning.”

In the Regional third-place game on Sunday afternoon, Newport lost to

Garden Grove, 9-4. Newport had an early 3-0 lead before Garden Grove put

up six runs in three innings.

Heenan went 3 for 4 in the game, and Pemstein was 2 for 3. With both

teams guaranteed a spot in the Sectionals, that game was for seeding

purposes only.