Pony Baseball: Back Bay rivalry creates meaning

Steve Virgen

CORONA DEL MAR - It might as well have been “Father’s Weekend” at

Eastbluff Park, where the Newport-Mesa Pony Conference held its Father’s

Day Tournament Saturday.

A full day of baseball, which included barbecue hamburgers and hot

dogs, The Beatles and other party music blaring, and a setting much more

than a social gathering, perhaps this was a father’s dream.

In the final game of the day, two All-Star teams of 13-year-olds,

Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar, battled in a game that was meaningless

in the tournament, yet anything but meaningless considering the Back Bay

rivalry factor.

CdM, with three runs in the first and four in the third, gave Manager

Eddie Orozco more reason to believe that his team can make a run for the

World Series. Orozco’s CdM team won, 8-4, as the players from both teams

gave their fathers an early Father’s Day gift with some great baseball.

In the first inning, CdM’s Shaun Mohler gave his team the lead when he

pounded a two-run homer that cleared the fence by more than 10 feet. He

scored Matt Raiger, whose RBI double scored Johnny Angelo.

Orozco’s son, Mike, cranked out a two-run double in the third, scoring

Raiger, who reached on an error, and Angelo, who had a ground-rule

double.

“Nerve-racking,” Eddie Orozco, with a laugh, said of his thoughts when

watching his son play. “We always work on his poise, concentration and

work ethic. He wants to be a Major League baseball player.”

Newport Harbor’s Nick Frazier scored two runs, one in the first and

the other in fifth when Chris Thompson sent a shot to right field for the

RBI double.

Both teams will play in the Cypress Tournament next weekend.