Laguna nearly pulls off miracle

Mike Sciacca

The night before the start of the District 55 All-Star Tournament,

following its final practice, the Laguna Beach Little League Majors

Division All-Star team gathered for a team dinner, then coaches had

them watch the movie, “Miracle.”

The film chronicles the rise of a young U.S. men’s hockey team and

its stunning 4-3 victory over the mighty Soviet team and improbable

run to the goal medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid,

N.Y.

The film left an impression on the Laguna youngsters, who used a

spirited comeback in its tournament opener against San Clemente.

Laguna fought a much bigger San Clemente Little League team tough,

but was done in by a suicide squeeze play in the bottom of the sixth

inning in a 6-5 loss.

The tough ending was in sharp contrast to a bleak start to the

game, in which Laguna had trailed, 5-0.

“The kids just did a great job in battling back and giving San

Clemente all they could handle,” said Coach Michael Maxsenti, who

also serves as league president. “I think they thought they would

mercy us, but our kids came back and hung in there all the way.”

The night before the Majors All-Star game, San Clemente’s

11-year-old All-Star team had scored a 10-0 mercy rule win over

Laguna’s All-Stars.

The teams were tied, 5-5, heading into the bottom of the sixth,

when San Clemente executed a two-out, suicide squeeze bunt to score

the winning run.

The game was a true battle between David and Goliath.

San Clemente, the largest Little League in the 20-league District

55 and twice the size of Laguna, has won the most district tournament

titles.

Laguna, meanwhile, has never won a district crown.

In its next game, Laguna was eliminated from the

double-elimination tournament at Youth Sports Park in Mission Viejo

by Saddleback, which scored an 11-4 victory.

“We were fairly confident heading into that game, as we had

soundly hit the Saddleback pitcher during the Tournament of

Champions,” Maxsenti said. “We had too many defensive lapses and

committed too many errors, and that resulted in a lot of unearned

runs just like the San Clemente game.”

Saddleback jumped out to 6-0 lead, but Laguna, with its,

never-say-die attitude, battled back to pull to within 6-3.

Saddleback took control again by taking advantage of five unearned

runs for an 11-3 advantage.

The 2004 Laguna Beach Majors Division All-Stars are Ian Greene,

Mikey Rubel, Robbie McKnight, Zach Riegler, Adam Selevan, Casey

Miller, Will Bonsey, Raphael Vickers, Clayton Steel, Chris Lavery,

Brennen Mulvaney, Ryan Raffo, Michael T. Maxsenti, Manager Dave

Mulvaney and coaches Bob McKnight and Michael A. Maxsenti.