Seahawks reach championship

Mike Sciacca

The Ocean View High School baseball team has shown no mercy to anyone

that has crossed its path in the desert.

Playing in the Coachella Valley Tournament, the Seahawks won their

first three games in impressive fashion -- victories that put them

into the championship game on Wednesday.

Ocean View opened pool play by defeating Laguna Hills, 4-2. The

Seahawks then ripped Imperial, 16-2, and came back Tuesday morning to

defeat Calexico, 13-3.

In Tuesday’s triumph, Alex Burnett smashed a three-run home run

and Matt Hughes came up with three walks in the 10-run rout.

“We have definitely brought the sticks with us on this trip,”

Ocean View coach Aaron Kavanagh said of his team’s offensive prowess.

“We beat a good Laguna Hills team to start this run, and now we’re in

the championship game, trying to win this tournament for the first

time.”

The score from Wednesday’s Calexico-Ocean View final was not

available at press time.

Ocean View’s offensive punch began in the 4-2 win over Laguna

Hills.

The Seahawks opened up a 4-0 lead by scoring four runs in the

bottom of the third inning, highlighted by a two-run home run by

Hughes.

Burnett struck out nine en route to the pitching win.

In defeating Imperial, 16-2, Hughes delivered a three-run home run

during a six-run outburst by the Seahawks in the third inning.

Ocean View blew the game open in the top of the second by scoring

nine runs.

Hughes drove in four runs total, Jeff Roth had three RBIs and

James Kang and John Vega each drove in a pair of runs.

Senior Derek Martin got the pitching win.

“As a team, we’ve really come up big offensively,” Kavanagh said.

“Matt Hughes has come up with a couple of big home runs and James

Kang has been a real force in the lead-off spot.”

Prior to tournament play, Ocean View had squared its Golden West

League record at 1-1 with a 4-3 home win over Saddleback.

The Seahawks did it by overcoming a 3-0 first inning deficit and

scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.

Vega, Jason Walker, Geoff Klein and Marc Fernandez each had an RBI

for Ocean View.

In other baseball action, host Edison prevailed over Huntington

Beach, 4-3, by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh

inning.

Huntington held a 2-0 lead through three innings, and still led,

3-1, heading into the bottom of the fifth.

It was there that Edison came up with two runs to tie the score,

one coming on a Chad Blauer home run.

Hank Conger produced a two-run home run in the third inning to

give the Oilers their 2-0 lead.

Tommy Palica got the win, as Edison improved to 2-1 in Sunset

League play.

Huntington fell to 1-2 in league.

Edison was coming off its first league loss, a 7-1 setback to

visiting Esperanza.

Frankie Mead’s second-inning single scored Blauer, who had

doubled.

In addition to falling to Edison, Huntington was shut out by host

Los Alamitos, 2-0, in a game that was called for rain after five

innings.

The Griffins scored the two runs in the bottom of the second

inning.

Marina picked up its first Sunset League win by downing host Los

Alamitos, 4-1.

Justin Sellers drove in three runs and Patrick Murray brought home

another for the Vikings, now 1-2 in league.

Jimmy Cooper picked up the win.

In softball, Marina sophomore Michelle Fuzzard posted consecutive

shutouts as the host Vikings took a doubleheader from Woodbridge by

identical 1-0 scores.

Britt Boyer doubled for the Vikings in the first game.

In boys’ volleyball, Huntington and Corona del Mar staged another

hotly contested match that went to the wire, but this time, the host

Oilers came up with a 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 sweep of the Sea Kings.

Junior Trey Valbuena led Huntington with 14 kills.

One night earlier, Huntington rallied past the Sea Kings to win,

2-1 in games, to claim the Orange County Championships Division I

title.

Valbuena, who finished with 15 kills in the title match, was named

tournament MVP.

Edison was a 25-20, 25-10, 21-25, 25-21 winner over El Toro in

nonleague play.

Ocean View was swept by unbeaten Costa Mesa, 26-24, 25-19-25-19,

in Golden West League play.

In girls’ swimming, Marina finished in sixth place at the Millikan

Southern Section Relays at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.