Laguna Majors teams claim victory

Mike Sciacca

SportsWorld and Rotary put Laguna Beach Little League front and

center at the District 55 Tournament of Champions Majors Division

tournament Monday.

SportsWorld, which won the regular season championship at Laguna,

blanked Newport Beach, 3-0, in its tournament opener.

Rotary, which won Laguna’s Majors postseason title, opened the

district playoffs with a 7-6 come-from-behind victory over Laguna

Hills.

SportsWorld 3, Newport Beach 0

Stevie Contursi threw a pitching gem that limited Newport Beach to

a single hit.

Contursi finished with four strikeouts and was backed by

outstanding defensive play in notching the shutout victory.

Brian Vail, Taylor Preston, Robert Clemons, Alex Iannotti and

catcher Austin Paxson keyed the defense.

Contursi also supported his pitching effort with a big offensive

performance that included a double, two singles and two RBIs.

Drew Wheeler contributed a key base hit and an RBI, Vail and

Clemons each singled as did Clawson, who laid down a perfect drag

bunt.

SportsWorld plays its next district tournament game at 10 a.m.

Saturday against the Lake Forest Cardinals at Laguna Hills Sports

Park.

Rotary 7, Laguna Hills 6

Rotary rallied from a 4-2 deficit by scoring once in the fourth

inning and four more times in the fifth to run its win streak to five

games.

Brogan O’Bryan hit a sacrifice fly RBI in the fourth inning to

trim Rotary’s deficit to 4-3. In the fifth, Alek Burk and Shane

Takabayashi each had an RBI double and Michael Hyden and Travis

Sampson each had an RBI single as Rotary took a 7-4 lead.

Sampson finished the game with three hits and two RBIs, including

a triple.

Laguna Hills cut the lead to 7-6 by scoring twice in the fifth,

but Takabayashi struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth to

preserve Laguna’s one-run victory.

Burk finished with two hits, Tyler Kesler had an RBI single, Alec

Loechner had a double and Jake Glazer singled.

“I am extraordinarily proud of this team,” Rotary manager Cary

Hyden said. “In addition to being great kids and very talented

athletes, they consistently show a remarkable resilience to deal with

tough situations. During our current five game winning streak, three

times, including tonight, we have been behind late in the game and

have rallied for victories.

“This Laguna Hills team we played tonight was very talented and

well coached. I have great respect for the character of this group of

kids and their determination to continue to compete until the last

out of the game.”

Rotary will take on Lake Forest at 10 a.m. Saturday at Chapparosa

Park in Laguna Niguel in a winner’s bracket game.