Newport falls in first round

Chris Yemma

You could hear him a mile away, bellowing out encouragement to each

player as they stepped up to the plate.

“Here we go five-one,” Newport Harbor Pony All-Star baseball coach

Chris Hone yelled at the top of his lungs when leadoff batter Ned

Lyon, wearing No. 51 on his jersey, stepped up.

“Here we go five,” Hone followed with when Drew Littlefield, No.

5, was up.

And down through the lineup he went.

Hone was optimistic, especially considering his team will receive

a second chance to qualify for the West zone-South division All-Star

section tournament despite a 7-3 District 1 tournament opening-round

loss to La Mirada Friday.

“We always have optimism,” Hone said after Newport wrapped up play

at the Los Alamitos Youth Baseball field. “The kids hit the ball well

[Friday], and with a couple of breaks, it could have gone the other

way.”

Newport rallied from an early two-run deficit, but the persistent

bats of La Mirada succeeded in tacking on two runs in the third and

three in the fourth for the eventual victory.

Newport Harbor will continue play in the second-chance bracket of

the tournament at 5 today at the same location. The winner of Laguna

Niguel and Los Alamitos at 2:30 today will face Newport.

Hitting, something Hone said the team has struggled with all

season, was the downfall for Newport Friday. Minus four connections

in the second inning, Newport Harbor combined for five hits in the

other six innings.

“Getting timely hits has been our struggle all year,” Hone said.

“We have recently been getting better, but it’s still pretty

streaky.”

Batting aside, Hone’s optimism was consistent throughout the game,

as he bellowed his encouragement to nearly every Newport batter that

stepped up, on several occasions provoking remarks from the La Mirada

fans.

But Newport’s offensive productiveness was limited to the second

inning and a fragment of the sixth.

Cody Green led off the second with a single to right-center and

Spencer Venegas followed with another single. After an unsuccessful

steal attempt, Grant Johnson stepped up and wailed a triple to the

left-corner, plating Green. And Hunter Freeman followed with a single

to plate Johnson, tying the score at 2.

In the bottom of the sixth, needing five runs to force another

tie, Alex Rios singled and reached second on an errant throw. He then

stole third to creep into scoring position, and Peter Kinney brought

him home with a sacrifice fly. But it was too little, too late, as La

Mirada forced two quick outs to end the inning, and went on to retire

three straight batters in the seventh after walking the first.

Jack Grace shined from the mound for Newport, entering in the

sixth inning and tossing two no-hit innings. He retired the side in

the sixth.

“My defense behind me was really working,” Grace said. “And I was

just hitting my spots. But we were kind of lackadaisical today.”

Green finished 1 for 3 with a run scored, while Venegas was 2 for

2, Johnson was 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored and Freeman and

Kinney had an RBI apiece.

Matt Mackay finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs for La Mirada.