All-star team posts come-from-behind win

The Fountain Valley Mustang “A” All-Star team has advanced to the

Region tournament in Corona by virtue of a come-from-behind, 11-7 win

over the La Mirada “A” squad.

Down by one late in the game, Joey De Marco hit a three-run home

run over the left field fence to seal the victory for Fountain

Valley.

Alek Torgersen, Wyatt Christensen and Brett Adams each singled

twice and Nestor Linares doubled and singled.

Adams made a key defensive play by charging a base hit from center

field and throwing out the runner just before he reached first base.

Earlier in the game, after recording a putout at first base, Brad

Owen turned a double play by gunning down the runner at home to end

the inning.

Fountain Valley previously sent La Mirada to the losers’ bracket

with a 14-4 mercy rule victory. Scotty Weaver scored four times, and

Linares singled three times to lead the offense. Christensen reached

base in all four of his at-bats and drove in two runs. De Marco had

two singles, and allowed one unearned run in the three innings he

pitched.

In its first tournament outing, Fountain Valley drubbed the

Whittier “A” team, 22-0, in a game halted after four innings.

Owen and Adams each pitched two innings of shutout baseball and

were backed by the defensive efforts of Wyatt Heise, Patrick Cromwell

and Aaron Vargas. Jonathan Marriott scored three times and leadoff

batter Jacob Vega doubled and singled.

“I don’t think in the history of our league has their been such a

one-sided game against the Whittier ‘A’ all-star team,” Fountain

Valley manager Jim De Marco said. “They run a very good program and a

lot of their boys play travel ball year round. This shows what kind

of team we are, executing our plays well and stinging the ball almost

every at-bat. I am very proud of our boys’ accomplishments.”

The Mustang “A” All-star team is coached by De Marco, Mike Weaver

and Rick Christensen.

The Region Tournament in Corona starts today. Fountain Valley will

face teams from San Diego, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire in the

double-elimination event.

In softball tournament action:

For the second straight year, the Hurricanes can call themselves

Division II champions of the City-Wide Softball Tournament.

Jeff Watts delivered the game-winning hit with two outs in the

bottom of the ninth inning against Team Hydrex, his single providing

the difference in a 9-8 victory in the final of the 23rd annual

tournament held at the Sports Complex in Huntington Beach.

The Hurricanes, who went 4-1 in tournament play, became the first

team to win consecutive titles in the history of the tournament,

which traditionally is played each July.

Greg Woodworth got the pitching win in the final.

Mike Mawson recorded two wins on the mound and Bill Hardacre won

one game in earlier tournament play for the Hurricanes, who have been

sponsored for the past 10 years by Hurricanes Bar & Grill.

The Hurricanes opened the tournament with three straight

victories, beginning with a 23-8 whipping of Line Drive. Next came an

11-9 win over Longboard Restaurant, followed by a 22-7 win over Team

Hydrex. In game No. 4, the Hurricanes suffered their only defeat, a

22-4 loss to Team Hydrex.

The Hurricanes are composed of Watts, Woodworth, Mawson, Bill

Hardacre, Shane Krall, Jim Hardacre, Gary Leonard, Dave Muro, Jeff

White, Tom Connelly, Pete Staffa, Damon Galla, Toby Slayman, Hosea

Poorea, manager John Hardacre and trainers Tim Benson and Chuck

Bialas.

Eleven Hurricanes batted .437 or better in the team’s five

tournament games. Watts finished with 13 hits in 18 at-bats, good for

a .722 average, with 10 RBI and a home

run.

White had 11 hits, seven RBI and a team-best two home runs and

finished with a .550 average. Bill Hardacre had 10 hits and 10 RBI

and hit .588, and Galla had a home run among his seven hits.