CdM coach sees CIF championship quality

On the scoreboard above the right-field wall are the years Corona del Mar High’s won it all.

They are 1981, 1999 and 2004, and two of those CIF Southern Section baseball titles belong to Coach John Emme.

The Sea Kings are well of aware of the history, and when the 10-year coach talked to them about this year, they paid attention.

“I’ve only talked about a CIF championship with three teams,” Emme said. “The other two are up there [listed on the scoreboard].”

The potential to go all the way has Emme’s players jazzed. To accomplish the team’s ultimate goal, Emme pointed out to the senior-laden team what it will need to go through.

“Three seasons. You have your preseason, you have your league season, and then you have your postseason,” Emme said. “You have to take care of the first two before you worry about [the last one].”

Things started out bumpy for the Sea Kings, as they dropped the first two games of the season during the Newport Elks Tournament.

The losses came against section contenders, Capistrano Valley and Esperanza. But these are teams senior shortstop Jake Lemmerman knows CdM has to beat to consider itself a legit challenger.

“That’s our goal,” said Lemmerman, an All-CIF Southern Section Division III first-team selection last year. “Before it comes to league, it’s always playing the best competition and seeing what you can do with it. It’s good to start off the season with a bang.”

Closing out the season with a bang, too.

Lemmerman, last season’s Daily Pilot Player of the Year, said this year’s team, with 11 returning players, six of who are starters, won’t get eliminated in the first round of the playoffs like last year’s 17-9 team did.

Lemmerman, who’s bound for Duke, won’t have to carry the offense, like he did last year, when he batted .429 with four home runs and 25 RBIs.

“Throughout out the season, we hit pretty good, but when it came to … the last few games before playoffs, I don’t know what happened, something didn’t click,” said Lemmerman, whose team lost at Westminster, 2-0, in the first round.

Emme doesn’t see that happening again. Along with Lemmerman, USC-bound senior center fielder Vinnie St. John will set the table for four other seniors.

Those players are catcher Michael DiRocco, left fielder Austin Elliott, first baseman Chris Rosen and third baseman Greg Carte.

As juniors they helped the Sea Kings share the Pacific Coast League title with Northwood and Calvary Chapel. They won’t have to worry about those two schools, as they’re in other leagues now.

So if the Sea Kings take care of their games before league, and league before postseason, Emme said they’d be ready to make their mark.

“The core of our team is back,” he said. “This is definitely a team that should make a deep run in the playoffs.”

THE SEA KINGS

1 Jon Doering So.

3 Greg Garte Sr.

4 Gavin Juarez Sr.

5 Mitch Sands So.

8 Michael DiRocco Sr.

10 Kyle Legrand Sr.

11 Trevor Jones Jr.

14 Kevin Holland Jr.

16 Doug Kelly Jr.

17 Steven Manning So.

19 Charlie Albright Sr.

21 Jake Lemmerman Sr.

23 Chris Rosen Sr.

24 Michael Ford Sr.

25 Austin Elliott Sr.

27 Matt Morris So.

32 J.R. Dion Sr.

35 Danny Moskovits So.

47 Vinnie St. John Sr.

Coach: John Emme (10th year)