Marina lifted to title

An 11-run outburst over a two-inning stretch was enough to lift the Marina High baseball team to the championship in the Coachella Valley Tournament.

The Vikings — who start several underclassmen, including three freshmen — played four games over a three-day period and went 4-0.

Marina needed eight innings to win its opener, 12-8, over La Quinta of La Quinta. The Vikings played a doubleheader on April 3 where they rallied to defeat San Pedro (8-5) before defeating Redlands East Valley (6-5).

In the championship game on April 4, Marina erupted for eight runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to wipe out a two-run deficit, then tacked on three insurance runs in the sixth to come away with a 15-6 victory over Vista Del Lago of Moreno Valley.

The Vikings trailed in every game but Redlands East Valley where they led from start to finish.

Marina and Vista Del Lago were locked in a 4-4 tie when the Ravens used a two-run home run in the fifth to take a 6-4 lead.

Michael Squillace came on in relief of fellow sophomore Race Parmenter at that point and shut down the Ravens the remainder of the game.

In the bottom of the fifth, Marina took control. During an eight-run onslaught, the Vikings pieced together four consecutive hits and finished with six overall in the frame. Greg Jimenez and Kevin Bodine each doubled.

In the sixth, Jimenez came up with another big hit, a two-run home run, and Robby Herron, Marina’s No. 9 hitter, smacked a solo homer to make it 15-6.

Both Marina and Vista Del Lago had 11 hits.

“We’re a young ball club and this championship is big for our young kids,” Marina Coach Paul Renfrow said. “We trailed in almost every game but we just kept pounding away.

“We’ve been getting better and better each game and that’s what we need to do in order to have a good finish in league.” Marina resumes Sunset League play Friday (3:15 p.m.) at Edison.

Huntington Beach won three of four games and reached the semifinal round of the Durango Tournament in Las Vegas.

Huntington won its first three games at Durango. The Oilers spanked South Bakersfield, 13-4, took care of Palo Verde of Nevada, 7-5, and beat Carson of California, 8-1.

In the semifinal round, Coronado of Nevada scored a run in the top of the seventh inning to break a tie and went on to record a 6-5 victory over the Oilers.

“The guys really stepped up against some good teams and competed well,” Huntington Coach Benji Medure said. “We were down in a couple of the games and battled back to either tie or take the lead.

“This should help us against the Sea View league teams. I am excited to finish out the league schedule. I like our chances.”

Huntington continues Sea View League Friday (3:15 p.m.) at home against Foothill.

Ocean View led from start-to-finish in its pool play opener at the Anaheim Lions Tournament Saturday and went on to post a 9-5 victory over Chaminade of West Hills.

Junior Scott Burleson (4-1) notched the win and backed his complete-game, two-hit, no earned runs pitching performance by recording a pair of doubles at the plate.

Junior James Miller tripled for the Seahawks who won despite committing eight errors.

“Sean did a great job for us today,” Ocean View Coach Shane Borowski said. “Despite all the errors behind him, he kept his focus on the mound and was able to get the win for us.

“We had the big first inning which has been our ‘MO’ on the road this year. With all the errors we’ve been making, we’d better score a lot of runs. Our games are like a roller coaster: you’d better strap in for the ride or you may find yourself somewhere you don’t want to be.”

Ocean View continued the tournament Monday with a pair of games. First, the Seahawks and Magnolia played to a 5-5 tie in a game halted after it went past its allotted two-hours, 15-minutes time limit. Later Monday, they lost 16-2 to Long Beach Wilson.

Ocean View trailed Magnolia 5-4 in the sixth when junior Scott Baxter hit a two-out, solo home run to tie the score. Magnolia came back to load the bases in the top of the seventh with nobody out but sophomore Andrew Bynum got the Sentinels to pop up twice in the infield and hit into a infield ground out.

Borowski said that the Seahawks “imploded” in a 16-2 loss to Long Beach Wilson.

“Again, key errors, some bad pitches and a few walks can really spell disaster,” he said. “That’s what happened tonight. We had a chance to compete against a good team, and we didn’t. We didn’t compete at all.”

In league softball action

A big, early deficit did little to deter the Marina Vikings softball team Tuesday.

Playing Edison on the road in the Sunset League opener for both teams, the Vikings fell into a 3-0 hole after one inning, and trailed again, 4-2, before turning on the offense to score a 7-4 victory.

Edison had grabbed that 3-0 lead, thanks to a two-RBI double by Rachel Miller and a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Jessica Hall in the first.

Consecutive doubles by Mariah Nogueira and Allyson Nunez in the top of the fourth drew Marina to within 3-2 but Edison got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to centerfield by Miller that extend the lead to 4-2.

But from that point on, it was all Marina.

The Vikings put up four runs in the fifth. Michelle Fuzzard started the rally with an RBI single, Kellie Cuadras had a high-hop single into left field and an error on the play led to two more runs. Nogueira completed the scoring with a sacrifice fly that brought in Cuadras.

Marina scored its final run in the sixth.

Nogueira finished the game two for three with two doubles and two RBI. Fuzzard went the distance and struck out 10. Miller led Edison with a pair of doubles and three RBI.

Marina and Edison go at it again today (3:15 p.m.) at Marina.