One champ, plenty of success for NHBA

Lantz Bell, the first-year Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. president, was a bit nervous putting together the league’s first tournament. But throughout the event and especially toward the end, Bell’s stress turned into excitement and pride as the inaugural tournament produced one NHBA champion and three second-place teams.

There were 35 teams in four divisions of the NHBA tournament, which most likely caused the anxiety for Bell.

“The tournament was really exciting with teams from Bakersfield, Saddleback and San Diego,” said Bell, who had been an NHBA board member for three years prior to becoming president. “It’s been very exciting for me. It’s been really fun.”

The tournament was also fun for the NHBA Pony Division team coached by Jeff Gardner. The squad of 14-year-olds coasted through the tournament, outscoring teams, 54-3, Gardner said.

About the only problem the team had was dealing with complacency. Gardner said his team would get up ahead early and the players were challenged to stay in the game.

“I thought they came out ready to play every game,” Gardner said. “We played great defense throughout the whole tournament.”

The team included: Mitch Gardner, Charles Coakley, Angelo Angelides, Max Gerard, Brian Ford, Grant Davis, Mike Markovsky, Emery Molnar, Ted Steffel, Clark Cashion, Hayden Cornwell and Will Morrow, as well as coaches Fred Cornwell, Emery Molnar and Ted Steffel.

Davis will miss out on games this weekend with his team, which plays in a Los Alamitos tournament. But for Davis that’s OK. He’s going to Omaha, Neb. to be a bat boy for the UC Irvine baseball team, that plays on Saturday against Arizona State.

Davis has been a bat boy for UC Irvine for the past four years. He is leaving for Omaha with his father, Lenny, on Friday.

The NHBA team of 13-year-olds and the squad of 12-year-olds finished second in the tournament Sunday.

STEVE VIRGEN may be reached at (714) 966-4616 or at steve.virgen@latimes.com.