Seahawks’ ‘fresh start’

Shane Borowski looked at Ocean View’s Golden West League opener at Santa Ana as a “fresh start” for his Seahawks.

After a tense first inning that left Ocean View saddled with a two-run deficit, the Seahawks responded and their head coach had what he had hoped for: a victory.

Scott Baxter drove in five runs and Sean Burleson settled down after that first inning to record a complete-game victory, as Ocean View successfully began defense of its league title with an 11-5 victory over the Saints.

The Seahawks, who gained experience by taking on four teams in nonleague play ranked in the county’s top 10, also had Baxter double and Sean Carpentier go two for three with a double.

Baxter went three for four with a double and triple.

Today, Ocean View plays at Saddleback. Borowski said that Burleson will start the 3:15 league contest. On Saturday, the Seahawks open up play in the Anaheim Lions Tournament against Magnolia. Game time is 3 p.m. at Ocean View.

They will continue tournament play at 10 a.m. Monday at Brookhurst Park against Riordan of San Francisco. At 3 p.m. that same day, they’ll take on San Clemente.

Ocean View then will host Long Beach Poly Tuesday in another tournament match-up.

“This week is big for us,” Borowski said. “We got off to a good start against Santa Ana, but I still think we could have played better. We were sloppy but the bat and defense of Scott Baxter really picked us up. Sean Burleson didn’t have his best stuff on the mound but he battled and kept his cool as our defense had some lapses and because so, we came out on top.

“These next two games can do a lot of good for us in our ‘new’ season. We just have to throw strikes, play defense and get some timely hitting.”

In other prep baseball action, Kyle Higashioka hit a two-run home run to break a tie score and freshman Eric Snyder produced four hits Tuesday as Edison upended host Newport Harbor, 4-2, to improve to 2-0 in Sunset League play.

In a league opener last Friday, Edison jumped out to a 2-0 lead at Marina but didn’t score again until adding a run in the top of the seventh, but that insurance run capped a 3-1 victory over the Vikings. Josh Lesinski had an RBI double and Kyle Jones an RBI single for the Chargers.

Kurt Heyer went the distance and scattered four hits to even his record at 1-1.

“Marina’s a tough place to play and that win gave us a shot of confidence,” Edison Coach Steve Lambright said. “We picked up a nice win at Newport, too. Now comes a big one against Los Al.”

Edison hosts top-ranked Los Alamitos at 3:15 p.m. today in a matchup between a pair of 2-0 lead teams. On Saturday, the Chargers begin play at the Anaheim Lions Tournament.

Marina travels today to Placentia to take on Esperanza in another Sunset clash. The Vikings next will play Wednesday at the Chino Tournament.

Huntington Beach visited Foothill last Friday for a Sea View League opener between the schools and the Oilers were edged by the Knights, 2-1.

Foothill took a 2-0 lead into the top of the seventh when Huntington sliced the lead to 2-1 behind Blake Cestr’s solo homer.

It was one of the Oilers’ three hits.

Huntington hosts Northwood for a 3:15 p.m. nonleague game today. Next week, the Oilers are up north to compete at the San Luis Obispo Tournament that begins Wednesday.

In girls’ softball

Marina won four games in four days to capture the title of the Laguna Hills Tournament. The Vikings, who improved to 8-1 and are ranked fifth in Division I, capped the tourney with a 5-4 win over San Clemente in the championship game. Junior Taysia Kaufman (6-1) started and got the win with Kellie Cuadras and Jamie Sullivan each seeing relief action.

Sullivan also hit a home run in the top of the first inning to give Marina a 1-0 lead. Erin Cuevas tripled, and Lana Rutkin doubled for the Vikings.

Huntington Beach defeated Aliso Niguel 4-0 to take seventh-place at the Laguna Hills Tournament, combining 10 hits and five stolen bases to defeat the Wolverines.

Sophomore Amanda Horowitz pitched her second complete-game shutout of the season to improve to 6-1. She struck out five, walked one and has a combined ERA of 2.40.

Oilers freshman catcher Vicki Galasso singled in a run, scored a run and threw out two runners attempting to steal second base to foil potential rallies by Aliso Niguel.

Sophomore Cory Schlinsog went two for three in the game with a first-inning triple and also stole two bases. Schlinsog went six for 12 overall at the tournament.

Senior Jenny Driver singled in a run and had a hit in all four tournament games. Sophomore Courtney Dial went two for four and sophomores Meghan White, Lauren Stuhr, Chelsea Lipski and freshman Kelsey Granger, all singled in the tournament.

Junior Charlene Courtney tripled in Huntington’s game against Brea Olinda on March 11. Huntington, now 6-4 overall, hosts Corona del Mar at 3:15 p.m. today in nonleague play.

Edison swept a nonleague doubleheader from visiting Rancho Alamitos, winning 8-2 and 7-0. Dani Miller hit a pair of solo home runs, and her twin, Rachel, hit a two-run homer in the first game. Dani Miller also hit a solo homer in game 2.

Edison had 11 hits in each game.

The Chargers host Mission Viejo at 3:15 p.m. today in nonleague play.

In track & field

Huntington Beach scored a 77-49 nonleague victory over University in girls’ action. Among the highlights for the Oilers was Jenny Pilecki winning the 400, Drew Drysdale taking the high jump and the Oilers foursome of Pilecki, Tegan Banville, Bree Neubauer and Taylor Howe winning the 4 x 100.