Corona del Mar, South Hills clash in semis

Derek Klena, a senior from South Hills High of West Covina, says his baseball team comes to Corona del Mar today with great confidence.

The swagger comes from a big 4-3 quarterfinal win against Bonita Friday, when Klena was the star, pitching seven solid innings and scoring the game-winning run on a suicide squeeze with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

But the Huskies also have a strong belief because they beat the Sea Kings, 17-3, April 8 in a third-place game of the Beach Pit Classic.

“It is definitely a factor that we’ve see them before,” said Klena, who pitched a complete-game three-hitter in April, but will play left field today in a CIF Southern Section Division III semifinal, starting at 3:15 p.m. “They made it to the semis, so they might’ve did something right. I think we are favored a bit, but we can’t let that get to us. If we play our game, we should win.”

The Huskies (22-8) are also hungry, Klena said, after losing in the CIF final last year. A win here and it’s back to the title game, this time at Angels Stadium, Saturday at 1 p.m. against the winner of the Lancaster-at-Beckman game.

“We definitely want to make it back there,” said Klena, who noted right-hander Dakota Behr will start today.

The Sea Kings (18-10), winners of six straight, appear motivated to stand in South Hills’ way. They’ll start senior Steven Manning, who came up big in the first two rounds.

John Emme, the Sea Kings’ coach who collected his 200th win Friday, a 6-3 victory at Los Altos of Hacienda Heights, says his team is playing hot at the right time.

“Our pitching staff was completely exhausted [against South Hills April 8],” said Emme, who last guided CdM to a CIF championship in 2004. “We threw two JV [pitchers] in that game. They didn’t really get a taste of us at 100%. We’re definitely a different team.”

Emme said several players have stepped up, while others have gotten over injuries during the run. Manning has been a big reason for the improvement, and, “it’s been a complete team effort. Everyone has contributed.”

“We are meeting our own expectations,” he said. “It’s not a Cinderella story. We’ve finally got the oars going in the right direction and we feel that we are playing the way we are supposed to play.”