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CORONA DEL MAR — The weather was typical for Southern California — 72 degrees with a slight breeze — perfect conditions to play baseball.

So it was only fitting that the 11- and 12-year-old Newport Beach Little League All-Stars also pitched a perfect game in route to a 10-0 victory against Laguna Beach in an elimination game of the double-elimination District 55 All-Star Tournament Monday at Lincoln Elementary.

“Parker [Reposa] didn’t pitch the first game because of a sore back so we had to hold him off the first game,” Newport Beach Manager Duane Hastings said of his starting pitcher. “But he looked like he’s healthy now and he did a good job ... I hated to take him out with a perfect game going but because we have a lot of games this week, we really needed to get some of our guys out there.”

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Reposa, who also had an RBI single and triple in the game, struck out six, all consecutively, and didn’t allow a ball to be hit out of the infield in his three innings of pitching.

Newport Beach’s Chad Redfearn, who went two for three with two runs, started the fourth and pitched a perfect inning to close out the perfect game in a contest shortened by the mercy rule.

The game is normally six innings, but the 10-run lead induced an early end.

“We have the pitching necessary to play everyday, so that’s not going to be an issue,” Hastings said. “We just need to come to play everyday offensively. That’s going to be the key. We have a solid defense, we have the pitching but we just have to be consistent with the bats.”

Since Wednesday’s 11-2 loss to Laguna Hills, Hastings said the team has been practicing hitting a lot of curveballs and pitches with more velocity.

The practice paid off immediately as Newport Beach had 10 hits Monday — the biggest hit being a three-RBI double by Ben Humphreys.

“Ben Humphreys is just a great kid — a great athlete [with] tremendous power,” Hastings said. “He’s the fastest kid on the team and, above all else, he’s a great kid.”

Hastings said Max Kline also had a good game. Kline had an RBI double in the fourth and scored a run.

Laguna Beach Manager Mark Linton said his team’s defense also added to Newport Beach’s potent offense

“We had a couple of blunders on the defensive side — a lot of unearned runs,” Linton said.

Newport Beach continues tournament play on Wednesday at 5 p.m. against Saddleback.

“I told our kids the goal this week is to get five pins this week – which is what we get from the other teams at the beginning of the games,” Hastings said. “We got one and we have four more to go.”

He added in a joking manner that even though every game is at Lincoln Elementary, Newport Beach’s home field, the 11-2 loss to Laguna Hills scared off too many fans.

“We want them to come back,” he said. “I think we lost about half of them after the first game so our goal is to get the crowd back by the end of the weekend.”


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