Sportsworld delivers in the end, beats UPS Store

The final regular-season game in the Laguna Beach Little League AAA Division was a close contest between Sportsworld and UPS Store until the final innings, where division champion Sportsworld pulled away to score an 11-2 victory.

UPS starting pitcher Conner Sorenson held Sportsworld to three runs in the first two innings, thanks in part to exceptional defensive plays by catcher Jack Casey. UPS threatened in the top of the second with speedy Will Clark scoring on a Timmy Laughlin hit. However, the brief rally was extinguished when Sportsworld’s Curren Hendrickson entered the game and promptly struck out the first batter he faced.

Sportsworld hitters took over in the third and fourth innings to score eight runs. UPS attempted to deliver runs in the top of the fourth, but savvy pitching by southpaw Aiden Kidd and a web-gem catch by outfielder Taylor Kaye prevented a comeback.

— Taylor Pillsbury, Community Correspondent

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Beach Volleyball

Laguna Beach resident Cole Paxson and his cousin, Grant Guinasso of Huntington Beach, teamed to win gold in the boys’ 12-and-under division of the Amateur Athletic Union’s Easter Classic beach volleyball tournament April 23 at Dockweiler State Beach in El Segundo. It was the first time the pair had played in a tournament.

Paxson and Guinasso beat out Andrew Bagnard and Sinjin Smith of Pacific Palisades — who won silver — and Niko Forbes (Manhattan Beach) and Ian Pizzuti (Redondo Beach), who took bronze.