Briefly In Sports

Hot Wings win Wednesday League title

The Hot Wings captured the Laguna Beach 16” Softball Wednesday League title, defeating belongs the Smoking Gunz, 11-4. The title was the team’s fourth championship under Coach Jonathon Cohen (Laguna Beach High, 1998). Hot Wings won the Dec. 8 final at Laguna Beach Little League’s Riddle Field behind the defense of Kurt Boultinghouse, pitching of Shaun MacGillivray (LBHS, 1998), catching of Bob Jameson (LBHS, 1993), all-out play of Aaron Talarico (LBHS boys’ tennis coach) and power hitting of Cohen, Trigg Garner (LBHS, 1993), Kirk Ritenhouse (LBHS, 1998).

Garner hit a two-run home run to get Hot Wings rolling in the first inning and Ritenhouse hit a solo homer to move the lead to 3-1. After the Smoking Gunz tied the score at 3, the Hot Wings scored three consecutive runs, two coming on a line-drive home run by Cohen, to take a 6-3 lead. Still leading 6-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth, the Hot Wings got one run on a Smoking Gunz fielding error, then built a comfortable 11-4 lead on Cohen’s three-run home run.

Cohen was the MVP of the finals with two home runs, five runs batted in and two runs scored. Garner finished with a home run, two RBIs and three runs and Rittenhouse had a homer, an RBI and run scored in going three for four.

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Breakers rank in CIF polls

The Laguna Beach girls’ water polo team holds down the same spot, sixth, it held last week in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll. Dos Pueblos again is No. 1, followed by Los Alamitos, Newport Harbor, Santa Barbara, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Foothill, Edison, Palos Verdes and Fountain Valley.

The Breakers, who defeated No. 8 Edison, 11-10, on Tuesday and played No. 10 Fountain Valley on Thursday (score wasn’t available at press time), travel to Thousand Oaks on Saturday to face the Division 2 No. 1-ranked team, Agoura, at Cal Lutheran University.

The preseason boys’ and girls’ basketball polls were also released Tuesday by the Southern Section office in Los Alamitos, and Laguna Beach is ranked 15th in the boys’ Division 4A poll. Sixteen teams received rankings and the 4A poll is headed by Paraclete. Following the Spirits is: La Salle, Maranatha, Burroughs/Ridgecrest, JSerra, Santa Paula, Morningside, Oaks Christian, Buckley, Fillmore, Capinteria, Whittier Christian, Big Bear, Pioneer, Laguna Beach and Laguna Hills.

Laguna already owns a victory against No. 14 Pioneer. In the Dec. 4 consolation championship game at the La Quinta tournament, the Breakers scored a 53-44 win.