Breakers still perfect in OCL
Showing no signs of a let up in Orange Coast League play, the Laguna Beach High baseball team continued its assault toward another league title by winning three road games in the past week.
Following a two-day, two-game sweep at Saddleback, Laguna went to Estancia Tuesday and took a 13-1 victory from the Eagles.
Grant Wilhelm was a key for the Laguna offense, going three for five and driving in four runs. Preston GrandPre (two RBIs) and Richie Nunis (RBI) also had three hits.
Will McInerny (two RBIs), Dante Faicchio (RBI) and Callan Cochran, each had two hits, and Steven Harrison had an RBI for the Breakers
Zak Kovacic gave up three hits and a run in five innings pitched in improving to 4-1.
Laguna, the No. 6 team in CIF Southern Section Division 4, won for the fifth-straight game and improved to 17-2 overall, and leads the OCL at 7-0.
The Breakers beat Estancia for the second time this year. They scored an 11-2 win over the Eagles in the teams’ first meeting March 25.
“Pitched, played defense, and hit well,” Laguna Coach Mike Bair said of Tuesday’s win. “We had all players contribute to a nice win at a tough place to play.”
Laguna and Estancia complete their three-game league series at 3:15 p.m. Friday at Laguna.
During spring break, Laguna twice took on Saddleback, and won both games on the Roadrunners’ home turf.
In an April 18 game, the Breakers took a 6-1 victory. Nunis tripled among three hits and brought in two runs, GrandPre doubled twice and had two RBIs, and Wilhelm doubled with an RBI.
Wilhelm threw a no-hitter and didn’t allow a run in four innings, walked two and struck out eight in the process.
Anthony Norelli threw the final three innings.
Laguna ran away with Saturday’s contest, rolling to an 18-0 victory. The Breakers pulled away from a scoreless tie by posting nine runs in the top of the fourth followed by a six-run fifth.
McInerny went two for four with a double, stole a base, had two RBIs, and scored twice. He also picked up the pitching win — improving to 4-0, allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out five.
Cochran had a team-high four hits with two RBIs, Faicchio had two hits and three RBIs, Nunis doubled twice and singled with an RBI, Jack Simon doubled and singled twice, Wilhelm doubled twice with an RBI, GrandPre had two hits and two RBIs, Garrett Burk doubled and had two RBIs, and Kovacic doubled and singled.
“We took care of business,” Bair said of the sweep of the Roadrunners.
Bair said that Wilhelm (7-0) will start Friday’s game against Estancia.
Next week, Laguna plays two, key league games against Calvary Chapel. The teams first meet at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday at TeWinkle Park in Costa Mesa, and close out their league series Mary 2.
“I think we have what it takes to sweep Estancia which would really help our momentum into next week against our rival, Calvary Chapel,” Bair said. “Our focus is to win each inning this Friday, before we look to next week.”
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Softball
The Breakers, playing their first game in two weeks, suffered a 13-2 nonleague loss Tuesday at San Juan Hills.
Halle Redfearn doubled and Brittany Nguyen, Jess Roddinger and Jen Sorenson each singled for Laguna.
“After for being off for two weeks, our errors and lack of hits caused trouble for us in the first two innings,” Laguna Coach Nicole LeMottee said. “I hope that now that we are back, we can work on our fielding and cut down on the amount of errors in our next game.”
Laguna took on Godinez in an Orange Coast League game Thursday. The score wasn’t available at press time.
Next week, the Breakers play host to Costa Mesa at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Thurston Middle School, play at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday at Saddleback, and host Saddleback Thursday at 4 p.m. at Thurston.