Youth Scene: Hobie outlasts Rotary for Little League title
The Laguna Beach Little League Intermediate Division postseason tournament concluded May 23 with Rotary facing Hobie for the championship at Riddle Field.
Hobie held off a late game rally by Rotary to take the title with an 8-7 victory.
The game began with Hobie hurler Luke Lavin facing Rotary’s ace, Nolan Naess. After two solid innings of pitching, Rotary held the lead, 1-0.
In the top of the third, Hobie scored four more runs. A towering two-run home run by Paxton Burzell and a solo homer by Gavin Treviño, led the charge. Rotary battled back in the bottom of the fourth, tying the score at 5-5 behind solid hitting from Ryan Anthony and Sol McDermott.
Hobie broke the tie in the fifth inning by scoring the next four runs. Drew Fink ripped an RBI double and subsequently stole home, and was followed by Ben Kelly who hit a two-run home run. In the bottom of the inning, Rotary mounted a three-run comeback to close the gap to one. Jack Payne led off with a home run followed by RBI singles by Sam Schineller and Maddox deBretteville.
Connor Fink, pitching in relief, closed the game in the bottom of the seventh with a strikeout and two ground outs to secure the championship for Hobie.
Both Hobie and Rotary will represent Laguna Beach Little League at the District 55 Tournament of Champions (Intermediate Division) which starts Saturday. The tournament runs through June 6 at Chapparosa Park in Laguna Niguel.
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Surfing
The National Scholastic Surf Assn. (NSSA) held its West Coast Regional Championships at the Huntington Beach Pier May 14-17 where Kayla Coscino of Thurston Middle School won the Explorer Girls division title and Hayden Rodgers of Top of the World Elementary School won the Explorer Super Groms division title.
The West Coast Region includes teams from Santa Cruz to San Diego counties that competed at the regional championships.
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Water Polo
Six players from the Laguna Beach Water Polo Club’s Girls’ 14-and-under team were selected to compete recently at the USA Water Polo national tournament for Developmental Zone Teams (2001 and under).
Lauren Carney and Kalani Gee of Thurston Middle School, and Maisie McPherson of St. Anne’s Academy, played for the Southern Pacific (SOPAC) Zone Blue Team representing Orange and Riverside counties. The SOPAC Blue Team placed second behind the SOPAC Red Team and won the silver medal.
Bryn Gioffredi of Thurston and Mary Villegas of Mission Viejo Christian School, played for the Pacific Southwest (PSW) Zone Team from the San Diego County area which took fourth-place.
Quinn Winter of Thurston played for the Southwest Zone (SWZ) Team from Texas.
The Developmental Zone Teams national tournament was held in Riverside.
All six players will move on next year to play at the high school level. Gee, Gioffredi and Winter will attend Laguna Beach High. Carney will attend Newport Harbor High; McPherson, Mater Dei High; and Villegas, San Clemente High.
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