Sailors strike back to take down CdM
Members of the Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar high school softball teams gathered on the Sailors’ field late Saturday morning for pictures, following the Battle of the Bay game.
Many of the Sailors and Sea Kings have known each other for years, as they grew up playing together in the Newport-Mesa Softball program. There was definitely a sense of camaraderie after Newport Harbor’s 7-2 victory.
But it was the actions to benefit a newcomer to the rivalry that perhaps said the most about the sportsmanship the programs share.
The Battle of the Bay game was originally scheduled for late March but CdM sophomore pitcher Mallory McCrane, a transfer from Berkeley High in the Bay Area, was not yet eligible at that time. Newport Harbor Coach Mike Hunter ended up rescheduling the game so that McCrane, CdM’s only true pitcher this season, could play.
“He knew about our girl, and he decided to move the game back,” CdM Coach Carly Smith said. “He’s an awesome coach. It’s awesome to have somebody care for the game and care for our girls that way.”
Hunter said he was just doing what he believed to be the right thing.
“In my mind, we’re trying to teach these kids a higher level of respect and honor for the game,” he said.
Hunter said he respected the effort of the young Sea Kings (2-12), who have just one senior (former Sailor Sylvana Barrios) and two juniors (Brooke Franson and Lauren Oberreiter) on their roster.
“We want to beat them with their best, and we did today,” he said. “I think those [CdM] kids did a phenomenal job, and that’s what the Battle of the Bay is about. That was by no means an easy game ... [but] it was a pretty complete game for us.”
Newport Harbor (8-4-1) took back the Back Bay bragging rights, after CdM won the game last year for the first time in eight seasons. The Sailors struck early on Saturday, scoring five runs in the first two innings.
This, after Newport junior pitcher Sammy del Toro walked two in the top of the first. Franson and Barrios got to second and third, respectively, but del Toro got a strikeout with two outs to get out of the jam. Hunter said his pitcher battled some nerves early.
“They look at the kids over there in the other dugout and they go, ‘Oh, that’s my girlfriend,’” Hunter said. “And they get more nervous. Since they were 5 years old, she’s pitched to these kids, so they’ve seen 1,000 pitches from Sammy. They all know each other, and there’s not much you can do about it. We had to get her settled down a little bit. You can’t worry who’s in the other dugout. You’ve got to still come out and throw your game, and I think she did. She started really spinning the ball well.”
The Sailors scored three in the bottom of the frame. Junior co-captain Kendall Machado drew a one-out walk. She stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on junior Diana Surber’s single to center. Newport senior cleanup hitter Ashley McNerney followed with another single to center.
McNerney broke for second, but the throw got away, allowing Surber to score. With two outs, McNerney went to third on a wild pitch and scored on another error, when del Toro’s pop up between first and second base fell in.
Machado, who was one for one with three walks and three runs scored, said it was good to jump out to the early lead.
“You don’t see [friends from CdM] that often, so when you see them it’s just exciting,” Machado said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, I’m playing my best friend, I better win.’ It’s really competitive. I want to win, I want to do good and I want to have fun. It’s just a good game to just get all the energy out and show how much we’ve improved. It makes you remember that you still have the friendships.”
Newport freshman leadoff hitter Leah Freeman roped a one-out triple in the top of the second, and scored on Machado’s bunt single. Machado then scored on a triple to right by Surber to give the Sailors a 5-0 lead. Surber finished three for four with two RBIs.
McCrane settled in after that for CdM. The Sea Kings narrowed the margin in the top of the fourth, when Barrios hit a one-out single, stole second and was batted in by McCrane. Freshman Amanda Milliken followed with an RBI double down the left-field line, pulling the visitors within 5-2.
“I definitely think our intensity stayed the whole game,” Smith said. “I was very, very proud of that.”
But Newport scored twice more in the bottom of the sixth, one coming on an RBI groundout by senior co-captain Haley Martinez. Meanwhile, del Toro worked out of jams in the circle. Franson, who was two for three with two steals for CdM, led off the top of the sixth with a single but she was stranded at third.
The Sea Kings got one-out singles from sophomore Aya Prow and Oberreiter in the top of the seventh, but del Toro induced a pop-out and a groundout to end the game. Overall, she allowed two earned runs on seven hits, striking out six and walking two.
The Sailors also did not make an error in the game, which loomed large. The Sea Kings made four, though Oberreiter also made several nice plays at catcher after Smith put her there in the fourth inning.
“Our defensive game was on today as a team,” Machado said. “I was really proud of everyone for that ... We just wanted to show [CdM] what we could do [after losing last year’s Battle of the Bay]. We wanted to show them that we are good enough to do it.”
Newport Harbor resumes Sunset League play with a game at Los Alamitos on Tuesday, while CdM has a Pacific Coast League game at University.
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Battle of the Bay
Newport Harbor 7, Corona del Mar 2
SCORE BY INNINGS
CdM 000 200 0 – 2 7 4
NH 320 002 x – 7 9 0
McCrane and Barrios, Oberreiter (4); Del Toro and De La Rosa. W – Del Toro. L – McCrane. 2B – Milliken (CdM), Del Toro (NH). 3B – Freeman (NH), Surber (NH).
