October 7, 2024

OC Sports Zone: Community First

League leading Beckman rallies from early deficit to defeat Portola 11-5 in PCL game

Nick McLain steals second base for Beckman during Friday’s game (Photos courtesy Rosalene Ledendecker).

Pacific Coast leader Beckman remained undefeated in league with an 11-5 victory over Portola Friday at Beckman.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

Portola (4-9, 1-6) put up a battle, taking the lead with five runs in the third inning.

But the Bulldogs could not hold on.

“We competed hard out of the gate, and we jumped to a 5-0 lead midway through the game, but Beckman came storming back capitalizing on a plethora of errors and miscues by us defensively and we simply could not recover,” said Portola Coach Michael Nagamatsu.

“Give Beckman credit for taking advantage and shutting us down after we scored 5 runs.”

Josh Park had a two-run double and Pat Connolly had two key hits for Portola.

“Portola came out ready to play,” said Beckman Coach Kevin Lavalle. “We didn’t do anything wrong in that third inning defensively. They just competed at the plate and put up five runs.

“Looking back, it was probably a good thing for us, because it forced us to start competing ourselves offensively.

Jack Harney had the biggest at bat for Beckman (12-2, 7-0) with a two-run single.

“That tied the game and allowed us to take a deep breath and start over,” Lavalle said.