Players from the Sea View-South Coast League team exchange handshakes after Sunday’s Ryan Lemmon Showcase. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Seniors from Beckman’s CIF championship team honored.
A combined Sea View and South Coast League team overcame an early 1-0 deficit with a strong finish to defeat the Pacific Coast League 9-1 Sunday morning in the Ryan Lemmon Senior Baseball Showcase in front of an estimated 450 fans at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.
Seniors from Beckman’s CIF championship team and Coach Kevin Lavalle were introduced to the crowd during one of the inning breaks.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
The Pacific Coast League took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Luke Weston (University) singled and Nate Valencia (Irvine) stole second base with Weston scoring to put the Pacific Coast League ahead.
Casey Euper (Northwood) pitched two scoreless innings striking out three for the PCL, the designated visiting team.
But in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Sea View-South Coast team responded with three runs, two coming on a double by Zach Doyle (San Juan Hills). Reiner Merli (Trabuco Hills) and Jake Wood (San Clemente) also reached base and scored a run along with Doyle.
“I was just kind of waiting back and trying to put something up the middle and that’s kind of what happened, I think I should have went three, but it’s all good, I helped my team out and got the lead and that’s all that matters,” said Doyle, who is headed for UC Irvine next year.
Even though the Sea View-South Coast had the lead, the team was allowed to bat in the bottom of the seventh. Doyle also had an RBI single in that inning.
“I was kind of trying to hit a home run, but it’s all good,” said Doyle. “I’m OK with a single.”
Doyle, a center fielder, was happy to be competing against players from other teams in the league.
“It was a ton of fun, I’ve been playing against these guys for four years now and getting to really meet them and interact with them in person was a lot of fun,” he said.
Wood also had an RBI single in the three-run seventh.
The Sea View-South Coast extended its lead to 6-1 with three runs in the sixth inning. Zach Boynton (Aliso Niguel) had an RBI double and Toby Cohen (Mission Viejo) had an RBI single and stole second. Andrew Szkiba (Dana Hills) drove in another run on a groundout.
Other pitchers for the PCL were Rocky Palacio (Portola), Dustin Goodman (Laguna Hills), Mitchell Blakely (Woodbridge), Luke Hansen (Northwood) and Jack Flanagan (Irvine).
Keenan Anzai (Mission Viejo) started on the mound for the Sea View-South Coast. Colby DeLaura (Capo Valley), Austin Plisinksi (San Juan Hills), Sterling Rapp (Dana Hills), Ryan Rios (Tesoro) and Grady Faris (Dana Hills) also pitched.
Beckman seniors Ken Tomitaka, Zach Ireland, Brent Byrd, Isaiah Kapur, Jack Terry and Rex Jarcy all showed up for the game, less than 24 hours after clinching the program’s second CIF title with a 2-1 walk-off win over St. John Bosco in eight innings at Lake Elsinore Diamond Stadium.
“We went out and celebrated, I think every one of us have watched the videos a thousand times in the past eight or nine hours, I half expected to wake up this morning and have it all be a dream and have to get on the bus and go back to Lake Elsinore and play the game for real,” Lavalle said in an interview.
“It happened, it was just magical. We believed in each other and we committed to a plan.”
The Sunday morning game was the fourth of five games over the weekend. The Trinity League defeated the Sunset League 9-2 in the final game.
The event was presented by Guy Lemmon’s Ryan Lemmon Foundation. Tournament director was Dick Owens.
The organization will also be running the Orange County All-Star Game Wednesday, May 29 at the Great Park.
For more on the all-star game, click here:
MORE COVERAGE: Check back Monday for pictures of the Trinity vs Sunset and the Freeway League vs. Golden West League games.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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