Justin Lopez of Villa Park is cheered on by his teammates as he accepts the South MVP honor from Rex Lyon of the Ryan Lemmon Foundation. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
The South all-stars pushed across two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and held on to defeat the North 3-1 in the 58th annual Orange County All-Star Baseball Game Wednesday night at the Great Park Stadium in front of an estimated 900 fans.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
It was the second year that Guy Lemmon’s Ryan Lemmon Foundation sponsored the game at the Great Park. The South won its fourth game in a row and leads the series 33-23-1.
“I was just hoping we could be the first team to win in I don’t know how many years,” said North Coach John Weber of Cypress. “I refused to look. I was telling those guys, we were joking when we were on our first zoom call that we need to fix the line, it doesn’t make any sense.
“But it’s an all-star game, it’s fun, the kids get out here and play, everybody got two at bats at least and everyone got to play and you just have some fun.”
Justin Lopez of VIlla Park was named the South MVP. Lopez had an RBI double in the third inning to drive in Brayden Bianchi (Foothill), who singled and stole two bases to help the South move ahead 1-0.
Then in the seventh inning, Beckman’s Kai Carney, cheered by a large contingent of fans, had an RBI single and Lopez hit a sacrifice fly to put the South ahead 3-1. The runners got into scoring position after a wild pitch.
Carson Etnire (Aliso Niguel) walked and Bianchi singled to open the inning and Aidan Nieto (Tesoro) also had a walk.
“It’s an honor, I just came out here trying to play to the best of my ability,” said Lopez who had two hits. “Honestly, I just tried to make good contact and do my job in that spot and thankfully two of them dropped. And my last one, I had a sac fly and but I just tried to stay short and do my job.
“It’s an honor being able to play with all these guys. These are the top kids in Orange County and I’m super grateful to just to come out here and compete. Playing with them makes me better.”
The North MVP was Vaughn Sharp of Yorba Linda, who scored the tying run after he tripled in the sixth inning and came home to score on a sacrifice fly by Gerardo Garfiaz of Los Alamitos.
“It was a good game, coming into it, I had a good practice on Sunday and was coming off a hot season,” said Sharp. “I just tried to bring that out here and play with confidence and do what I do.
“It was great, you have competition all around you, it really makes you play up to the capability you got and pushes you to be the best player you can be.”
Bianchi from Foothill received the hustle award. Bianchi went 2 for 3 with two runs scored and three stolen bases.
“I love it, I got those bags early in the game,” said Bianchi, who had about 12 stolen bases during the season. “I think that’s what got it (the award). It was great, we hit early, came back, they tied it up and we were just hitting, running the good bases.”
The South out-hit the North 8-4.
The North threatened in the eighth inning. Tommy Hauben (Servite) singled and Garfiaz walked with one out but Adam Whyte (Tustin) notched a strikeout to work out of the jam.
Branson Wade (Laguna Beach) pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out one and his South teammates rushed onto the field to celebrate.
“It’s a great group of players,” said South Coach Chris Price from Foothill. “Once I got to know them, it’s an even better group of young men and the coaches who have worked with them over the years did a great job with them, the parents for sure. It was fun to be here, stay out of their way and let them do their thing because it’s a really good group.”
Price, coaching in his first all-star game, was pleased with how Foothill’s Bianchi and Villa Park’s Lopez played.
“He’s been like that all year,” Price said of Bianchi. “And Justin Lopez, I had nightmares every time we had to face him. That’s what he did all year.”
Price said the game plan worked.
“We got them all in, the pitchers pitched and went in and did their job, acted like professionals, it was fun,” he said.
Jack McGuire (Villa Park) started for the South and pitched the first two innings.
Following McGuire were Tesoro’s Nieto (the son of Tesoro head coach Andy Nieto, who was one of the South assistants), Stevie Jones (Corona del Mar), Carter Head (Beckman), Otto Graham (JSerra), Wylan Rottschafer (Costa Mesa), Tustin’s White and Laguna Beach’s Wade.
Drew Slevcove (Cypress) got the start for the North and pitched the first two innings. Declan Fitzgerald (Fullerton), Nick Nelson (Cypress), Julian Rodriguez (El Dorado) and Robby Blaine (Sonora) also pitched.
Rodriguez pitched two scoreless innings and struck out the side in the sixth inning.
The Ryan Lemmon Foundation also handed out the Mr. Baseball Awards to coaching legends Bob Ickes (Mater Dei), Bob Flint (Irvine, Woodbridge and other coaching stops) Bob Zamora (Capo Valley) and Dave Demarest (Westminster and La Quinta High Schools).
“It is a tremendous honor to recognize four men who are not only baseball legends, but true icons of Orange County sports,” Lemmon said during a ceremony before the third inning. “Their names are woven into the history of our communities, our schools and generations of student athletes whose lives they helped shape through leadership, discipline and a love for the game.”
Weber, the North coach, praised the Ryan Lemmon Foundation for honoring the four coaches.
“It was great to be here with those four legends,” the Cypress coach said. “I’ve been coaching 30 plus years myself, to see those guys and be honored, what a great job by the foundation in doing that. I’m so grateful to be here for that.
“It was a great turnout, it was awesome.”
Two Irvine Colts youth baseball teams also took part in introductions.
Dick Owens of the Ryan Lemmon Foundation was the game director. Rex Lyon was also instrumental in running the game. Staff members from the OC Riptide contribued to a successful event with public address announcing, in between innings music and running the scoreboard and message board.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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