Santa Margarita was represented at the Ryan Lemmon Showcase by (from left) Coach Chris Malec, Alex Schrier, Spencer Edwards and Aaron LaMont. (Photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)
Santa Margarita High seniors capped a memorable season by contributing Sunday to the Trinity League’s 8-5 victory over the Sunset League in the Ryan Lemmon Showcase at the Great Park Baseball Stadium.
To see the slide show, please click on the first photo
Santa Margarita brought home the CIF Division 2 title this year and the seniors added to their achievements on Sunday.
Spencer Edwards from Santa Margarita started on the mound and pitched a scoreless first inning and Eagle teammate Alex Schrier finished out with a scoreless seventh as the Trinity League rallied from a 4-0 deficit with six runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Eagles infielder Aaron LaMont also had an RBI.
“It was fun for the boys to get out and see a different environment and piece together some hits,” said Santa Margarita Coach Chris Malec, who led the Trinity League team. “This is my first one of these and from what I hear we scored more runs this year than the last three combined.”
In the top of the fourth inning, the Sunset League scored four runs, taking advantage of two errors. Garrett Runyan of Edison had a two-run single in the inning. Cory Lewis (Marina), Cole Minato (Huntington Beach) and John Olmstead (Newport Harbor) also had hits in the inning.
But in the bottom of the fourth, the Trinity League countered with six runs. Derek Delgado (St. John Bosco) had a two-run single and leadoff hitter C.J. Masciel (Servite) had a two-run double to put the Trinity League ahead 6-4.
“I felt I had to pick myself up a little bit after an error,” said Masciel, who is headed to Cal Baptist University to play baseball. “I just got a fastball I could handle and got it done. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of guys I knew and a lot of guys I didn’t know that I got to meet today and a lot of guys I’ve played against that I always wanted to meet and I finally got to play with them so it was cool.”
Chase Katafias of JSerra and Lamont of Santa Margarita also had RBI singles in the inning.
“It was really fun getting to see the people that we played all year and just have fun in our last high school game,” said LaMont.
The Sunset League kept battling. In the sixth inning, Cameron Mahaffy (Newport Harbor) doubled and Olmstead drove him in with a base hit to cut the lead to 6-5.
But in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Trinity League got a little cushion cashing in two walks, two hit batters and an RBI single into two runs. David Hays (St. John Bosco) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Sean Lugo from Servite had an RBI single.
The Trinity League used nine pitchers. Besides the two pitchers from Santa Margarita, Ryan Farmer (JSerra), Knolton Clark (Servite), Kyle Scott (Mater Dei), Anthony Chiaramonte (Mater Dei), Alec Rath (Servite), Scott Svendsen (Mater Dei) and Cameron Wheeler (Mater Dei) pitched.
Tommy Wilcox (Corona del Mar) pitched a scoreless first inning for the Sunset League and was followed on the mound by Dylan Ramirez (Hungtington Beach), Chase Hennessey (Marina), Kelly Austin (Newport Harbor), Jackson Ouellette (Fountain Valley), Noah Fernandez (Fountain Valley) and Jarrett Thompson (Corona del Mar).
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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