The Loara High baseball program has become known for hosting a popular tourney, one that showcases the best teams from the area. It also earned a reputation last year as a competitive program, capturing the Golden West League title.
The Loara High baseball program has become known for hosting a popular tourney, one that showcases the best teams from the area. It also earned a reputation last year as a competitive program, capturing the Golden West League title.
Loara intended to bolster that reputation by facing Cypress High, the defending Empire League and CIF champ, during the first round of the Loara Tournament on March 7 at Glover Field in Anaheim. Despite a solid effort by the hosting school, it came up short and suffered a 4-3 defeat, which killed some momentum built by a three-game winning streak.
Indeed, the Saxons (4-2) opened the season with an impressive four-game series. During that stretch it snagged three of four games from Anaheim. It ended this run by making too many errors, wasting wild but impressive pitching performances that held Cypress to just three hits – the Saxons doubled that total.
Loara’s staff did struggle with control, too, committing seven walks and two wild pitches that led to unearned runs. Loara High’s Tyler Johnson threw the first wild pitch, which allowed Jeff Lim to score. Johnson otherwise finished with an impressive effort on the hill, though Lim would also tag him out during a pick play to second base. Saxons reliever Jacob Mugica tossed the next wild pitch. This time Isaiah Parra slid under the tag to add another to the Centurions tally.
Yet the Saxons refused to give up. They even managed to keep the score at 3-3 until Dominic Fletcher, a member of last year’s team, bunted safely. He would eventually work his way around the bases and score the game-winning run.
Loara returned to action against Savanna High, another Anaheim school that plays in the Orange League. It suffered a 7-3 defeat on March 8. That dropped the program’s record to 4-3.
Cypress, on the other hand, endured a 7-4 loss against Wilson High (Long Beach) at Glover Field at Anaheim’s La Palma Park. The Centurions jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first, but surrendered five runs to the Bruins in the bottom half of that frame. Wilson’s Chris Betts, a big time prospect, and Marc Moroney both smashed home runs.
The Loara Tournament will conclude on March 15. Last year, Canyon High (Anaheim) captured the crown while Edison won the consolation contest.
