Practically every local prep baseball teams plays at the Loara Tournament, which has been hosted at Loara High in Anaheim for several decades. This tourney, which always consists of the strongest programs from division-I on down, provides bragging rights as schools collide that would normally not face each other.
Practically every local prep baseball teams plays at the Loara Tournament, which has been hosted at Loara High in Anaheim for several decades. This tourney, which always consists of the strongest programs from division-I on down, provides bragging rights as schools collide that would normally not face each other.
This scenario actually unfolded during the second round last week, when Wilson High, the 2007 national champ, faced Cypress High, the defending CIF Division-II champ. Wilson, which plays in division-I, topped Cypress with a 7-4 victory on March 8 at Glover Field, where it earned bragging rights and advanced to the next round of the winner’s bracket.
The Bruins (4-1), who later topped El Dorado by the score of 1-0 in the third round, received big hits from Chris Betts and Marc Mahoney, who both smashed homers against the Centurions (2-1), who returned to action against Marina on March 11 (score not available). Additionally, Bruins Jackson Foss, Cole Brown and Mickey Miladonovich had multiple-hit games with a pair of hits each. Foss also chalked up an RBI – Mahoney topped the team with two RBI – and Brown knocked a triple and senior Josh Goldberg swatted the only double.Starter A.J. Dean earned the win, tossing 3 2-3 innings.
Though he walked four and failed to notch a single strikeout, he allowed just three hits and only two earned runs. Cesar Gomez, who replaced him on the hill and finished, also impressed by allowing just one hit and one earned run.This marked Dean’s first appearance and Gomez’s second – he also threw three shutout innings while working in relief during the loss to Capistrano Valley.As a team, the Bruins only struck out three times.
The Centurions, despite suffering the loss, actually made contact and put the ball in play, but the Bruins defense failed to falter. The Centurions still ended with just one strikeout and walked five times – a noteworthy ratio. Trailing 1-0, the Bruins flexed their muscles on offense in the bottom of the first to jump ahead 5-1.
They would finish with 11 total hits while surrendering just four to the Centurions. Both sides committed no errors and neither managed to den the board from the second through the fourth inning. The Centurions ended that draught in the fifth, cutting the deficit to 5-3, but the Bruins earned one run back during the bottom of the frame.
In the sixth, the Centurions stayed within striking distance by scoring another, but so did the Bruins. Both sides then went scoreless in the seventh and final inning.Wilson will return to action against San Clemente on March 13. The tournament wraps this year on March 15.In other action, Los Alamitos suffered its first loss of the season during the third round of the Loara Tournament.
San Clemente did the deed with a 5-0 win on March 11.The Griffins (2-1), who can still win the consolation prize, committed three costly errors. They finished with six hits – one less than the opposition. Scotty Anderson went 2-for-3 for the only multiple-hit game. Gianni Castillo, Kyle Mora, Kyle Rice and A.J. Zunino all had a hit each.
Defensively, Mora (0-1) pitched the opening four innings, allowing two earned runs and four hits while stiking out a pair. He also walked one. Reliever Kevin Seymour tossed two innings of relief.Last year, Canyon High (Anaheim) captured the Loara Tournament title. Edison (Huntington Beach) won the consolation contest.
The winner of this tourney rarely goes on to capture the CIF title.