Youth Scene: Newport Pony outlasts Orange

The Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. Pony 13-and-under All-Stars started their third-round section game against Orange at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Four hours later, Newport had earned a 10-9 victory and moved on to the fourth round of the Pony sectional tournament. The locals play tonight against Los Alamitos, with the winner advancing to the final four.

Newport broke through in the top of the 12th inning, scoring four runs to take a 10-6 lead. With one out, Mason McGlaughlin sped home from third on a passed ball to break the deadlock. After a Keaton Cablay single, Garrett Davis then drove a two-RBI double to the wall in right-center.

After tacking on a much-needed insurance run, Newport took the field in the bottom on the 12th with a four-run lead, but the excitement was not over. Ryan Brown of Orange launched a three-run homer over the centerfield fence to bring Orange within one run. Though Orange would then single, Newport will seal the victory with a ground out to end the game.

Newport took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second, with Cablay and Liam Ogburn scoring on passed balls. Orange rallied back to take a 5-2 lead but in the fifth, some aggressive base-running and base hits by Davis and Will Hinkleman pushed three more runs across to even the score at 5-5.

Orange came back with a run in its half of the sixth inning, leaving Newport down a run entering their final at bat in the seventh. After Kellen Ochi drew a walk and stole second base, Rigsby Duncan punched a one-out base hit to right scoring Ochi to tie the score once again. Ogburn came out to pitch the seventh and shut down the Orange hitters, sending the game into extra innings.

For the next four innings, both teams would repeatedly get runners in scoring position but neither team could score. Center fielder Ochi made the spectacular defensive play of the night. With one out in the ninth, he threw a perfect strike to catcher McGlaughlin to tag out what would have been the winning run for Orange.

Davis ended the night with two singles and a double, and Ryan Maister added two hits to pace the Newport offense.

— Reader submission

SWIMMING

Newport Hills wins relay finals: The South Coast Swim Conference held its 45th annual relay finals June 26 at Corona del Mar High. All six teams within the conference participated in the meet – the Greenbrook Gators, Green Valley Dolphins, Harbor View Dolphins, Lake Forest II Dolphins, Newport Hills Killer Whales and the Pacific Sands Penguins. It was a day where a number of meet records were broken, and each race had great significance as the scores were very tight. However, in the end, the Newport Hills Killer Whales were SCSC Relay Finals champs for the second year in a row.

With the final score Newport Hills 584, Green Valley 560, Harbor View 544, Greenbrook 330, Lake Forest II 298 and Pacific Sands 270, every point was very precious.

The Killer Whales were led by their 7- and 8-year-old girls. The group of Gianna Danese, Caroline Garrell, Ella Musselman, Riley Orcutt, Kelly Ramm, Sophie Wallace and Anna Wilde contributed to first place finishes in each of their five age group relay events – medley, breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and freestyle relays.

In addition, the Newport Hills 7-8 boys (Jake Bays, Logan Bernhoit, Jack Bibb, Brennan Carroll, Richard Eusey, Speedy Laster, Grant Loth, Dylan McCarthy and Chris Rosensitto) and 11-12 boys (Rex Barden, Taylor Cortens, Rourke Funke, Jonathan Polos, JT Russell and Nick Schroeder) gathered the most team points in their specific divisions.

The win for the Killer Whales was not without strong challenges. Newport Hills grabbed the blue ribbon in 19 of the 60 relay races, but Green Valley ended the day with 23 first-place finishes. What separated Newport Hills from the other five squads was its depth, as the Killer Whales added 18 second-place finishes to their first-place wins to end the day in first or second in 37 of the 60 events.

Harbor View swam to 12 first place wins, while Greenbrook, Lake Forest II and Pacific Sands all ended with 2 wins apiece.

— Reader submission

SOFTBALL

Newport Mesa takes third: The Newport Mesa 10-and-under softball softball all-star team placed third at the Central/L.A. Southbay “C” District Tournament, held in Fountain Valley over the July 4 weekend. Newport Mesa now moves on to the state championship tournament in Camarillo, beginning July 16.

The girls played amazing softball, battling seven teams in less than two days. The team includes Brenna Alvis, Kendall Blanchfield, Samantha del Toro, Brooke Fransen, Nicole Harr, April James, Kendall Machado, Lauren Oberreiter, Kaitlin Seapy, Lauryn Tarrazzi, Faith Vanderwall and Payton Williams. The manager is Richard Seapy and coaches are Tom Blanchfield, Kevin Del Toro and Chad Machado.

— Reader submission