Laguna Beach finishes on top

Mike Bair has said the Laguna Beach High baseball program abides by four pillars of instruction: play catch, throw strikes, run the bases well, and put the ball in play.

The fifth-year head coach of the Breakers also has emphasized to his team the importance of winning every inning.

On a hot Saturday morning at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino, the Breakers did all that and more, and soaked in every glorious moment along the way.

Laguna scored a monumental victory for the program and school by winning the CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship in its first-ever trip to a section final. The Breakers did so by shutting out second-seeded Fontana Kaiser, 2-0, in a game they controlled much of the way.

The Breakers scored in the bottom of the first inning and added their final run on a spectacular steal of home plate by senior Zak Kovacic in the fifth, to take down Sunkist League champion Kaiser which had won 27 of 30 games entering Saturday’s title tilt.

The shutout victory was their ninth of the season which ties a school single-season record.

“What a feeling,” Bair said after the Breakers had celebrated their milestone victory. “I can’t say enough about these kids.”

One of those players he couldn’t say enough about, was his pitcher, Ashton Goddard.

The 6-foot-3 junior right-hander started ominously by beaning Kaiser lead-off hitter Oscar Rocha on the game’s first pitch and faced loaded bases. He also had a throwing error to first base after fielding a tough grounder back to the mound in the fifth, which gave the Cats the tying run at second base to open the inning. In each instance, as well as another threat in the second inning, he and the Breakers defense deftly worked their way out of jams.

Kaiser had runners in scoring position in the first, second and fifth innings, yet failed to score for only the second time this year.

Goddard (5-2) threw a five-hitter, walked two and struck out four in a complete-game victory in his second shutout performance in the playoffs.

“He pretty much shut down their hitters all game, and got stronger as the game went on,” Bair said. “He was supposed to start our semifinal game [May 31 against St. Bonaventure] but he had some [sore shoulder] issues. He was outstanding.”

Kaiser Coach Mike Spinuzzi agreed.

“That kid did a great job,” he said of Goddard. “He changed speeds on us and pitched a great game. We had tight at-bats but all the credit to Laguna Beach. They won the championship.”

Goddard said he learned the day before Laguna’s May 31 semifinal that he would start Saturday should the Breakers advance to the division final.

He had pitched a three-hit, complete-game victory in Laguna’s 4-0 second-round May 24 road shutout of Riverside Patriot.

“Coach Bair told me to be ready because I was going to get the call for Saturday,” Goddard said. “I was pretty cool about everything but once we got off the freeway going to the stadium, I kind of had that adrenaline rush. That kind of translated to that first batter I faced, too. After that, I settled down, which is something I’ve done all year.”

After advancing to the championship game by outlasting California of Whittier in a 12-inning quarterfinal game May 27, and then St. Bonaventure in a nine-inning semifinal affair May 31, the Breakers finished off Kaiser in just 1 hour, 20 minutes in the division final.

They had to rally to win in both of their two previous games, and it looked as though they might have to play from behind again early Saturday. Facing loaded bases with one out in the top of the first, Goddard got out cleanly by inducing a grounder back to the mound and then recorded his first strikeout.

“We had our chance to jump all over them in the first inning,” Spinuzzi said. “We’ve been doing that all year.”

Connor Basile got the Laguna offense going in the bottom of the first by singling up the middle with one out. Dustin Angus then continued his hot hitting streak – he went five for five in the 5-4 semifinal win May 31 over St. Bonaventure – by lacing a grounder over the third-base bag and into left field for a double that sent Basile to third. Basile scored moments later when Will McInerny hit a grounder on the infield grass toward shortstop, and Basile beat the throw to home plate.

Goddard retired Kaiser (27-4) in the second and third innings but faced another challenge in the top of the fifth.

The Cats put runners at the corners with two out when Laguna came up with the defensive play of the game: Hubert Mann, who reached first on a grounder to the mound and went to second on Goddard’s throwing error at the end of the play, broke from third base toward home after a Goddard pitch to the Cats’ Jonathan Gonzalez. Before McInerny, who caught the entire game for Laguna, threw back to the mound, Mann had approached home. McInerny ran him back toward third and threw to third baseman Dante Faicchio, Mann stumbled and Faicchio put the tag down for a huge out that ended the threat and protected the lead.

Laguna also took a chance at home plate in the bottom of the fifth, and it paid off handsomely.

Kovacic drew a lead-off walk, was sacrificed to second on a bunt by Alex Baker and to third on a ground out to second by Jack Loechner. With Jack Simon at the plate, Kovacic broke for home, catching Kaiser pitcher Armando Duenas and the rest of the Cats off-guard. Duenas reacted late and his throw to home also was late as Kovacic slid head-first over the plate.

“I noticed that their third baseman [Gonzalez] was pretty deep, and I took off,” Kovacic said. “They were slow in reacting and I got a good jump.”

When Kovacic scored, the Laguna dugout went into a frenzy.

Bair, coaching third base, said he gave the steal sign to the senior.

“We’ve practiced that every single day this week [leading up to the game],” he said. “Every single guy practiced it. Zak did it perfectly, executed it perfectly.”

Goddard went on to face only seven batters over the final two innings. He only threw nine pitches and retired the Cats in order in the top of the seventh. When the final out on an infield grounder was recorded, the Laguna players erupted onto the infield grass and staged an unabashed dog pile.

Like the steal of home by Kovacic, Bair said his team has rehearsed the art of the dog pile, as well.

“We practiced a dog pile last year,” he said with a laugh.

Goddard said Monday, the day the Breakers returned to class for the first time since winning the title, that the bus ride Saturday back to Laguna Beach was one for the memory book.

“There was just a lot of partying and yelling, and everyone was just celebrating,” he said. “I’m really happy and super-excited to win [the CIF title] with my team and it was an honor to pitch in that game.

“We are still enjoying it [Monday]. Everyone at school has come up to us and congratulated us on our win. We’re just excited that we could win this championship for our school and our city.”

McInerny, a four-year varsity player, felt the same.

“It means more to me for others, than to me as a person,” he said. “It’s incredible to represent our city and take this [CIF] trophy back home.”

Laguna began the season 0-6 and ended it as a first-time CIF champion. The Orange Coast League champion Breakers finished the year 20-12.

In addition to that winless start, the Breakers were faced with other adversity earlier in the season: Goddard missed a month due to an aggravated elbow (nerve inflammation) on his throwing arm. Sophomore pitcher Blake Burzell, a starting guard and league MVP for Laguna boys’ basketball, got a late start to the season due to the hoops team’s successful CIF playoff run. Sophomore Jeff Bruyntjens, the Breakers’ starting shortstop and clean-up hitter, had elbow surgery (throwing arm) and missed half of the season.

“After each loss, 12 of them, I reminded our players that both our goals [win league, win CIF] are still in place and we have to keep believing in each other, picking each other up, not to point any fingers at anybody and keep getting better,” Bair said. “They believed it and fought for each other.”

In 78 years of baseball, Laguna finally had a championship plaque.

“Winning the first CIF title in school history could not have happened to be a better group of seniors and this team,” Bair said. “They believed when many doubted, they kept fighting when we suffered injuries, they had faith even when we started out 0-6, and they played with all their heart and as a family.

“The Laguna Beach parents and fans, and supporters, helped make this happen, too. It takes a village to build a winning program and we were fortunate to have that.”

The Laguna Beach CIF-SS Division 4 championship team: seniors Connor Basile, Will McInerny, Zak Kovacic, Alex Baker, Jack Simon and John Ogden, juniors Ashton Goddard, Dustin Angus, Dante Faicchio, Connor Coscino, Will Bonn, Lance Stewart, Lucien Georges, Grant Potratz and Dylan Smith, sophomores Blake Burzell, Jeff Bruyntjens, Jack Loechner, Grady Morgan, Michal Kerner (brought up for CIF) and Jake Booth (brought up for CIF), and freshmen Cutter Clawson and Kolton Freeman (brought up for CIF). Head Coach: Mike Bair. Assistant coaches: Harrison Williams, Ben Julianel, Tim Soobzokov, Aaron Contreras, Dalton Sype, Chad Concolino. Honorary assistant coach: Skipper Carrillo.