Youth Scene: Laguna Beach Water Polo wins silver at San Diego Cup
The Laguna Beach Water Polo Age Group 12-Under boys “A” team won silver Monday at the San Diego Cup.
The three-day tournament started Saturday.
Laguna, coached by Carl Renezeder and Rob Capobianco, was entered into upper level, AA Division, and placed second among 36 teams. Opponents were shut down by the strong and steady defense led by Matthew Franck, Jack Gannaway and Zachary Cord. Erik Franck unleashed powerful shots on goal and was supported by strong left-hander Holden Geary. Augie Renezeder dominated at the two-meter position and Caden Capobianco commanded the goal, making a number of outstanding blocks. Brian Gilmore, Will Kelly and Charlie Besso supported with great defense and each scored several goals.
Matthew Franck and Erik Franck were selected as members of the all-tournament team.
The team will next compete at the Southern Pacific Zone (SOPAC) Junior Olympic Qualifier May 30-June 1 in Irvine.
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Surfing
The Thurston Middle School surf team took a third-place finish last weekend at the Scholastic Surf Series Middle School State Championships at Oceanside Harbor.
Thirty middle school teams from Santa Cruz to San Diego competed for the title.
Led by coaches Jeff Booth and Bobby Lockhart, Thurston finished with 203 team points and finished behind San Clemente Shorecliffs which won the team title with 295 points, and second-place La Jolla Muirlands (244 points).
Booth won the Coaches’ Shortboard division event.
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Laguna Beach Little League
AAA Division
UPS 11, Lumberyard 3: In the final game of the regular season, UPS overwhelmed Lumberyard.
UPS got on the scoreboard quickly, scoring five runs in the first inning highlighted by a grand slam by Sam Schineller which cleared the fence by a approximately 20 feet. UPS never looked back as they tacked on runs in the second, third and fifth innings.
UPS also got offensive contributions from Lucas Jablon, Aidan McDennon, Kai Gillies and Davis Dix. Spencer Klug got hit by the pitch and stole 2nd base only to find out later, he had broken his arm and unfortunately will be out for the season.
On the mound, JD Dix pitched his best game of the season going three innings and didn’t allow an earned run.
Lumberyard turned in a few highlights of its own. Noah Neufeld singled to lead off the bottom of the first and came around to score. Nick Bonn was stellar in the field and at the plate, while Bryce Ford and Erik Olsen both had hits and scored runs.
The teams will square off again in the first round of the playoffs on Friday at 4:15pm.
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AA Division
La Sirena Grill 15, Bushards 4: La Sirena Grill clinched the AA regular season championship by beating a fast-improving Bushards.
Cade Anderton lead the way with an extremely efficient pitching effort (3 2/3 innings, one walk, four runs, five strikeouts) supported by continued outstanding fielding by a number of players including Ben Dawson, Jackson Baldwin, Ryan Loughlin and Redmond Chesley. Baldwin closed the game in the fourth thanks to a tremendous throw from Chesley to catcher Luke Fetzer who tagged out Bushards’ Hayden Farrington at home plate.
La Sirena got off to a strong start with three runs in the first inning based on back-to-back doubles by Anderton (RBI, three runs) and Chesley (two for two, double, triple, 3 RBIs, two runs). La Sirena took a commanding lead after a five-run third inning, lead by Fetzer (double, two runs) and Dawson (single, two runs).
Bushards received solid pitching efforts from Gavin Genske (two innings, three strikeouts), Jayson Rowley and Will Goodwin (1 2/3 innings, four strikeouts). They were led at the plate by Andrew Kelleher (two for two, double, run), Goodwin (double, run), Morgan Zevnik (single), Michael Watts (double, RBI, run), and Christopher Hemsley (single, run).
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