Community College Baseball : Golden West-L.A. Harbor Tie Leaves Tournament in a State of Confusion

The Orange Coast-Golden West College Easter Tournament did accomplish one thing this week: It prevented a lot of baseball players from spending part of their spring breaks in Palm Springs and coming back too sunburned to slide.

What it didn’t do was crown a champion. Seems they just ran out of daylight before someone got around to winning it.

Golden West could have claimed the tournament Friday afternoon with a victory over Los Angeles Harbor. The Rustlers had gone through the double-elimination tournament without a loss, and Harbor was trying to take the scenic route through the loser’s bracket to win the title. The Seahawks reached the championship game with a 6-3, 11-inning win over Kings River earlier in the day.

But, after Golden West had rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game, 7-7, then held Harbor scoreless in the Seahawks’ bizarre eighth, the umpires met briefly near home plate and decided it was getting too dark to continue play. The game ended in a tie, leaving the outcome of the tournament in limbo.

An additional game, if necessary, was tentatively scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but was rescheduled to enable Jim O’Brien, L.A. Harbor coach, to attend his mother’s funeral. Before that game can be played, however, the teams must break the tie in the first game. Fred Hoover, Golden West coach, said he won’t exactly spend sleepless nights waiting for a champion to be determined.

“Wouldn’t that be cute . . . to get together for one inning?” Hoover said, speculating on when the teams might schedule another meeting. “If they don’t want to play, we’ll consider not playing.”

The logistics are such that Hoover would probably prefer it that way. The Rustlers have two open dates on their schedule, but both come in the heat of the South Coast Conference race, when pitching staffs such as Hoover’s have enough to keep them occupied.

So, it’s possible the 1985 edition of the tournament will know no champion. The tie, with all of its weird twists, may have to do.

Golden West tied it in the eight on a two-run homer by Scott Rath and a run-scoring double by Casey Martin that followed a two-base error on Seahawk third baseman Greg Hokuf . With two outs, Hokuf had a ground ball off the bat of Ken DeMarco go through his legs and down the left-field line. Martin followed with a double deep to the gap in right-center.

Harbor threatened in the bottom of the eighth, but was stopped by a pitcher who had left the game only to be told by the umpires to return to face one more batter.

Larry Salaets was the pitcher with one out, runners on first and second, and Greg Bochesa--who had homered in his last at-bat--coming up. Myron Pines, Golden West pitching coach, made a trip to the mound to talk to Salaets, then returned to the Rustler dugout.

Before Salaets had thrown another pitch, however, Pines returned to the mound and brought reliever Gary Buckles with him. After an umpires’ conference, Pines was informed that Salaets would have to face Bochesa. He also was told that he had accidentally committed a violation of the rules that called for his automatic ejection. A coach cannot visit the mound twice without at least one pitch being thrown in between.

Pines left with a smile and spent the rest of the game behind the Golden West dugout.

Salaets then struck out Bochesa before giving way to Buckles, who got Harbor cleanup hitter Tony Clark to hit into an inning-ending force play.

Salaets had entered the game in the fifth inning with the bases loaded and no outs and two unearned runs already in. He got out of the inning without allowing a run, thanks largely to what proved to be the defensive play of the game. Hokuf hit a pop fly foul down the right-field line. Golden West first baseman Keith Kaub caught the ball running away from the plate, then turned and threw on one hop to catcher Shane Flores, who blocked the plate and tagged Jeff Kimbro, attempting to score from third.

In Allan Hancock Tournament action:

Cypress 8, Taft 7 (11 innings)--James Jackle’s fifth hit of the day in six at-bats drove in Chris Kocman with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning in the semifinal game at Santa Maria. Cypress (14-6) will play tournament host Hancock for the championship today.

In nonconference action:

Saddleback 7, Mira Costa 1--Right-hander John Sinclair pitched a four-hitter and struck out five as the Gauchos improved their record to 10-8 with a win at Mission Viejo. Shortstop Bucky Bollinger provided Sinclair with all the offense he needed, getting three hits, driving in two runs and scoring once.