Sunset League : Fog Lifts Ocean View to 8-7 Victory Over Edison

Friday’s weather forecast called for night and morning low clouds and coastal fog through Saturday, clearing to hazy afternoon sunshine. By late afternoon, the fog had refused to clear in the vicinity of Edison High School. By early evening, Ocean View’s Gerry King had developed a new appreciation for nature’s damp distraction.

With Edison and Ocean View tied at 7-7 in the top of the seventh inning, King lifted a high fly ball toward right field that seemed to disappear into thick air. Edison right fielder Ron Chock never had a chance. You can’t catch what you can’t see.

The ball fell in right center--out of reach of the diving Chock--enabling Kelly Stovall to score from second base. Edison, in turn, got a little help from the fog in the bottom of the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to produce a run as Ocean View held on for an 8-7 win.

Craig Anderson, the third pitcher used by Ocean View Coach Bill Gibbons, entered the game in the bottom of the seventh and was greeted by Chip Damato’s fly ball to right field. Stovall had about as much chance as Chock had moments before, and Damato ended up with a leadoff double. But Anderson got Bernie Colacchio to fly out to center, walked Jeff Kent, then retired Pat Walker and Rick Justice to record the save.

The seventh inning put a damper on an otherwise bright day for Colacchio. The sophomore designated hitter, who was promoted from the Chargers’ junior varsity team last week, homered in his first two at-bats against the Seahawks.

Gibbons stood in the post-game mist, not far from where King’s game-winner had landed, and summed up the conditions under which his team had just handed Edison its second straight loss.

“This was Candlestick Park in Huntington Beach,” he said.

Edison Coach Ron LaRuffa called it a “good spectator game.” It was, for the spectators who brought blankets to shield themselves from the cold and didn’t mind losing sight of the ball from time to time.

Ocean View took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a bad-hop, RBI single by Phil Chess. Edison responded with a double by David Solarzano, followed one out later by Colacchio’s first varsity home run. The Seahawks tied it at 2 in the third when David Tinkle lined a Kent pitch over the center-field fence, then took a 3-2 lead on Jeff Sherwood’s solo homer in the fourth. Colacchio tied it at 3 with an opposite-field homer in the bottom of the fourth.

The Seahawks appeared to finally take command in the fifth, thanks to an Edison defensive lapse. With the bases loaded and one out, Jeff Sherwood hit a ground ball down the third base line. Edison third baseman Mark Miller backhanded the ball and recorded the force at third, but he threw wide of the plate in an attempt to get a double play. Catcher Greg Martin then threw the ball into left field, and by the time the Chargers got the ball back into the infield, Sherwood was standing on third base and two runs had scored. Ocean View scored four runs in the inning to take a 7-3 lead.

Ocean View starter Brett Johnson gave up a single and a triple to start the bottom of the fifth, forcing Gibbons to go to his bullpen and bring in Rudy Taub. Taub proceeded to hit three batters and give up a run-scoring sacrifice fly to Solarzano and a hit-and-run single to Damato. He struck out Pat Walker to end the inning, but not before Edison had scored three runs to cut the Ocean View lead to 7-6.

Edison tied it in the sixth on Chock’s sacrifice fly that drove in Rick Justice, who had led off the inning by getting hit by another Taub pitch.

The fog thickened in the seventh, and, this time, the elements seemed to favor Ocean View.

“Let’s face it,” Gibbons said. “We’re very fortunate to come out on the long end of this one.”

Fountain Valley 6, Marina 2--Don Snowden pitched a complete game two-hitter and went 3 for 3 with three RBIs to lead the Barons past the Vikings at Fountain Valley. Sam August added two hits and an RBI for Fountain Valley.