Loara Baseball Tournament : Lakewood Finally Gets Its Revenge Against El Toro in Final

It took three years for Lakewood High’s baseball team to earn revenge, but when it was finally achieved, a championship title was the reward.

The Lancers’ 5-2 victory over El Toro in the championship game of the Loara baseball tournament Saturday night at Glover Stadium in Anaheim was a payback of sorts for defeats the Chargers pinned on Lakewood in two previous tournament meetings (2-1 in 1988, and 3-2 in 1987).

“Yeah, we remembered them (the last two tournament meetings),” Lakewood coach Walter O’Neil said after his team improved its record to 5-0. “There are enough (players remaining) from last year, and even a couple from the year before, so we knew a little bit about them (El Toro).”

El Toro coach Dan DeLeon believed the Chargers (4-1) weren’t prepared for the final after they knocked off top-seeded El Dorado, 2-1, Thursday night to reach the final.

“We were spent,” he said. “We just didn’t play with the same amount of enthusiasm as we did Thursday night. That’s the big difference.”

Lakewood’s starting pitcher Steve Proffitt (2-0) was a big factor in throttling the Chargers. He surrendered just two hits in six innings and gave up just one earned run. He was not without offensive support either. He helped his own cause with a two-out single in the third to score Shawn Hardy. And the Lancers added two more runs to take a 3-0 lead after four innings.

El Toro capitalized on two Lancer errors in the sixth inning for two runs to trim the lead to 3-2, but Lakewood responded with two runs in the bottom half of the sixth. Jeff Marsh drove in one run with a blast off the fence in left, and Ricardo Guiterrez singled home Marsh to close out the scoring.

In the consolation championship:

Ocean View 4, Laguna Hills 1--John Arnold hit a two-run double in the sixth to break open a 2-1 game for Ocean View at Glover Stadium. Gary Christopherson had three hits and two RBIs for Ocean View (4-1).

In other consolation-round games:

Marina 7, Kennedy 3--The host Vikings took a 3-1 lead in the third inning on a three-run home run by Robin Lindsey. Chris Boyd added two hits and three RBIs for Marina (4-1).

Dana Hills 12, Diamond Bar 11--Mike Oetinger had a two-out, two-run double in the seventh to win it for host Dana Hills (3-2). Mike Robertson and Todd Futa hit three-run home runs for Dana Hills.

Loara 5, San Clemente 3--Chris Hoffman had an RBI single to break a 3-3 tie for host Loara (1-4) in the sixth.

Villa Park 7, Magnolia 5--Chris Johnson had a double and a home run to lead the host Spartans (2-3). James Hong contributed three singles and two runs scored for Villa Park.

University 11, Anaheim 7 (10 innings)--Dave Dieter hit a grand slam in the 10th inning for host University (2-2-1). Steve Barber had three-run double in the seventh to tie it, 6-6, for Anaheim.