Empire League : Loara Wins With a 10-Run Inning

Loara High School’s 10-run inning Wednesday was just enough to end Los Alamitos’ seven-game winning streak and create a two-way tie for first in the Empire League.

Loara overcame an 8-1 deficit by scoring 10 runs in a wild fifth inning and edged Los Alamitos, 11-10, on a windy afternoon at Loara.

Loara (10-10 overall, 7-3 in league play) sent 15 batters to the plate in the fifth and pounded three Los Alamitos pitchers for nine hits, including six in a row, to erase the Griffins’ seven-run lead. Chris Hoffman’s two-run double to the gap in left-center and Czach Hallock’s two-out triple down the right-field line that scored the go-ahead runs were the key blows in the inning.

Los Alamitos (12-9, 7-3) held an 8-1 lead after three innings of play, capitalizing on six walks and flexing its muscles with home runs by Anthony Napolitano and Doug Kieck.

Napolitano hit a three-run homer in the second inning over the 343-foot sign in right field that gave Los Alamitos a 5-0 lead. Kieck’s two-run homer over the 325-foot sign in left field pushed the Griffins ahead, 8-1, in the third.

Todd Gragnano, Los Alamitos’ starting pitcher, allowed a solo homer by Loara’s Matt Draber in the second that hooked just inside the left-field foul pole.

“I kept telling my players that we only needed one big inning, but I didn’t expect anything like that,” said Roby Megill, Loara coach. “I didn’t even realize we had scored that many runs.”

Mike Gibson, Los Alamitos coach, was well aware of how many runs Loara scored. Afterward, Gibson voiced his displeasure with his pitching staff’s inability to protect a big lead.

“This looked like it was going to be an easy one,” Gibson said. “I was thinking about subbing some kids in the last two innings. You would think that when a team scores 10 runs, they’re going to win the game.”

Loara had 11 runs going into the sixth and that almost wasn’t enough. Los Alamitos quickly narrowed an 11-8 deficit to one run when Gragnano hit a two-run homer to right, giving the Griffins their third homer of the day.

Los Alamitos had the tying run on with no outs after Darren Sugiyama opened the seventh with a single and got a big break when Loara catcher Chris Hoffman misplayed a sacrifice bunt attempt.

But Sugiyama took the Griffins out of the inning when he was called out at third trying to advance on the bunt. Loara retired the next two batters to hang on for an unlikely win.

“The last time we played Los Alamitos, we had a 6-0 lead and lost, 10-6,” Megill said. “After the fifth inning, I walked by Mike and asked him, ‘Does this look familiar?’ A win like this has got to pump the kids up.”

El Dorado 5, Cypress 1--Jay Hassell (2-2) pitched a one-hitter for El Dorado at home. Hassell, a senior, had a no-hitter going until the sixth inning when he gave up a leadoff single. Hassell struck out 10 and walked just one for the victory.

Matt Luke went two for three with a double and an RBI, and Dave Moore went two for four with an RBI, a double, and two stolen bases for El Dorado (13-8, 5-5).

Esperanza 7, Katella 3--Roger Weems (2-3) pitched 6 1/3 innings and Brian Pickler pitched the final two-thirds of an inning for the save for host Esperanza (8-8-2, 2-7-1). Keith McDonald, and Rich Hills had solo home runs for Esperanza. Hills also had a double. Katella falls to 13-7, 6-4.