N. Torrance Revenges Mira Costa Defeat in Ocean ‘Pay-Back,’ 9-7

North Torrance High School has not officially adopted “Pay-Back Time” as its rallying cry for the second half of the baseball season. It just appears that way.

The Saxons, left for dead in the Ocean League less than a month ago after an 8-7 loss to Mira Costa, continued their steady climb to the top Wednesday with a 9-7 come-from-behind victory over Mira Costa at North.

It was the fourth consecutive game in which North avenged a loss, following pay-back wins over Culver City, Redondo and Palos Verdes.

More importantly, though, it was the Saxons’ seventh straight league victory and vaulted them into undisputed second place with an 8-3 record behind Ocean leader Culver City (10-1).

Coach Mike Neily, whose club was 1-3 and in sixth place after its loss to Mira Costa on April 7, has a considerably brighter outlook today.

“We’re in great position (to make the playoffs),” he said. “We had high expectations right from the beginning.”

The remaining schedule does appear to favor North. The Saxons complete the regular season against three teams in the bottom half of the Ocean standings: Centennial, West Torrance and South Torrance.

Mira Costa, which dropped into third place at 7-4, has a tougher road to the playoffs, finishing against Culver City and Redondo next week.

“We have some tough games ahead of us,” said Jim Beaumont, Mira Costa’s first-year coach. “But at least we’re in the hunt.”

The pesky Mustangs, who have been somewhat of a surprise this season, gave North all it could handle Wednesday. They held leads of 4-3 and 7-6 in a seesaw game, the second advantage courtesy of Sandy Sarconi’s three-run home run to left field in the fourth inning.

But North didn’t let Mira Costa enjoy its good fortune for long.

The Saxons (13-9-1 overall) battled back to register their 10th win in the last 11 games. They went ahead for good, 8-7, with two runs in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Brad Taggart and a run-scoring single by Scott Diekmann and added an insurance run in the sixth on Bo Monson’s RBI double.

That proved enough of a cushion for sophomore Damon Stephenson, who pitched three innings of shutout relief to notch his third victory in three games since being called up from the junior varsity team. The right-hander relieved starter Ty Tout, who surrendered 10 hits and seven runs, with no outs and one runner on base in the fifth and did not give up a hit.

“For a 15-year-old kid, he throws strikes,” Neily said. “That’s the name of the game.”

North benefited from two misplayed fly balls to score three runs in each of the first two innings. John Clem’s seemingly routine fly fell behind right fielder Mark Earnest for a two-run double in the first and Tony Pruett’s long drive in the second turned around center fielder Scott Vandermark, resulting in a three-run home run.

“We just didn’t get there,” Beaumont said of the fly balls, which he thought should have been caught. “But North hit the ball. They hit the ball pretty well the first time we played them. I didn’t see anything different.”

Pruett finished three for three with three runs scored, three RBIs and two stolen bases for North, while Monson went three for four with two runs scored. The Saxons stole four bases, giving them 115 steals on the season.

Sarconi had a big day for Mira Costa (11-7 overall), finishing two for three with five RBIs. His two-run single highlighted a four-run second inning.