PREP FLASHBACK : A LOOK BACK AT THIS WEEK IN COUNTY PREP SPORTS HISTORY

10 YEARS AGO

Dave Berry wasn’t flashy, nor did he have a great fastball. The Loara High School right-hander was a junk-ball pitcher who relied on his defense.

But all his good junk almost went out with the trash as Loara made seven errors before finally defeating Katella, 10-8. The victory broke a first-place tie with Katella in the Empire League.

Loara Coach Scott Pickler watched as Berry gave up eight runs, but only one of them earned. Pickler, who decided to stay with his sophomore starter, was more concerned about the balls being thrown away in the field than the balls being thrown on the mound.

“I guess you could call him a junk pitcher,” Pickler said. “But I’d call him tough. He didn’t get much fielding support behind him tonight, but he still had a good outing.”

5 YEARS AGO

Most figured the Capistrano Valley-Irvine baseball game would come down to which had the hottest hitter: Irvine’s Bobby Hamelin or Capistrano Valley’s Nathan Call. Hamelin was batting .521 and Call was batting .464.

But neither player was a factor as Brian Snoddy pitched a four-hitter to give Irvine a 5-0 victory over Capistrano Valley.

Call missed the game because he chose to attend a prestigious basketball camp, and Hamelin was ejected in the fourth inning after tagging Marcel Durand in the face to end a rundown.

Snoddy improved to 6-0 and lowered his earned-run average to 0.69. Irvine got power from some unexpected sources when Rick Smetanka and Steve Habermehl hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning.

1 YEAR AGO

Buena Park pitcher Shannon Akau pitched two no-hitters in one week to extend her streak to three consecutive no-hitters and five no-hitters for the season.

“I don’t feel (the consecutive no-hitters) are surprising,” Buena Park Coach Brenda Sapp said. “She’s a power-pitcher. I can tell you she’s up there with (former Valencia and current California star) Michele Granger.”