Pacifica’s Offense Rescues Its Pitchers

If La Quinta, the defending section champion, is to be tested in the Garden Grove League this season, one of the challenges could come from Pacifica.

As they showed against Los Amigos on Wednesday, the Mariners have an offense, even if their pitching is questionable. The Mariners (4-4-1, 1-0) spotted the Lobos a 5-1 lead, before rallying for a 10-5 victory. Chris Cruz’s pinch-hit grand slam in the top of the seventh inning sealed the victory.

“They are good,” said Lobos Coach Dave Austin. “On paper, at least, they should be good for second or third in the league.”

Mariner Coach Mike Willey still needs convincing, especially regarding Pacifica’s pitching.

“We really don’t have a ‘one’ or ‘two’ or ‘three’ guy yet,” Willey said. “We haven’t hit a consistent stride. One guy does bad and another does good. That’s happened every game so far.”

And the pattern continued Wednesday. Mariners starter John Aimes, handed a 1-0 lead at the top of the first, ran into immediate control problems. Lasting only a third of an inning, Aimes walked four of the first six batters he faced; that, plus a couple of Lobo singles by Adam Adkisson and Jake Sanchez led to five Lobo runs.

But Chris Reidel (1-2) shut out the Lobos (3-4, 0-1) the rest of the way, giving the Pacifica bats a chance to strike after Willey delivered a challenge of his own.

“When they got back in the dugout,” Willey said, “I told them they could either quit, or get out there and fight.”

The Mariners chose the latter. Three runs in the third, two on right fielder Casey Peters’ double, closed the gap to 5-4. Two more runs in the fourth gave Pacifica the lead for keeps.

In the Empire League:

Katella 3, Loara 2--John Baldridge hit a game-winning two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning for Katella (7-1, 2-0). Loara is 5-2, 1-1.

In the Freeway League:

Fullerton 5, Buena Park 4--Michael Garner pitched a complete game, giving up seven hits and striking out 16 for Fullerton (5-3, 2-0). Greg Johnson went two for four, including the game-tying double in the seventh.

In the Golden West League:

Ocean View 1, Tustin 0--Dan Kehr’s ground out scored Jared De La Chica, who had three hits, with the only run in the first inning.

Santa Ana 3, Servite 1--Juan Ramirez pitched a six-hitter and only gave up an unearned run for visiting Santa Ana (5-2, 1-1).

In the Orange League:

Brea Olinda 4, Savanna 1--Tom Prenovost had two hits and one RBI for Brea Olinda. Aaron Hough got his first save for the Wildcats, who improved to 5-3, 2-0.

Magnolia 6, Valencia 5--Joey Camarillo and Brian Morris both were two for three for Magnolia (5-0, 2-0).

In the Sea View League:

El Toro 12, Corona del Mar 1--Matt Steinau had two hits, two runs scored and four RBIs and Travis Vessells had three hits, including a home run, two runs scored and three RBIs for El Toro (6-3, 2-0).

In the South Coast League:

Capistrano Valley 8, San Clemente 7--Pat Versluis singled home Jon Edmonds with the go-ahead run in the seventh for visiting Capistrano Valley (6-1, 1-1).

Mater Dei 2, Trabuco Hills 1--Mike Kohlbach walked with the bases loaded to give Mater Dei (6-1, 2-0) the victory in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Mission Viejo 9, Dana Hills 8 (6 darkness)--Cortt Jasper singled in the winning run with two outs for Mission Viejo (3-5, 1-1).

In the Sunset League:

Edison 7, Fountain Valley 4--Edison (3-5, 1-1) took control early with a five-run first inning, highlighted by Chris Tallman’s two-run double and Marc Salloum’s three-run home run.

Esperanza 6, Los Alamitos 2--Brian Snapp hit a two-run single to highlight a four-run inning and break a 2-2 tie in the sixth for host Esperanza (4-4, 2-0). Brian Bingham and Snapp each had three RBIs for Esperanza. Jim Pickel (4-1) pitched 1 2/3 shutout innings in relief to earn the victory.