Two Titles: One by Rout, One by Rally

Bases loaded, bottom of the seventh with his team down by a run, Alex Bottom of Corona del Mar steps to the plate with just one thing on his mind.

Wall decorations.

His thoughts turned to the banner the Sea Kings could put on the wall of their gym if he came through.

Promptly, the senior left fielder ripped a line shot to center field, driving in Eric Weithorn and Mark Hatfield to give the Sea Kings a 9-8 victory over El Segundo and the Southern Section Division IV championship--their first since 1981--Saturday at Edison Field.

Bottom’s blow capped an improbable comeback for Corona del Mar (20-8), which trailed 8-4 entering the bottom of the seventh but scored five times on five hits.

“I just kept saying ‘banner, banner,’ to myself,” said Bottom. “Then I told myself to just make contact. I was thinking that we gotta pull this out.”

When the Sea Kings came to bat in the seventh, the situation looked grim.

Not only had El Segundo scored twice in the top of the seventh to take an 8-4 lead, but Corona del Mar had left 12 runners on base through the first six innings and No. 8 hitter Billy Eagle was leading off the inning.

But the Sea Kings have made a season of coming from behind, having done it several times in the regular season, including coming back from a 10-1 deficit against Newport Harbor, and in a quarterfinal playoff victory when they trailed 7-2 against Chaminade.

“There have been six or seven games this year when different guys have had to be the man,” Coach John Emme said. “In that last inning we needed six or seven guys in a row to be the man and they did.”

Eagle, the freshman center fielder, ignored Emme’s instruction to take a strike before swinging and lined the first pitch into left for a single.

“From there, I knew someone had to be on our side,” Hatfield said.

Brett Elliston blasted a shot up the middle that El Segundo shortstop Brian Lewis couldn’t handle. Ty Harper followed with a single to load the bases, then Weithorn drove in Eagle with a single to left to make the score 8-5.

After Matt Larson drove in a run with a deep fly to center, Hatfield walked to load the bases again and Nate Lemmerman singled in pinch-runner Wes Hockinson to pull the Sea Kings to within one.

With the bases still loaded, Bottom delivered the game-winner. It was sweet redemption for Bottom, a member of the Sea King basketball team that lost a Southern Section title game in February.”

“This was my second chance,” he said. “We had [come back] before so there was no question in my mind that we were gonna come back.”

The thrilling rally erased two nightmare defensive innings by the Sea Kings in the sixth and seventh.

Corona del Mar made six of their seven errors in the final two innings, including four in the sixth that led to three El Segundo runs and a 6-4 lead for the Eagles.

Weithorn, the catcher, had the most costly error when he threw a ball over third base and into left field, allowing two runs to score.

“We had a 4-3 lead going into the sixth and everyone started to get a little excited out there,” Weithorn said. “We got our minds off the task at hand and it took that screw up to wake us up.”

El Segundo relief pitcher Charles Talanoa, a 49th-round draft pick by the Cubs, held the Sea Kings scoreless for 2 2/3 innings, left after the fifth, then returned to strike out Bottom with the bases loaded for the second out in the sixth. It was the final out Talanoa could pitch under section eligibility rules.

Starter Matt Tigani returned and struck out David Beser to end the sixth, but was clearly tired during the Sea Kings’ seventh-inning rally.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow,” said El Segundo Coach John Stevenson, who is 6-5 in section finals, with all five losses by one run. “It was a strange game and we just ran out of moves. Nobody in this room is going to get over this quickly.”