Corona del Mar Stumbles in First Tournament Game

Ninth-ranked Corona del Mar gave up 10 walks and committed four errors, three wild pitches and two balks that moved runners into scoring position Saturday. The result was an 8-3 loss to Salt Lake City Skyline in a first-round game at the Pride of the Coast tournament.

Skyline scored single runs in the second through sixth innings and three in the seventh.

“It was horrible and we stunk,” Sea King Coach John Emme said. “We need to do some soul searching. We moved some people around and gave them a chance to play, but it wasn’t those guys that didn’t perform. I can’t tolerate this kind of performance.”

After a scoreless first inning, Corona del Mar (12-4) started making mistakes. Skyline third baseman Chris Herbert doubled, was balked to third and scored on a wild pitch by Eric Snell. In the third, Matt Ciaramella singled, stole second, was wild-pitched to third on ball four to Herbert and scored on a fielder’s choice.

The Sea Kings rallied for three runs in the bottom of the third on a two-run single by Andrew Johns and an error by second baseman Brandon Baugh that allowed Johns to score from third.

Trailing, 3-2, Skyline’s Tony Harris led off the fourth inning with a double. He was promptly wild-pitched to third on ball four to Dusty Nielsen. Then with Nielsen headed for second, Sea King catcher Rory McKeever threw the ball over the head of second baseman Matt Gugliuza, and Harris scored from third.

Ciaramella homered to right in the fifth, providing the game-winning run.