Capistrano Valley Is No Sure Thing

Rites of spring in Southern California: smog levels surge, surfers take to the beach and the Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley High Cougars win a baseball title.

At least that’s the way it has been the last two years, when Capistrano Valley went undefeated after spring break to win back-to-back Southern Section Division I baseball championships at Dodger Stadium.

The Cougars could go on to win a third consecutive title this season, but they will have taken a vastly different path to get there. An group of transfers and junior varsity players has struggled to replace eight starters, four of whom went on to the Division I college level.

“They’ve been loaded the last two years, and those players definitely did what they were supposed to do,” Mission Viejo Coach Chris Ashbach said of his South Coast League rival. “These new kids are all young and they’re coming from different places.”

After going a combined 24-0 after spring break in 2000 and 2001, Capistrano Valley has won only four of eight games after spring break this season.

The Cougars needed a two-game sweep of Lake Forest El Toro last week just to get back into the playoff race. With two games to go, Capistrano Valley (14-10 overall and 7-6 in the South Coast League) is tied with Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills for third place, one game behind Mission Viejo and two games behind league leader Dana Point Dana Hills.

The Cougars, who finish the regular season this week with two games against Dana Hills, could finish anywhere from first in league to fourth and out of the playoffs.

“I think we’re in line to do what we did the last couple of years,” said Capistrano Valley Coach Bob Zamora, always the optimist. “We’re starting to round into form. If we could put together a six- or seven-game wining streak, we’ll be OK.”

That will be tough for a team whose longest winning streak this season has been four. The Cougars have gone 5-6 in one-run games, including three one-run losses to Mission Viejo. “That’s the mark of a young club,” Zamora said. “A veteran club wins those games.”

Expectations were high for Capistrano Valley this season even though the team lost key players such as left-hander Frank McLaughlin, who accomplished an exceptional feat by winning back-to-back starts in section championship games.

The only returning stars were hard-throwing closer Jason Corder and smooth-fielding shortstop Adam Sorgi. Corder was moved to the starting rotation and has excelled with a 5-3 record, 2.29 earned-run average and 72 strikeouts and 58 innings. The sophomore right-hander has been even more impressive at the plate, where he has hit .487 with six home runs and 23 runs batted in.

Sorgi hasn’t been as productive after jamming his right shoulder while diving into first base before the season. He is hitting .225.

Injuries have been a constant nuisance for the Cougars, as more than three-quarters of the starting lineup has been sidelined by an assortment of sprained ankles and broken fingers. Capistrano Valley blended its returning players with six transfers--four from Rancho Santa Margarita--and a host of junior varsity players. Two transfers, pitcher Gavin Fabian and third baseman Gary Gattis, have been reunited with three Cougars they played with on the South Mission Viejo team that reached the Little League World Series in 1997.

“I’m really comfortable playing with them,” Sorgi said. “I know their moves.”

Among the transfers, outfielder Jeremy Burchett has led the way by hitting .329 with four home runs and 16 RBIs. Gattis has shown glimpses of power, though he has played in only the last 10 games because of a back injury. And Fabian is batting .328 with several clutch hits.

“I don’t think [the lack of consistency] has been a matter of us not gelling together, we just need to get some breaks,” Fabian said. “The whole team hasn’t been hot as a whole. It’s the last team that gets hot that wins. We’re going to get hot last.”