It’s Tough at Top in Baseball

It’s early, but so far this baseball season, the top of the order has been shaky. Preseason No. 1 Santa Ana Mater Dei and last week’s top team, Newhall Hart, both fell from their week-long stays atop The Times’ top 25 rankings after losses.

“You have to play well and you have to play well right from the start,” said Mater Dei Coach Burt Call, whose Monarchs appear to have righted themselves with three consecutive victories.

Among The Times’ top 10 teams, only top-ranked Chino is undefeated. The Cowboys handed Norco its first defeat, 8-7, last Tuesday in the title game of the Chino tournament.

Several teams have been handcuffed by stellar pitching performances.

Hart beat Burbank Burroughs, 7-1, in a Foothill League game Friday, but not before suffering a 10-0 drubbing by Saugus and senior left-hander Thomas Milone, who threw a five-hitter last Tuesday in a league opener.

Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley fell from No. 3 after a 5-1 loss to unranked Lake Forest El Toro and senior right-hander Rick Campoli, who scattered five hits in a South Coast League opener on Friday.

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Anaheim Esperanza Coach Mike Curran talks about lack of hitting as if it’s a virus, but recently, the Aztecs seem to have found the antidote.

“Hitting can be contagious and not hitting can be contagious,” Curran said. “I think we’re getting a little more timely hitting now.”

After losing to Downey Warren, 5-1, and to Santa Ana Foothill, 4-2, to open the season, Esperanza takes a six-game winning streak into today’s Sunset League game opener at Huntington Beach Edison (6-2, 1-0).

Leadoff batter Joe Dickerson has five home runs in the last seven games while Brandon Burns, Michael Nesbitt and Kyle Muhlsteff have come up with some clutch performances.

Esperanza, which beat Los Alamitos, 3-0, in a league opener on Thursday, finished runner-up along with Huntington Beach Marina behind Huntington Beach last season.

-- Lauren Peterson

Although some may have thought Corona Santiago, the defending Southern Section Division II softball champion, would struggle without pitcher Taryne Mowatt, who graduated, the Sharks improved to 9-1 with a wild 4-1, eight-inning victory over Etiwanda on Saturday to win the Jurupa Valley tournament. Emphasis on wild.

Santiago had only six hits against Etiwanda’s Rachel Lopez, but three in the eighth.

Santiago shortstop Britney Moore lost a tooth when she was run over by Heidi Ewry on a ground ball to Moore.

Ewry, who was at second base, was ruled out for interference to end the seventh inning.

Santiago slugger Tiffany Wright hit the ball well beyond the left field fence -- estimated at 220 feet in the air -- but had the second inning two-run home run taken away after failing to touch third base. She received credit for a run-scoring double.

Sara Hildebrand’s double provided the winning run. It was Hildebrand’s third pinch-hit in as many tries and her second run batted in in that capacity. She is one for nine otherwise.

Moore, Hildebrand and junior first baseman Mira Dzic, (.440, 11 RBIs) are among those “kids who have really stepped up,” Santiago Coach John Perez said. -- Martin Henderson