Shadowlands

Looking back, 5 years ago this week.

In dramatic fashion, the Costa Mesa American Little League Majors

All-Stars record the league’s biggest win ever with a 6-3

come-from-behind victory over Seaview in a championship semifinal of the

District 62 Area 1 Tournament. In the bottom of the eighth, with two

outs, Costa Mesa first baseman Michael Gardiner skies a first-pitch

fastball over the center field fence for a three-run, game-winning homer.

Also, Danny Krikorian, Mesa’s No. 9 hitter, who earns his spot in the

lineup with his defensive ability, pounds a two-run blast over the left

center field fence in the fifth to erase a 3-0 deficit. Costa Mesa’s ace,

Nick Cabico, a right-hander, goes the distance, hurling 138 pitches to

protect his unbeaten season on the mound. Cabico retires the last nine

hitters in succession (12 of the last 13) and strikes out 13 with only

five walks. The Costa Mesa team loses in the Area 1 championship game,

10-0, in four innings to Seaview. The road to the title game includes: a

5-3 shocker over Ocean View in the opener; a hard-fought 6-3 decision to

the eventual Area 1 champion Seaview; a bounce-back 10-5 rout of

Westminster; then the Game of the Series, the 6-3 thriller in eight over

Seaview in a semifinal.

Ray Ohrel, a first-team All-Pacific Coast League and All-Newport-Mesa

District running back as a Costa Mesa High junior, transfers to Newport

Harbor High for his senior year. Also, Chris Mokede transfers from Costa

Mesa to Estancia and John Liebengood Jr. leaves Newport Harbor to join

Estancia’s Eagles, which are coached by his father, John Liebengood.

Corona del Mar’s Sky Conway earns the Outstanding Defensive Player

plaque for amassing eight tackles, including three for losses and two

quarterback sacks in a 12-12 tie between the North and South in the

Orange County All-Star game. “Two sacks,” Conway, who plays for the

South, says. “I don’t think (Newport Harbor High’s Bill Johns) got that

many.”

Looking back, 10 years ago this week.

The North staggers the South All-Stars in the Orange County All-Star

football game, 16-13, before 6,500 at Orange Coast College. The South

loses USC-bound and Buffalo-Bills-bound quarterback Rob Johnson of El

Toro High, to a separated shoulder in the first quarter. Edison

quarterback Josh Gingrich replaces Johnson and throws three costly

interceptions which lead to all of the North’s points. “Everything just

seemed to go their way and against us,” says strong safety Quoc Pham of

Costa Mesa. “We punt and the ball hits their guy in the back and they

still end up recovering the ball. It just went that way all night long.”

The yacht Chance, which is buoyed by three crew members from the

Newport Beach Yacht Club, win first-to-finish honors in the Transpac ’91

race from California to Hawaii. NHYC representatives Dennis Durgan, Gordo

Johnson, and Marshal Duffield are aboard the victorious Chance, a 70-foot

sloop skippered by Robert McNulty of San Pedro. Chance completes the

2,250-mile journey 11 days after beginning, finishing ahead of Silver

Bullet and third-place Pywacket.

The Costa Mesa Junior All-Stars make it two straight victories in the

District 62 Tournament by stomping Westminster, 10-5. Westminster jumps

to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second, but Ryan Grogan’s grand slam

gives Costa Mesa a 4-3 edge. The two teams enter the bottom of the fifth

with a 5-5 tie, when Cody Quezada’s bases-loaded walk gives Costa Mesa

the lead for good.

-- by Steve Virgen