Corona del Mar baseball wraps up Wave League title with win at Laguna Beach

Corona del Mar's Dennis Fitzpatrick (28) is congratulated by teammates after he scores the first run against Laguna Beach.

By Scott FrenchSpecial Contributor

April 21, 2022 7:44 PM PT

The Corona del Mar High School baseball team got what it most wanted from Wednesday afternoon’s baseball face-off at Laguna Beach, clinching its second straight Wave League championship with a game to go, and it came far easier than anticipated.

The Sea Kings (16-9, 6-2 in the Wave League) bounced back from successive losses last week to Battle of the Bay archrival Newport Harbor by blistering Laguna Beach 13-2, a triumph built on timely hitting and too many Breakers miscues.

All 13 runs were pushed across between the second and fourth innings — produced on eight hits, five walks, three hit batters, four errors, three stolen bases, a balk and a passed ball. Six of the runs, including all five in the second, were unearned.

Corona del Mar catcher Dillon Lane, right, makes the tag on Laguna Beach's Noah Neufeld, left, at home plate.

That was more than needed to support senior right-hander Jack Bolt, who struck out eight in five innings. Laguna Beach used a walk and three hits to score their runs in the fifth.

Ethan Watson and Jack Salmon reached base five times. Watson had two doubles and five runs batted in, and Salmon scored three runs and was walked three times. Dillon Gomez got on four times and scored three runs, Dennis Fitzpatrick reached four times and scored twice, and Bolt helped his cause with four RBIs — at least one in all three plate appearances.

“Just real excited for the boys,” said CdM coach Kevin McCaffrey, whose team jumped into Division 1 this season. “This is why you play, and we just told them these don’t come around very often. To be back-to-back champs is really special.”

Corona del Mar starter Jack Bolt pitches against Laguna Beach during the first inning in a Wave League game on Wednesday.

Laguna Beach (12-11, 4-4), which with a victory would have clinched a CIF Southern Section playoff berth and kept alive its chances in the Wave League title race, needs either a Marina triumph Thursday at Newport Harbor (15-9, 4-4) — the Breakers won the season series with the Sailors — or to win its league finale Saturday morning on the Sea Kings’ diamond to claim second place and its first CIF trip since moving into the Sunset Conference’s two-league setup ahead of the 2019 season.

The Breakers, a Division 4 team, committed six errors in all. Five pitchers issued 10 walks, and CdM left 10 runners on base, a half-dozen in scoring position.

“We ran into some trouble early on, but the bigger disappointment is how we responded,” Laguna Beach coach Jairo Ochoa said. “We didn’t compete when things got tough and we kind of gave up. We’ve got to be ready to flush it and chalk it up for what it is. It was a blowout, it wasn’t pretty, and now it’s all going to come down to Saturday and preparing the next two days to go out there and give ourselves a chance to still make the playoffs.”

Corona del Mar's Dillon Gomez drives in a runner against Laguna Beach during the second inning in a Wave League game.

There were pluses for the Breakers. They nearly went ahead in the first inning, but Salmon, the center fielder for CdM, gunned down Noah Neufeld, who had doubled with two out, at the plate for the final out. Max Burchi and Parker Romano also doubled, the latter to bring in both Laguna Beach runs, and Jack Brobeck struck out four in two hitless innings at the finish.

Three errors fueled CdM’s five-run second against ace Nick Bonn, who surrendered five hits in two innings, with Bolt singling home a pair to make it 3-0 and Watson driving him home with a double. A fielder’s choice, hit batter and walk, all with the bases loaded, brought in three more runs in the third, and Watson cleared the bases with another double to cap the five-run sixth.

“We came out swinging and we handled our business on defense,” said Bolt, whose fastball and curveball were particularly effective. “It was fun.”

Laguna Beach's Taylor Towe (2) gets the call at second base against Corona del Mar's Max Lane, left, in a Wave League game.

Said McCaffrey: “We had some great team at-bats. We got some walks and got on, and we took advantage of it. That’s the big thing. Our hits were timely hits.”

Ochoa said he had “complete confidence” his team would “get back on the saddle and prepare themselves” for Saturday’s game.

“We’re hoping for a Marina win [on Thursday], but we control our destiny at this point, and we’re not going to rely on anyone else dictating whether or not we make it. We’re going to go out and earn it ourselves.”