Newport Harbor PONY All-Stars drop District opener

A strong start took a wicked turn the other way for the Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. Mustang All-Star team in Thursday evening’s opener of the PONY District tournament at Fountain Valley Sports Park, but coach Joe Francis’ 10-year-olds weren’t broken after suffering a lopsided loss.

Garden Grove’s offensive juggernaut scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning, four more in the second, and earned a 14-4 mercy-rule triumph in a game that lasted just three and a half innings.

That knocks Newport Harbor into the loser’s bracket, where on Saturday morning it will face the loser of Friday’s clash between tournament host Fountain Valley and Irvine’s B team. Francis expects a more enjoyable outing.

“We had a long layoff, about three weeks off, so I think big lights, and after that first inning, it was kind of tough to fight our way back,” he said. “They kept fighting, scored some runs. We did good. We’ll be better Saturday.”

His son, Brooks Francis, a catcher, first baseman and pitcher, sees it that way, too.

“We just need to get some rest, be mentally prepared, and be ready to play some baseball,” Brooks Francis said. “You’re going to see our best [in the next game], and we’re going to compete.”

Newport Harbor was at a disadvantage from the get-go. It’s a true all-star team, a collection of the best players from the clubs around the league. Garden Grove is a “select” team, with its league’s best players grouped together for the entire season.

“They play year-round,” Francis said. “What we have is 12 shortstops. We have guys who don’t play [other positions]. It’s really getting them to gel in that way, so it’s tough, but the guys are doing a great job. I’m really proud of our guys.”

Newport Harbor went ahead at the start, using a walk, balk, wild pitch, error, stolen base and Brandon Bettinghausen’s two-out single to grab a 2-0 lead with a pair of unearned runs.

“It was a good start off, but we knew [Garden Grove] was good coming in,” Brooks Francis said. “We thought we could beat them, and we felt pretty good. Got a little cocky, I think.”

Garden Grove took care of that in the bottom of the inning, sending a dozen batters to the plate — eight of the first nine reached by hit or walk — to grab a huge lead. Noe Garcia then retired Newport Harbor in order in the top of the second, and the home side piled it on a little deeper, getting nine batters to the plate.

The key blasts in each of the first two innings came from Andrew Campos, whose gave Garden Grove the lead with a three-run double in the first, then drove home two more with an opposite-field, bases-loaded single in the second. David Dominguez went three for three with three runs, Khai Anderson added two hits and two runs, and Adiel Gomez scored three times.

“We just had too many mental mistakes,” said Newport Harbor’s Kash Foti, who played in the outfield and pitched. “We’re just going to come out at the next game and go on.”

Twenty of 29 Garden Grove batters reached base, 11 on hits and nine on walks, as Francis used five pitchers while dealing with the PONY pitch-count maximums to ensure he had arms eligible Saturday.

“We can hit and we can score,” Garden Grove coach Mike Anderson said. “We feel like we can beat anyone, but this is age 10. You can lose.”

Newport Harbor scored two more unearned runs in the third as Ben Ricketts, who walked and scored in the first, led off with a single, went to second on a bad pickoff throw, to third when Brooks Francis reached on an error, and home on a wild pitch. Francis scored on Aidan Eisenberg’s groundout.

Garden Grove plays Friday against Seal Beach, and the winner will meet Dana Point A, which beat Newport Beach Baseball Assn. 20-11 on Thursday.

SCOTT FRENCH is a contributor to Times Community News. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottJFrench