Edison blanks Newport Harbor
Edison High rode the shutout pitching of Kaz Akamatsu to a Sunset League victory Saturday as the Chargers took a 3-0 win at Newport Harbor.
The senior right-hander struck out eight and limited the Sailors to only two hits in improving his record to 2-3. Akamatsu also contributed to the Edison offense, going two for three with an RBI.
The win lifted the Chargers to 2-1 in league and 6-10-1 overall.
“Kaz put us on his back and was dominant on the mound,” Edison Coach Cameron Chinn said. “His stuff was virtually un-hittable.”
Edison returned to league play having come off a 2-3 run at the Anaheim Lions Tournament that included 80 teams.
“The tournament provided us with more close games that will help prepare us for the stretch run of league,” Chinn said.
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•Fountain Valley won all four games it played last week to claim the championship of the Palm Springs Tournament.
In the title game March 31, the Barons downed Indio Shadow Hills, 5-2. Trent Sievers went three for four and winning pitcher Travis Burleson (4-1) threw a six-hitter with six strikeouts and an earned run for the Barons.
In addition to its win over Shadow Hills, Fountain Valley toppled Coachella Valley (10-5), La Quinta La Quinta (10-0) and Calipatria (18-1).
Fountain Valley’s Justin Mazzone was named MVP of the tournament. The all-tourney team included Burleson, Justin Yang, Nathan Wilson, Riley Hanson and Conrad Villafuerte of the Barons.
“We were able to work on a lot of our offensive execution this week,” Fountain Valley Coach Deric Yanagisawa said. “Our pitchers did a good job throwing strikes. We will continue to work hard on the defensive side.
“The week allowed us to get at-bats for other guys. They all work hard and it was great getting these guys playing time because they work so hard.”
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•Huntington Beach completed the 32-team Boras Classic Friday and scored a 6-5 victory over Corona Santiago, thanks to a clutch, walk-off two-run double by Landon Silver.
Dom Abbadessa went three for four and scored twice and Nate Madole (3 2/3 innings, one run, three hits, four strikeouts) picked up the win in relief.
The Oilers went 3-1 at the tournament. They bounced back from a 13-3 opening loss to JW North to defeat Vista Murrieta (7-6), La Verne Damien (6-5) and Santiago.
Huntington, which won the National High School Invitational championship the week prior, is 10-5 overall. The Oilers moved back into the CIF Southern Section Division 1 rankings this week, coming in at No. 4 in the poll.
“I’m glad it’s all over and we can rest for a couple of days,” Huntington Coach Benji Medure said. “This has been a crazy two weeks. I am proud of our guys. We are undermanned and we went 7-1 in the two best tournaments in the nation. Pretty proud of that.”
The Oilers beat Newport Harbor, 4-2, on Tuesday.
In a league game at 3:15 p.m. Friday, Fountain Valley hosts Huntington. At noon Saturday, Huntington makes its home debut at its newly designed field when it hosts Edison.
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•Brethren Christian joined Edison in the Anaheim Lions Tournament, and the Warriors lost each of their five tourney games.
BC’s George Miller made the all-tournament team.
“We have battled through 17 games in the month of March with 11 players,” BC Coach Mike Thompson said. “It will be a good few days off for the guys to rest up their arms and bodies before getting into the meat of our league schedule. I’m extremely proud of how our guys never gave up and pushed through such a difficult schedule.”
BC starts its Academy League season this week with a pair of games against Sage Hill, the top-ranked team in CIF-SS Division 6. The Warriors play at 3:15 p.m. Thursday at Sage.
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•Ocean View was idle during spring break. The Seahawks took on Loara Wednesday. The score from the Golden West League game wasn’t available at press time.
Ocean View is back in league action at 3:15 p.m. Friday for a home game against Orange.
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CIF Weekly Rankings (released Monday)
Huntington Beach (No. 4, Division 1).
