Back Bay alliance falls

LOS ALAMITOS — Broken up by attendance boundaries that will send them to rival high schools, the Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. 14-year-old All-Stars, who completed their season Sunday in the championship game of the Los Alamitos Invitational, formed anything but a team divided.

The NHBA squad, from which six players will be freshmen at Corona del Mar High and the other half will enroll next fall at rival Newport Harbor, was defeated, 10-1, by a strong Los Alamitos team Sunday at the Los Alamitos Youth Baseball fields.

But together, the locals won two of the four tournaments they entered, finished second and third in their other two tournaments, and produced a 16-4 combined record.

Perhaps more importantly, they forged friendships that promise to make their upcoming Battle of the Bay confrontations in various sports, all the more special.

There was some trepidation, mostly among parents, when officials for the NHBA and the Corona del Mar Pony League decided to merge for the purpose of all-star competition this season.

It was agreed that six players from each league would be chosen to form the 12-player NHBA roster.

But, Manager Jeff Gardner said any apprehension vanished almost immediately, as the kids bonded as teammates and parents gladly went along for the ride.

“The kids got along right away,” said Gardner, an Estancia High and Orange Coast College product who knows a little about dugout chemistry having spent four of his 11 seasons in professional baseball at the Major League level with the Mets, Padres and Expos (1991 to 1994). “Also, we meshed really well athletically and positionally.”

The result was a winning combination of pitching, hitting and defense that trumped what the respective leagues could produce as 13-year-old All-Stars last season.

“This is the best team I’ve ever been on,” said Will Morrow, a future CdM Sea King who broke up the Los Al no-hitter with a triple to right-center field to lead off the fifth. Hayden Cornwell followed with a sacrifice fly to plate Morrow with NHBA’s only run.

“It was fun to get to meet some new kids,” said Newport Harbor-bound Angelo Angelides, who was a member of the NHBA 13-year-old All-Stars who were frequent victims of the 10-run mercy rule last season.

“Those [CdM] guys helped us out a lot,” Angelides said. “We were a lot better as a team this year.”

Grant Davis, a CdM-bound second baseman who teamed with future Sea King and shortstop Mitch Gardner to form a strong middle infield combination, had the only other hit for NHBA Sunday. He singled through the left side of the infield in the sixth inning.

Otherwise, starting pitcher Jared Cortez (three hitless innings) and Moses Montes, who threw the final four innings, combined to stymie an NHBA team that blasted four home runs in its 7-5 semifinal loss Saturday to Dana Point at the Dana Point Summer Classic.

Morrell, Brian Ford and Clark Cashion, all of whom will attend CdM High, were joined in the home run parade by Newport Harbor-bound Mike Markovsky on Saturday.

Markovsky, who started on the mound Sunday, joined fellow future Sailor Cornwell and CdM-bound Emery Molnar as the team’s primary pitching punch this season. Markovsky went four-plus innings, while Cornwell finished up in relief.

Morrow also produced the defensive highlight for NHBA, sprinting to his right then sliding and reaching back to his left to snag a sinking line drive to right field for the last out of the first inning.

Cashion, playing catcher at the time in the ever-shifting alignment encouraged by Pony rules, threw a strike to second base, where Gardner applied a quick tag to erase a Los Al runner trying to steal second in the third.

The game was scoreless through three innings, before Los Al, which had just two hits entering the fourth, scored five runs on three hits. Los Al added two runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh.

The hosts pounded out 11 hits and every spot in their nine-player lineup (NHBA’s batting order featured all 12 players, which is allowed) reached base. All but the No. 9 hole reached base at least twice for Los Al.

Angelides hit the ball hard in both of his plate appearances, lining out to second base and right field.

Max Gerard, Ted Steffel and Charles Coakley rounded out the NHBA roster.

Gardner said he believes combining the two leagues is the way to go in the future.

“It allows Newport Beach to be more competitive and it was a great experience for the kids,” Gardner said.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].