Eagles Go Large

Seven Arroyo Grande hits, including catcher Lucas Kephart's three-run home run. Thirty-nine Jason Ochart pitches. Three Glendale Hoover errors.

Oh yes, eight Arroyo Grande runs. That summed up the bottom of the fourth inning Tuesday as the Eagles snuffed out the Tornados, 8-0 in a CIF Southern Section Division II wild card game at Arroyo Grande's POVE Field.

The Eagles were errorless behind Corey Butcher, who stymied Hoover on three hits, all singles. “He's money,” Kephart said of his batterymate after he checked the Tornados on a 78-pitch complete game. Wysong said the shutout was Butcher's first this season.

The Eagles play at Anaheim Katella at 3:15 p.m. Friday in the first round. The Knights won the Empire League.

“We've heard they're a legit good team,” Arroyo Grande coach Jim Wysong. The Tornados finished 15-8.

Wysong was plenty happy with his own team (16-10-1) after the Tornados' season ended at 15-8. Hoover finished tied for third place in the Pacific League at 9-5.

As for the Eagles, who finished third in the PAC-7 League at 10-7-1, “We hit the ball really well,” said Wysong. Yes, they did. The Eagles had 11 hits, including doubles by Kephart, Clark Goosen and Colt McLaughlin.

“He's been our guy all year,” said Wysong. “Nathan (Raubinger) will throw Friday, but all our pitchers will be ready.”

The Eagles hit the ball plenty hard in the fourth inning, but the Tornados helped them.

The game went along crisply for three-and-a-half innings. Then things fell apart for the Tornados, who were errorless before and after the fourth.

Their problems began when right fielder Johnny Barcena misplayed Kephart's single, and Kephart wound up on second base. Ochart balked Kephart to third, then Kephart slid under catcher Bobby Romero's tag for the first run after shortstop Sako Chapjian threw home on Corey Onaga's ground ball.

With the bases full and one out, McLaughlin's slow ground ball skipped off first baseman Tyler Opizell's glove and into foul territory.

Eric Simon and McLaughlin scored on the play. Ruben Gonzalez hit a two-run single, then Kephart slugged his three-run home run over the center field fence one out later.

“Their pitcher left some pitches up, and we were able to take advantage,” Kephart said afterward. “Everyone came to hit.”

Kephart had three hits. Goosen and McLaughlin (2-for-2) had two each.

Butcher said, “All those runs (in the fourth) sure helped me relax.” Actually, Butcher looked pretty relaxed most of the time. Ochart singled to lead off the game. Barcena singled in the sixth for the Tornados' next hit.

Butcher struck out five. His infielders spent a lot of time scooping up ground balls for outs. The Eagles fielded 10 grounders for put-outs, including a double play that third baseman Raubinger started.

Raubinger had the web gem of the day. He speared Jason Tapia's hard ground ball near the bag back-handed. He sprang nimbly to his feet, then strong-armed a throw to first baseman Onaga for the second out of the fifth inning.

“That's youth,” someone in the stands said with a chuckle after Raubinger's play.

The Eagles didn't drop the ball until the last inning - and both drops were called outs anyway.

Right fielder McLaughlin caught a fly ball with one out, then dropped it as he was taking it out of his glove - a legal catch. Second baseman Simon back-handed Adam Ochart's ground ball up the middle and threw to shortstop Goosen in time for the force. Goosen dropped the ball, but the out call had been made, and the game-ending out recorded.

The Eagles are in the playoffs for the second time in Wysong's four years as head coach. “We lost 6-1 in the first round the first time,” he said. “It was nice to get some runs and get a few breaks.”

CIF Volleyball

Claremont 3, AG 1

The Wolfpack sent the PAC-7 League champions (14-2) out in the second round of Division II at Arroyo Grande's Arthur James Gymnasium, 25-22, 18-25, 25-22, 25-21.

Trevor Salas and Chad McDade smacked 11 and nine kills repsectively for the Eagles. Setter Michael Glass had 29 assists. Brett Safarik gave the Eagles strong defense and serving. Andrew Reza played strong defense for Arroyo Grande.

Laguna Hills 3, Santa Ynez 1

LAGUNA HILLS - The Pirates (16-8) fell 26-28, 25-15, 25-22, 25-21 in the second round.

It was the second upset in a row for the Hawks. In the first round Laguna Hills, the third-place team in the Pacific Coast League, upset El Dorado.

Santa Ynez coach Chip Fenenga said, “They have a 6-foot-5 player who's going to UC Irvine on a full scholarship. He had 28 kills. Any time they needed a sideout, he was money.”

Jon Bridgeman led the Los Padres League champions with 12 kills. Alex Grant had five digs and four kills.

CIF Swimming

Masters Meet

St. Joseph's Maddie Mastrup, the 24th seed, finished 13th in the women's 500-yard freestyle at the Belmont Plaza Pool.

Mastrup swam a 5:08.74, her personal best. She broke her old school record of 5:09-plus.

Nipomo's Rebekah Corbin placed 13th in 2:11.68 in the girls 200 individual medley. Pioneer Valley junior Shyla Motley was 20th in a personal best 1:07.79 in the girls 100 breaststroke.

May 14, 2008