Baseball (13-13, 4-5)
Laguna outlasted Edison in a nine-inning thriller last week but were denied a spot in the playoffs due to a Southern Section CIF rule that limits at-large spots in any division only if the division has less than 32 automatic qualifiers. The Sunset Wave League only receives two auto qualifiers (Corona del Mar – Division 1 and Newport Harbor – Division 3). The Division 4 Breakers became the highest-rated Division 4 team not to make the playoffs (ranked No. 19 in Max Preps this week).
Last Week’s Game Details:
Laguna 2, Edison 1 – April 27 at Edison High School
Breakers twice dodged Edison’s attempt for a walk-off win to survive the nine-inning thriller and clinch a non-losing season. Nick Bonn went the full nine innings with some tough pitching down the stretch. In the bottom of the seventh, Edison’s first batter doubled and came home when a throwing error allowed a bunt to succeed. The next batter was out on a line drive to Griffin Naess. An intentional walk, a pop out in foul territory, and a Bonn strikeout to force extra innings. In the eighth, Breakers got a base runner but could not get them home from second. Edison went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth. In the ninth after one out, Noah Neufield walked and was followed by a single by Tyler Montgomery that allowed Noah to reach third. Max Burchi hit a sacrifice fly to score what proved to be the winning run.
In the bottom of the ninth, Nick recorded a strikeout but the next batter reached base on an error. The third batter was hit by a pitch and the bases were loaded on a ground ball hit. It took three pitches to record the second out on strikes but the final batter, Christian McCollum, gave it his all taking seven pitches including three straight foul balls before popping out to end the game in dramatic fashion.
Huntington Beach 10, Laguna 0 – April 29 at Skipper Carrillo Field
Division 1 power and Surf League champions took an early advantage of the Breakers to defeat the hosts in a non-league contest. The Oilers scored five runs in the first inning, one in the second, and three in the third inning. Laguna tried five different pitchers in the game—Maddox DeBretteville took the loss. Laguna was only able to get three hits (Griffin, Tyler, Noah Liao).
Season Leaders:
Batting Champion: Nick Bonn .362
RBI’s: Griffin Naess 14
Stolen Base: Nick Bonn 12
Pitching: ERA: Nick Bonn 0.93
Pitching Wins: Nick Bonn 5
Complete final individual game and season statistics can be found on Max Preps.
Boys Golf (0-13, 0-5)
The dual match season concluded on April 27 with a 209-183 loss to Marina at Ben Brown’s Golf course. League individuals were held this past week with preliminaries at Dan Miller on Tuesday and finals on Wednesday at Mesa Linda in Costa Mesa.
Boys Tennis (8-8, 3-3)
Ian MacLaughlin battled to the Wave League Singles final but ran out of steam in a 7-5, 6-4 loss to Marina’s Peter Liang. Peter Durand finished fourth. Marina and Edison dominated the doubles tournament held at Edison on April 28.
Laguna traveled to Martin Luther King High School in Riverside for the opening round of the 28-team Division 1 playoffs. The second round is Friday.
Girls Lacrosse (JV – 11-3, 8-0) *CORRECTION
Due to a reporting error, the outcome of the Girls Lacrosse JV game on April 21 was incorrectly stated in the April 29 sports update. The Breakers beat Corona del Mar 11-5 on April 21 to capture the Sunset JV title. The Independent regrets the error. Breakers completed their season with a 4-3 loss to St Margaret’s, an 11-5 win over JSerra, and a 15-1 win over the Long Beach Poly Varsity.
Softball (0-14, 0-9)
The Season concluded on April 26 with a 27-5 loss to Corona del Mar. Freshman Cailin Mulvaney led the team in hitting and the Breakers were a very young team playing a very challenging varsity schedule.
Swimming
Girls Are Sunset Wave League Champions
The Breakers lost key club swimmer Jana Jocic, school record holder in the Breast Stroke, to illness but the squad rallied with big performances from freshmen to seniors to keep their hold on the Wave League title, the program’s 13th league crown since 2008.
Breakers won only five events but earned plenty of points from the Water Polo girls grinding out in all events.
Boys Wave League Scores: 1 – Huntington Beach 454, Edison 325, Laguna 192, Marina 169.
Girls Wave League Scores: 1 – Laguna 370, Edison 365, Huntington Beach 254, Marina 164.
The 2022 League Champions:
BOYS
100 Free: Will Kelly 46.77
GIRLS
200 Relay: Addie Hudzinski, Lauren Schneider, Ava Houlahan, Ava Knepper 1:52.48
50 Free: Ava Knepper 24.31
100 Fly: Ava Houlahan 1:00.45
100 Free: Ava Knepper 52.96
200 Free Relay: Kara Carver, Addie Hudzinski, Ava Houlahan, Ava Knepper 1:41.79
The Boys also earned and already have scored in the CIF Finals thanks to Chase Shipp finishing second in the Division 1 Dive meet on April 27. For Southern Section CIF, Breakers are in the top D1 Division out of four Swimming/Diving divisions. Prelims were Wednesday and finals are Friday at Mission Viejo.
Track & Field
Team Moves on to CIF
The Girls Track Team coached by Steve Lalim may lack the numbers other league rivals but they made the most of their entries to send five individuals (seven events) and two relays to the Division 3 CIF prelims to be held on Saturday at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa. Laguna with 1,000 students has less than half the students of Newport Harbor (2,237) Huntington Beach (3,022), and Marina (2,360) but held their own. Marina won the Wave League with 77.50 points followed by Huntington with 76, Newport 50.5 and Laguna with 44 points. The Boys team struggled and were scoreless with Newport Harbor taking the team title.
CIF qualifiers:
4 x 100 relay: LEAGUE CHAMPION 51.93 (Rachael Dyrnaes, Ariel Taub, Kate Thomas and Cadence Peery)
1,600 run: Fifth – Sydney Sydney 5:32.62
100 dash: Cadence Peery LEAGUE CHAMPION 12.55, Second – Rachael Dyrnaes 12.65
800 run: Second – Anoua Carrie 2:16.55
200 dash: Cadence Peery LEAGUE CHAMPION 26.26. Second – Rachael Dyrnaes 26.38
3,200 run: Second Melanie Falkowski 11:09.39
4 x 400 relay: LEAGUE CHAMPIONS 4:14.18 (Anoua Carrie, Ariel Taub, Rachael Dyrnaes and Cadence Peery)
Looking for the latest Laguna scores, rosters, and schedules? Go to the department website at lbhs.lbusd.org/athletics/teams for the updated schedules and where the scores get posted first for all levels!