By Coby Naess, Special to the Independent
After winning the AAA regular season championships with a 12-3-1 record, Laguna Beach’s Crescent Bay Advisors came back through the losers bracket of the end of season tournament to win four games in a row and beat a tough UPS team 8-0 in the final game on Tuesday at Riddle Field.
Pitching for both teams was excellent. Nate Magers took the mound for CBA and pitched 4.67 innings and gave up zero runs with four strikeouts. Nolan Smith entered the record books with the final strike out!
Will Clark led the team in center field and played catcher the final inning of the game to kick start CBA’s championship celebration.
CBA came out strong and scored five runs in the first two innings. Johnny Phelan, Will Potratz and Nolan Naess all went 2-2 at the plate. Big doubles by Nicholas Lucas and Magers scored key runs. Adam Kerfoot had a key at bat in the fourth inning with a walk to spark a rally and Cooper Noriega added a run scoring single.
The defense was led by Smith at SS who made several spectacular plays. Supporting him in the infield was the ever so steady combination of Noah Linder at third base and Caden Capobianco at second base, who both made great plays! Wes Abrahams, a key contributor the entire season, will make his return next game after a broken thumb kept him out the past three weeks.
Daniel Kimball and Jaden Rea were outstanding on the mound for Team UPS, which had a great season and played hard till the final out.
CBA will now represent LBLL in the District Tournament of Champions, this Saturday, June 2, at 9 a.m. at Riddle Field vs. Rancho Niguel.
Coby Naess is a team parent.
