Tony Altobelli
NEWPORT BEACH - The Estancia High baseball team battled Garden
Grove to the bitter end, but fell short, 8-7, Saturday in the fifth-place
game of the Costa Mesa-Foothill Tournament.
"Like most teams, we're still trying to catch up from our missed time
due to the rain," Estancia Coach Doug Deats said. "The kids are learning
and they're playing hard. You can't ask for much more than that."
The Eagles (2-2) trailed, 5-1, before scoring two runs in the top of
the fifth and three in the sixth.
Jordan Hart had a two-RBI single in the sixth and later scored on a
single by Brent Davis.
The game was tied, 6-6, when a costly Estancia dropped fly ball
allowed Garden Grove (3-1) to score two runs in the sixth inning to
regain the lead.
Estancia answered with a run in the seventh inning and had the bases
loaded with only one out, but a strikeout and a picked off runner ended
the game.
Deats was pleased with the strong play from senior Andy Romo, who
walked three times, stole two bases and scored a run.
"He's one heck of an athlete and one heck of a kid," Deats said. "I
wish he would have played baseball all four years. He's picking up the
game on the run and he's doing a great job for us."
J.D. Goff went 2 for 3 for the Eagles, who host Los Amigos Monday at
3:15 p.m.
COSTA MESA-FOOTHILL TOURNAMENT
Fifth place
Garden Grove 8, Estancia 7
Estancia 010 023 1 - 7 7 2
Garden Grove 300 212 x - 8 13 1
Hart, Flori (5), Ortiz (6) and Davis; Schaeffer, Crisantos (5),
Sutherland (6), Fernandez (7) and Bennett. W - Sutherland. L - Ortiz,
0-2. S - Fernandez. 2B - Goff (E), Schaeffer (GG), Bennett (GG), MacLeth
(GG).
