Pirates

Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli said a summer in the Cape Cod League as an assistant coach helped him broaden his connections with four-year college coaches. But with a collection of talent that is arguably unrivaled in his 20 seasons at the Pirates' helm, he had already become increasingly popular with Division I recruiters. No fewer than six members of this year's team have already committed to four-year programs, including two of his three newcomer bounce-backs from Division I schools.

MENS' VOLLEYBALL Orange Coast def. Golden West COSTA MESA — Troy Tomasello had eight kills and four 4 blocks to help lead the Pirates to a 25-21, 25-17, 25-14 Pacific Coast Conference win Friday. McKay Smith and Jeff Pratt added seven kills each, while Danny Baker had seven digs for OCC (10-2, 5-1 in conference). James Anderson led the Pirates with 28 assists and Richard De St. Jean led OCC with seven blocks. Golden West is 5-6, 1-4. The Pirates play host to San Diego City Friday at 6 p.m. SOFTBALL Doubleheader COSTA MESA — Vanguard's Amanda Young went two for three in a 3-1 nonconference loss against Dickenson State Friday.

Orange Coast College is dragging Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance," kicking and screaming, into the 21st century with a robust, rollicking production that deserves much more stage time, but closes Sunday. Directed with punch and power by Peter Uribe, the 1879 operetta has never been funnier nor more melodic in a local production. The show spills out into the audience and in your face — if you happen to be seated in the third row center. Uribe, bolstered by Angela Lopez's stellar choreography, has mounted as stirring a revival of this celebrated comic opera as you're likely to witness.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Orange Coast 66, Riverside 65 (OT) COSTA MESA — Sophomore Amanda Deal scored 23 points to lead the Pirates to a thrilling Orange Empire Conference overtime victory Wednesday night. Sophomore Helena Robel, who scored 12 points, connected on a three-pointer with four seconds left in regulation for a 60-60 tie, sending the game into overtime. Sophomore Alyssa Hanson, who scored 11 points, had the assist on Robel's big three-pointer. Hanson connected on two free throws with 10 seconds left in the game to give the Pirates the winning margin.

Bryce Brantley, a first-team All-East Conference defensive end at Orange Coast College in 2010, is one of several Pirates who have decided on their football futures at four-year schools. OCC Coach Mike Taylor announced Tuesday. Brantley, who had 9.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss as a sophomore, will play next season at Stony Brook University in New York. Isaiah Reupena, a defensive tackle who earned second-team all-conference honors as a sophomore, is expected to sign with Western Carolina during his campus visit this weekend, Taylor said.

SANTA MONICA — First impressions held form in the case of the men's volleyball teams from Orange Coast College and Long Beach City. Long Beach City swept the season opener Feb. 7 and the Vikings prevailed Friday night, 30-24, 25-30, 30-24, 30-25, in the semifinals of the California Community College Commission on Athletics championships at Santa Monica College. The loss ended the Pirates' season at 17-4 and denied them what would have been the program's 11th trip to a state title match.

The 1975 football season brings back many fond memories for longtime Orange Coast College fans. Thirty-five years ago Coach Dick Tucker assembled perhaps the finest team in community college football annals. The Pirates went 11-0, hammered Rio Hondo College in the Avocado Bowl, 38-14, and won the national title. No OCC team since has come close to duplicating that feat. I was privileged to attend every game that year. The '75 team will be honored during special halftime ceremonies at the OCC-San Diego Mesa game Oct. 2 at LeBard Stadium.

MEN'S BASKETBALL Irvine Valley 68, Orange Coast 52 COSTA MESA — Jo Jo Trinidad had 14 points and Mikey Molina added 10 to lead the host Pirates in the Orange Empire Conference game Wednesday. Molina, a Costa Mesa High product, was four for seven from the field, including two for four from three-point range. OCC fell to 8-17, 3-6 in conference. IVC, which received 13 points from Corona del Mar High product Ramon Mejia, who was four for five from the field, is now 19-6, 6-3. * WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Irvine Valley 53, Orange Coast 38 COSTA MESA — Sophomore Ashley Engeln paced the host Pirates with 11 points in the Orange Empire Conference contest Wednesday.

COSTA MESA — For the third straight season, the Orange Coast College baseball team is off to a hot start. But the Pirates, who claimed a 6-3 nonconference home win Wednesday that made them 4-0, and a combined 25-5 in February the last three years, have nothing on their freshman leadoff hitter Boog Powell. Herschel Mack Powell IV, who said he has been known as Boog since Kindergarten, went four for five against the Vikings (1-1). He is now 10 for 15 in four games, giving him a .667 batting average and, as one might imagine, a smile-inducing surge of confidence.

COSTA MESA - It had been nearly two years since he'd won a game, and after redshirting at the University of Oregon last season, Friday marked the collegiate debut for Orange Coast College freshman pitcher Brandon Brennan. As if that weren't enough to accelerate his anxiety, there were about four-dozen professional scouts on hand to gauge his talent, his coach estimated. But if Brennan was at all knocked off his game in the Pirates' 6-3 nonconference home win over Cuesta, it certainly was difficult to tell.

Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli said a summer in the Cape Cod League as an assistant coach helped him broaden his connections with four-year college coaches. But with a collection of talent that is arguably unrivaled in his 20 seasons at the Pirates' helm, he had already become increasingly popular with Division I recruiters. No fewer than six members of this year's team have already committed to four-year programs, including two of his three newcomer bounce-backs from Division I schools.

COSTA MESA - Riverside City College women's basketball coach Alicia Berber has learned to fear the buzzer at Orange Coast. For the third time in their last three meetings in the Pirates' gym, the visiting Tigers saw OCC connect on a three-pointer late in regulation to force overtime and then prevail in the extra session. Friday, it was OCC sophomore Ashley Engeln who netted the game-tying three-pointer that just beat the buzzer to knot things in regulation, 59-59. OCC sophomore Jordyn Terukina sank a three-pointer to open overtime for OCC and the Pirates never trailed on their way to a 70-64 triumph.

Orange Coast College will change conference alignments in football for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, trading its current six-team alignment for a seven-team grouping that features teams that have traditionally had more success. The Pirates, who competed in the Central Division East Conference the last two seasons, will shift to the National Division Southern Conference. They will be joined by former East Conference members Golden West and Santa Ana, as well as Orange County rivals Saddleback and Fullerton, and San Diego County representatives Grossmont and Palomar.

COSTA MESA - Sometimes, Steve Spencer gets so caught up coaching his Orange Coast College men's basketball team, he forgets his own exceptions. So it was with 9:00 left in his team's 85-63 trouncing of Orange Empire Conference visitor Santa Ana on Wednesday that the 11th-year Pirates head man confounded his own logic. "Settle down! Settle down!" Spencer yelled from the bench as sophomore guard Will Ligon sped past in transition with the ball on his fingertips and a back-pedaling defender drifting into the lane.

Sure, it may seem like a time warp to see a couple of old wooden merchant and naval ships tied up in Newport Harbor this week, but wait until you're aboard. For the next week the public is invited to tour two late 18th-century vessels that will be docked at the Newport Sea Base, 1931 W. Coast Hwy. One, the Lady Washington, is better known as the HMS Interceptor from 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," the first in the Disney movie line. In the film, Capt.

Don Watson, a longtime swimming and water polo coach, who helped lead the Pirates to 19 state championships over his 30-year career at Orange Coast College, passed away Monday evening following a nine-year bout with stomach cancer. He was 59. Watson began his OCC coaching career in 1980 as a part-time instructor and eventually became a full-time coach for the Pirates in 1989. As head coach of the women's swim team, he helped guide the Pirates to 15 state championships since 1983.

COSTA MESA - Sometimes, the one thing you haven't tried, the one thing that is least likely to work, can be the magic bullet. The Orange Coast College women's basketball team came up one shot shy of completing a second-half comeback that was as unlikely as it was astounding Saturday night. But in the end, Coach Mike Thornton and his Pirates were left wondering if a 66-65 loss to College of the Canyons in the semifinals of the Erin Tomlinson Coast Christmas Classic at OCC may at least serve as a reset button on a mediocre season to this point.