Youth scene: Fleming’s to play in Majors final

Fleming’s brought their heavy lumber to the plate in the fifth to come from behind and secure a 13-8 semifinal win over House of Speed in the Newport Beach Little League Majors Division Tuesday night.

Blake Kormos hit a two-run bomb in the first to get Fleming’s started. Fleming’s Brett Super and House’s Chase Dugan both pitched into the fifth inning with the score knotted at 4.

Will Favreau made several nice defensive plays at short to keep the score close. In the top of the fifth, House hitters found the gaps and put up four runs to go up 8-4.

Fleming’s mounted a comeback in the bottom of the inning. Conor Costello worked a lead-off walk, Ethan Wien singled and Brett Super lifted a bomb over the right fielder to cut the House lead to two. Jonathan White walked, Kormos singled, Jack Genova singled, Alec Takdrove a laser line driveoff the fence, and Noah Katz coaxed another walk. The lineup turned over and Costello singled, Wien doubled and Super singled. When the dust settled nine Fleming’s runners had crossed the plate. Sam Kobrine pitched a shutout sixth striking out three House batters from the meat of the order.

Al’s wins NHBA Pony League Championship Al’s New York Pizza Cafe won the Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. Pony League Championship May 25, with a 15-5 victory over Outback Steakhouse.

Al’s earned the right to compete for the title with a win the previous night over undefeated Outback in a thrilling 5-4 contest. On Monday with the game still tied after regulation play, Al’s Garrett Hall threw a perfect top of the eighth, striking out two of the three batters he faced to hold Outback.

Al’s Mark Grace doubled to lead off the bottom of the extra inning eighth. Two outs later, with Grace still on second base, Trent Dill delivered a clutch walk-off double to score Grace and end Outback’s winning streak and force the deciding game. It was Al’s fourth extra-inning victory in the tournament. Dill also pitched a seven-inning gem, battling Outback’s pitchers Keaton Cablay and Steven Faulconer, allowing only two earned runs while striking out six.

In the championship, Al’s Nolan McCarthy pitched a complete game, combining with catcher Wyatt Zalewski who masterfully anchored duties behind the plate for the entire championship tournament. McCarthy and Outback’s Chad Redfearn engaged in a 3-2 pitching duel until the bottom of the fourth when Al’s scored five runs. Outback scored two runs in the top of the sixth to close in, but Al’s answered by scoring seven runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away and win the championship.

Al’s hitting was led by Chris Croxton’s three singles, a triple by Kaden Ebbinga, doubles by Grace and Travis Martin, followed by Zalewski, Hall, Chris McCann, and A.J. Sanchez, who all recorded singles.

Outback also had exceptional play in the championship game and throughout the tournament by Austin Byram, Alex Fuller, Jake Giffin, Jake Hastings, Max Kline, Ryan McCully, Logan Miller, Trevor Schwartz, and Austin Smith.

Daily Pilot Cup Boys’ 5-6 final Silver Division Lincoln 3, Victoria 2 Lincoln captured their second consecuvitve title after beating Victoria Elementary in the championship match. After going down 1-0, Soheil Waddood weaved his way through the defense and scored the equalizer to tie the game 1-1. In the second half, Tanner Cislaw collected a ball 25 yards out and rocketed a ball over the Victoria goalie to make the score 2-1. After Victoria tied the score to make it 2-2 and send the game into a shootout, Lincoln responded and was able to secure the victory in the shootout.

Lincoln’s defense was led by fantastic goalie play from Liam Somekh, defenders Josh Kim, Gabriel Montes, Matt Paulsen, Justin Lloyd and Jake Pearson. Strong and commanding midfield presence was led by Brennan Greenwald, Grant Shaw, Myles Glenn, Tanner Cislaw, Fabian Montes and Arwin Rahmatpanah. Lincoln’s scoring threat was led by Sam Neiger, Leif Hellgren, and Soheil Waddood.

Newport Lightning Basketball Club Seventh-grade AAU Team The Newport Lightning Basketball Club’s 13-and-under seventh-grade team placed third at this weekend’s Big City Sports AAU “So Cal Championships” going 2-1.

The Lightning beat Elsinore Hoopstars 36-35 and BPA from Los Angeles 44-39 to advance to the semifinals where they faced a familiar foe in the Laguna Hills Evolution. The game was a back and forth battle with the Lightning taking the lead with two minutes remaining only to watch the lead slip away on consecutive three-pointers from the Evolution en route to a 34-44 loss.

Harrison Carter (10.3 ppg /11 rpg) and Andre Camba (9.6 ppg /6 rpg) led the scoring for the Lightning while Charlie Evans (4.6 ppg / 8 rpg) and Ben Buckram (6.3 ppg / 2.0 apg) added some offensive punch. Max Kline (5.6 ppg / 2.5 spg) and Austin Ridge (3.0 ppg / 2.7 apg) played tremendous defense throughout and ran the offense well.

Richard Hagestad, Ryan Kleinman, Brett Greenlee, Justin Hess and Riley Gaddis all played key minutes over the weekend.

Softball The Newport-Mesa Girls Softball All Stars 8-and-under team came in second place at the Capistrano Coastal Classic All-Star Tournament held over Memorial Day Weekend. The team valiantly battled for five games over the three-day weekend, with the entire team putting forth a great effort. The team includes: Mia Bagatourian, Katharine Caston, Leah Freeman, Hannah Hiromoto, Lindsay Lobel, Simone Oberreiter, Mary Polos, Katie Rodewald, Katie Stephens, Sujata Tewari, Sara Urner, Gabi Valeriano.