Shadowlands

Looking back, 5 years ago this week.

The Corona del Mar High baseball team slams seven home runs and

explodes for 20 hits in a 17-0 Sea View League victory over Back Bay

rival Newport Harbor. The victory completes the Sea Kings’ domination of

the Newport-Mesa District. In a span of nine days and four games, CdM

outscores the three other Newport-Mesa District schools, 53-0. The Sea

Kings’s first 11 hitters produce six hits, three homers and an 8-0 lead .

Ty Harper slams two home runs, while Paul MacMillan (three-run blast),

Ryan Achterberg, Royal McMackin and Evan Schiff (three-run shot) crush

one homer each. Even Nick Hood, CdM’s No. 9 hitter, sends a shot over the

fence. Before Hood’s home run, he is the only Sea King without a hit.

Orange Coast College’s Eric Dean, competing in a tournament at

Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley, as part of a college class, reels off

12 straight strikes for a perfect 300 game. Dean, a 19-year-old sophomore

who averages in the 185 range, describes himself as a weekend bowler and

his biggest challenge during his perfect game is his nervous system.

The CdM boys volleyball team holds off Irvine and wins in four, 15-12,

4-15, 15-9, 17-15, to open Sea View League action. CdM senior Blair Hoppe

leads with a team-high 17 kills, while setter Steve Reese contributes 40

assists and Tim Andrews adds 12 kills.

Looking back, 10 years ago this week.

The Corona del Mar High baseball team, a.k.a. the Back Bay Bombers,

rallies with two sixth-inning home runs to earn a 5-4 victory over

Huntington Beach in the quarterfinals of the Pride of the Coast

Tournament. In the top of the sixth, Mike Susson lofts a three-run home

run over the left-center-field fence to culminate the five-run rally

which begins with C.W. Ramsay’s two-run home run. Huntington Beach enters

the tourney ranked as the No. 1 team in Orange County. “What an amazing

feeling to win a game like that,” Susson says. “I wasn’t in the world

until I passed first base.”

The Estancia baseball team mows down Bolsa Grande, 8-3, to advance to

the semifinals of the Pride of the Coast Tournament. The Eagles, the

two-time defending champions, march to victory as pitcher Victor Martinez

earns his first win in his first varsity start. Victor Ramirez, who goes

2 for 3, smashes a three-run double in the sixth to secure the win. Jose

Hernandez finishes 2 for 3.

Costa Mesa advances to the fifth-place semifinals of the Pride of the

Coast Tournament after a 9-8 victory over Rancho Alamitos. Mike Meyer

slams a solo home run in the top of the seventh to lead the Mustangs to

victory. Meyer goes 3 for 4 with three runs scored, while Jeff Pickens

crushes a three run home run in the fifth.

-- compiled by Steve Virgen