Sea Kings knocked out

CORONA DEL MAR — The big fella planted near the third-base line continued to wave the runners in. A stopwatch dangled below his belt, you wouldn’t know it with his belly hiding the front of his waistline.

Corona del Mar High’s baseball team saw too much of the massive coach from Crespi of Encino Tuesday.

The 6-foot-something, 300-plus pound coach signaled seven runners home in the first inning. Six in the second, four in the third, and by then CdM Coach John Emme said he knew the Sea Kings were doomed.

They were. No second straight comeback in the CIF Southern Section Division III playoffs, as the Sea Kings lost, 19-4, in a second-round game at home.

As the Sea Kings (19-9) gathered one last time, the Celts (23-5-1) were ordered to do pushups, abdominal crunches. The Celts’ coaching staff walked away before the team sprinted from the right-field line to center field.

Out of the three coaches, guess which one wore the widest smile? Yes, the huge third-base coach timing the sprints.

On the other side, Emme wasn’t all too pleased.

“We pretty much imploded in the first inning,” Emme said.

Crespi almost saw its third-base coach implode with all the work. He sweated profusely, on a rather cool day CdM used six pitchers. He looked like one of those guys spinning those arrow-shaped signs advertising for homes, apartments on the corner of a street, trying to catch your attention.

Matt Scioscia, son of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Manager Mike Scioscia, loved every minute of it. So did the rest of the Celts, who included San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds’ son, Nicolai, because their previous three games were each decided by one run.

“I guess we just saved it all for this game,” said a smiling Crespi Coach Scott Muckey of the outburst.

Crespi, ranked fifth in Division III, collected 22 hits, three going for doubles, eight of the nine starters recorded at least two hits, handing what Emme calls his worst defeat in playoff history.

“I think it’s the worst defeat, period,” said the 10-year coach, whose team finished with six hits against the Mission League champs. “From the goals I thought that this team could achieve, I’d have to say that personally I’m a little disappointed. I thought we could’ve been better, but maybe not. Maybe this was how good we were.”

From the start, the Sea Kings buried themselves and their chances of returning to a section championship for the first time since 2004.

Two straight singles, a sacrifice bunt bobbled, and starter Vinnie St. John (3-4) saw the bases loaded. Not only once, but four times in the top of the first. Just like that CdM trailed, 7-0, by the time it came to bat.

Another comeback, like the 19-16 win CdM pulled off at Don Lugo of Chino in the first round, was thwarted. Crespi starter E.C. McSweeney (4-0) lasted four innings, allowed three hits and struck out three.

The junior right-hander isn’t the Celts’ No. 1, or No. 2 pitcher, those were used in Crespi’s 3-2 extra-inning, nine-inning affair win over West Covina in the opening round.

“We typically hit submarine pitchers well, but [Tuesday] he had our number,” said CdM senior right fielder Austin Elliott, who drove in two runs, one on a double in the third and the other on a solo home run, his fourth of the season, in the seventh, allowing the home crowd to cheer one last time.

“They just started pouring it on, there was really no way we could’ve came back. The whole team’s energy just collapsed, died.”

The usual upbeat Sea Kings were devastated at the end.

Senior shortstop Jake Lemmerman wore it, trying to hide it with a smile or two. It hurt, but he tried to remember the good times, being a part of a resilient team that almost defended its Pacific Coast League crown this year, and when it won a section championship in his freshman year.

Lemmerman didn’t want to leave the field and think of his future. He’s headed for Duke.

“They just flat out beat us,” said Lemmerman, hanging his head, no reason to after leading the team throughout, with a .446 batting average, 10 home runs and 31 RBIs before Tuesday’s game. “We came into this game really confident, thinking this is one of the better teams. We wanted to definitely compete and show them that we’re capable of winning it.

“But they came out and got to us. It’s kind of sad, just watch it slowly deteriorate, a really bad scene.”

For CdM, almost as bad as a big, third-base coach fanatically waving at people to go home.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].

Division III Playoffs

Crespi 19,

Corona del Mar 4

Score by Innings

Crespi 7 6 4 2 0 0 0 - 19 22 4

CdM 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 - 4 6 4

McSweeney, Hawthorne (5), Grace (6), Gilmartin (7) and Rodriguez; St. John, Moskovits (2), Jones (3), Legrand (5), Bloom (6), Manning (7) and DiRocco. W -- McSweeney, 4-0. L -- St. John, 3-4. 2B -- Forbes (C), Scioscia (C), Hubbard (C), Elliott (CdM), DiRocco (CdM), Legrand (CdM). HR -- Elliott (CdM).

CIF Southern SectionSecond round