Newport Harbor Shines

Submitted by Catherine White written by MP Hastings

A combined team from Newport Harbor and CdM Pony baseball advanced to the semi-finals Monday in the competitive Irvine Pony Baseball Memorial Day Tournament. Teams from L.A., Orange County, San Diego and Mexico competed in the four day tournament. This unique Newport team was formed from top players from both sides of the bay; players who competed against each other during the regular season.

Newport was led throughout the weekend by Billy Macdonald’s phenomenal hitting. Macdonald batted .684, with 13 hits including four doubles and a triple. Aaron White’s bat came alive Sunday and he finished the tournament with a .450 average. Andrew McCormack and Jordan Desguin rounded out the hitting leaders, with 10 and nine hits respectively. Other players with multiple hits included Ryan Banning, Matt Carpenter, Cort Hastings, Tyler Kiehnle and Brett Parker.

Newport won their four team pool to qualify for Monday’s quarter-finals. They faced a dominating Tustin Gray Knights team which had defeated opponents by a total of 52 – 10 runs in pool play. Newport jumped out to a 5 – 0 lead following hits by Parker, McCormack and White. Tustin then scored two runs, before hits by Macdonald and Desguin scored Matt Carpenter for an insurance run. Newport went on to complete the upset 6 – 3. McCormack was stellar on the mound, pitching the complete seven inning game.

In the semi-finals Newport faced the Mexico Rojo team, veterans to this annual tournament. Newport led 8 – 5 heading into the bottom of the sixth, but Mexico rallied to tie the game and send it into an extra inning. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Mexico executed a perfect squeeze play to end Newport’s hopes of a championship.

Newport was managed by Duane Hastings (CdM), along with assistant coaches Joel Desguin (N.H.) and Scott Thayer (CdM).