Laguna Beach falls in semifinals

Laguna Beach gave Viewpoint all it could handle Tuesday in the semifinal round of the CIF Southern Section Division IV boys’ tennis playoffs, but the top-seeded Patriots from Calabasas managed to leave Laguna with a 10-8 victory.

“It was a tough match,” Laguna Coach Aaron Talarico said. “Viewport played great and (give) all the credit to them.”

Hutton Mckenna won two of three sets in singles play for the Breakers and Mike Rubel/Teague Hamilton won two of three in doubles.

Viewpoint will play Rowland for the Division IV title Wednesday at Claremont Club in Claremont.

“Our boys dealt with quite a bit of adversity this year and they kept on answering the call,” Talarico said. “At the end, we fell just two matches short of the ring.”

The Breakers, champions of the Orange Coast League, opened the postseason May 12 with a 12-6 home win over South Hills, the third-place team from the San Antonio League and an at-large entry in the playoffs.

They went on the road May 14 and defeated Sunbelt League champion Paloma Valley, 15-3, then came back for a May 20 home match and defeated Academy League champ Whitney, 12-6, in the quarterfinals.

Baseball

The 2010 season is also over for the Laguna Beach baseball team. The Breakers played their final game May 21 in the desert, where they lost to Palm Desert, the No. 2-seed, 17-5, in the first-round of the Division IV playoffs.

The Breakers fell behind, 5-0, in the first inning but rallied to pull to within 7-4. The could get no closer against an Aztecs team that racked up 19 hits.

“They’re a very good hitting, disciplined team,” Laguna Coach Jeff Sears said. “We didn’t make a few plays that we should have and we didn’t play well, at all, the that first inning. But, we did a nice job of battling back to get to within 7-4.”

Senior Casey Miller doubled for Laguna which had 10 hits.

Laguna entered the postseason as an at-large entry from the Orange Coast League. The Breakers played a wild-card game May 18 at Don Lugo (Mt. Baldy League No. 3) and came away with an 11-6 victory.

The Breakers finished 16-14 and by doing so, set a school record for most wins in a single season.

They had won 14 games in each of the two previous seasons.

“I think we had a great year and the kids should be very proud of what they accomplished,” Sears said. “They played very hard an overcame a few issues to have a good season. They set a school record for wins and won a playoff game for the school for just the second time. They have a lot to be proud of.”