Baseball: Newport falls short

Joseph Boo

MORENO VALLEY - Newport Harbor Baseball Association Bronco (11-12)

All-Star Manager Kevin Heenan realized only one team would end the PONY

League postseason with a victory.

But NHBA’s 10-4 loss to North City of San Diego in a West Zone

Regional elimination game Saturday at Moreno Valley’s Sunnymead Field did

not befit a team that went further than any Newport team in history in

these circles.

“I thought we were real flat in both our games,” Heenan said,

including Newport’s 6-2 loss to Corona Friday. “We did not play as well

as we are capable of playing. But it doesn’t downgrade our season and

what they achieved.”

Newport saw its season come to a halt because of uncharacteristic

fielding errors. A normally solid squad with the glove, it committed

three errors in a five-run North City fourth inning that put Newport in a

7-0 hole it couldn’t climb out of.

“Theoretically, there are only 16 teams left in Southern California,

and we were one of them,” Heenan said. “There were eight teams in the

regionals, and only one team advances. So seven teams have to go home

unhappy.”

Newport’s chances of extending its season was slim after it found

itself in a 7-0 deficit. But it did put together quite a come back

attempt, and Newport cut North City’s lead to 7-3 in the fifth inning.

Newport put its first two runs on the board in the fourth. Dennis

Heenan and Billy Munce led off with singles. An infield hit by Alec

Martinez scored Heenan, and Munce came home on a passed ball.

Newport had its third run in the fifth. After Blake Fogg was hit by a

pitch, Tim Cramer advanced him to scoring position with his second single

of the game. A sacrifice fly by Heenan cut North City’s lead to 7-3.

But North City quelled any thoughts of a Newport comeback with three

late runs. Newport got one more run when Heenan’s single brought Kurt

Yacko home in the seventh.

Heenan and Cramer both had two singles for Newport. Munce, Martinez

and Nick Frazier were the other Newport players with hits.

Saturday’s game also marked the end of a long run for the players.

Most of them, Yacko, Heenan, Munce, Frazier, Donnie Hunt, Davis Pemstein

and Dustin Schuler have played together since they were eight years old.

“A lot of the guys have grown up together, and that’s kind of neat,”

Heenan said.

Yacko, Heenan, Munce, Frazier, Hunt, Pemstein, Cramer and Kurt Gowdy

can now say that they took part in the longest All-Star season in Newport

(PONY) history. Schuler and Brendan Salisbury couldn’t stay to the end

because of prior commitments, but they also contributed to Newport’s best

season yet.

“I’m proud of those guys,” Heenan said. “They came a long way. We had

10 guys who stayed for a long season and played 25 games. It’s tough for

the guys to stick with it, but these guys have been together for a while

and showed a lot of commitment being here.”