Artists draw blank against Northwood

-- Mike Sciacca

Laguna Beach High athletic teams were involved in a couple of critical

Pacific Coast League matchups this past week with Northwood High of

Irvine, and the Wolverines got the best of the Artists on both occasions.

Tuesday’s crucial meeting between the schools ended with visiting

Northwood claiming a 10-7 victory, a win that kept the Wolverines atop

the PCL standings at 10-2.

The Artists, whose demise was aided by four errors, get one more shot

at Northwood today at 3:15 p.m., when the teams meet at Northwood.

It is the final game of the three game league series, which Northwood

leads, 2-0.

Laguna Beach (12-8, 6-6) began the past week by rallying to edge Costa

Mesa, 4-3. The Artists overcame a 3-0 deficit by scoring one run in the

fourth inning and three in the fifth. Chris Stansbury belted two home

runs to ignite the comeback, first hitting a solo homer in the fourth

frame before delivering a three-run shot in the fifth.

In a big, boys’ volleyball showdown, undefeated Northwood strengthened

its hold on the PCL lead as the Wolverines (19-1, 9-0) beat the visiting

Artists in three games, 16-14, 15-5, 15-5, last Friday.

Laguna Beach bounced back Tuesday, however, to down Estancia, 5-15,

15-4, 15-4, 16-14, on the Eagles’ home floor. The Artists used 19 players

in a match that featured 17 kills by Matt Anderson, nine by Trey Chapel,

and seven each by Reid Anderson and Mike Chiaverini.

Laguna Beach, which took an overall record of 15-5 and 7-2 league mark

into Thursday night’s PCL match with Costa Mesa, now leads the

best-of-five match series with Estancia, 31-4.

In girls’ softball action on Tuesday, the Artists got past visiting

University, 6-4. Jocelyn Turner struck out two in a complete game victory

and Martina Speer went three for four with two RBI as Laguna Beach, now

2-5 in league and 6-12 overall, racked up 14 hits.