Sea Kings love their long ball

Clearly operating outside the scornful gaze of a suspicious baseball nation, home runs and exponential growth continue to sweep the Corona del Mar High campus.

Senior R.J. Duernberger, blasts seven home runs in a game and only ties the league record.

Junior Austin Elliott launches five dingers in the championship game, only to see his team lose.

And senior Megan Benbow, the league’s esteemed Home Run Queen and Girls’ Most Valuable Player, connects for 15 round-trippers on the season, without the slightest outcry about testosterone levels.

Surely Congress is closing in on the political capital to be gained from exposing the plastic pyrotechnics produced by the Corona del Mar Whiffle Ball Tournament.

Having recently completed its sixth annual edition, the brainchild of health teacher and Sea Kings wrestling coach Gary Almquist has quickly become a spring staple for students and teachers alike.

An NCAA-worthy 64 teams took part in this year’s event, for which 400 T-shirts ? donated by a sponsor ? were distributed to players who include boys, girls (there were four all-female teams with plans for eight next season), teachers, athletes, and all manor of teenagers roaming a high school campus.

Pool play began on April 17 and culminated with the June 9 title showdown, in which Andy Rovzar-led Said So upset the Elliott-led Patriots, 15.5-15 (the half-point margin is correct) to claim the crown.

Said So, including captain Andrew Watt, team MVP Rovzar, Joe Eberhard, Thomas Dialynas, and Chaz Dalton, won seven playoff games to emerge from the loser’s bracket and reign supreme.

The Patriots were stocked with tournament MVP Elliott, fellow all-tournament picks and CdM baseball players Vinnie St. John, Kyle Legrand and Michael DiRocco, as well as Kelly McKitterick.

The 64 teams were up from 42 last year, which was an increase from 20 the year before. The event, which serves as a fundraiser for the wrestling program and which Almquist said generated approximately $5,000 this year, began in 2000 with three teams of teachers.

Only two teams were formed in 2001, but an eight-team tournament that included students was held in 2002.

Word about the tournament, which holds its games during lunch and after school in the school’s smaller gymnasium, slowly spread among the student body. Now, some teams have uniforms, performance rituals, emerging traditions and, depending on their success rate, a source of good-natured bragging rights.

One team this season entered the gym on miniature scooters, through a cloud generated by a fog machine, with matching team shirts and gold headbands. This prompted Almquist to initiate a special “Best Comedic Performance” award that was presented to the aforementioned team’s leader, Nick Svensson.

“[Svensson] slid into every base, whether he needed to or not,” Almquist said. “He just showed the good spirit of fun that we’re looking for.”

Singles, doubles and triples are all possible for hitters who stand beneath one basketball goal and try to connect with pitches lobbed to them by teammates. But home runs are what every hitter who whips a hollow plastic bat is looking for.

“You have to hit the back wall [at the opposite end of the gym] on the fly,” said Duernberger, who by doing so three times during his team’s semifinal loss, wound up with 102 career tournament homers.

“I try to flick my wrists just before contact,” said the 5-foot-9, 155-pound Duernberger, who in 117 at-bats, spanning 47 games over two varsity seasons for the CdM baseball team, hit .308, but managed zero homers and just three extra-base hits (all doubles). “I try not to think about crushing the [whiffle] ball, but just swinging nice and easy.”

When Duernberger blasted career homer No. 100, Almquist stopped the game and presented him with the ball, which he had inscribed with “No. 100.”

“That was pretty cool,” Duernberger said of the surprise recognition. Duernberger hit 52 homers this season, topped only by Almquist’s 53. The senior estimated he hit 12 as a freshman, 23 as a sophomore and 15 as a junior. He was also the tournament Home Run King in 2003 and ’04.

“I struggled a little bit my junior year,” said Duernberger, who vows to begin a whiffle ball league next year when he attends the University of Utah. “I don’t like to talk about that.”

Duernberger’s whiffle ball windfall this season was forged by frequent offseason practice sessions with Benbow, whom he is now dating, and Almquist. Duernberger and Benbow were teammates on the aptly named Wall to Wall.

“The three of us hit balls all summer in the wrestling room,” said Almquist, whom Duernberger credits with popularizing the Whiffle Ball Tournament.

“Gary makes it fun,” Duernberger said. “He is the life behind it.”

Almquist, completing his 10th year at CdM, said tournament proceeds have breathed life into the wrestling budget. He built 36 full-size lockers after last year’s event and tournament proceeds have, for the second straight year, helped fund a $1,000 scholarship, awarded this year to senior wrestler Mason Rhinehart.

The same scholarship, won by the author of the best one-page essay on “What wrestling has meant to me,” went to Taylor Alston last year.

Naming a Queen ? Caroline Claure, who Almquist said is a former Miss Bolivia ? and selecting a notable teacher to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the championship game (this year, the retiring Jim Tomlin) were other 2006 tournament innovations.

And Almquist said there are more on the way.