Pacifica’s mixed pursuit of diamond crowns

Pacifica High’s baseball and softball teams began the week in pursuit of diamond gold, i.e. league championships. One succeeded and one only came close.

The Mariner baseball team clinched no worse than a tie for the Empire League pennant with a 4-2 win over rival Cypress on Tuesday at home. It was Pacifica’s 16th straight victory as the M’s overall record improved to 21-2 and 9-0 in league.

However, the Centurions (207, 8-1) can force a tie for the title if they can defeat the Mariners in the last regular season game on Thursday at the Cypress diamond.

Chad Gurnea, usually a starter, was employed as the closer and slammed the door for Pacifica by striking out five batters in three innings. Top hitter for the M’s was Aiden Marquez, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

The Pacifica softball team also won on Tuesday, defeating Kennedy 10-4, and needed

Cypress to lose to set a potential title-tying game against the M’s on Thursday.

But Crean Lutheran, which came within a run of beating Cypress last time, lost 15-1. Pacifica is now 18-8 overall and 7-2 in the Empire League, while the Cents are 19-2-1 and 9-0 and are outright EL champs.

Huntington Beach (19-8, 6-2) clinched no worse than a tie for the Sunset Surf baseball pennant with an 11-1 win over Los Alamitos.

In the Golden West League, Ocean View did the same with a 9-2 win over second place Katella. The Knights can tie it all up on Thursday if they can turn the table on the Seahawks.

Loara and Los Amigos remain tied for first in the Garden Grove baseball league race, each with 9-5 marks with one game to play.

On Monday, Los Alamitos defeated Huntington Beach 5-4 on a squeeze play in the eighth inning in Sunset League softball play.

In Grove League softball, La Quinta beat Bolsa Grande 13-3 to stay in second place. Nevaeh

Angels win

place in the American League West.

Brandon Drury had another good day at bat with a 2-for-4 performance that included a triple and two RBIs, along with a

Prep Sports Scores

Tuesday, April 25 (baseball)

Pacifica 4, Cypress 2

Hunt. Beach 11, Los Al 1

Edison 2, Laguna Beach 1

Ocean View 9, Katella 2

Orange 7, Santa Ana 0

Los Amigos 8, La Quinta 2

Loara 6, Bolsa Grande 5

Savanna 15, Magnolia 2

Tuesday, April 25 (softball)

Marina 13, Fountain Valley 2

Pacifica 10, Kennedy 4

Monday, April 24 (baseball)

Marina 5, Newport Harbor 4

Monday, April 24 (softball)

Los Alamitos 5, H. Beach 4 (8)

Santa Ana 19, Orange 9

La Quinta 13, Bolsa Grande 3

Loara 19, Rancho Alamitos. 9

Santiago 13, Los Amigos 0

Anaheim 14, Western 0

SA Valley 16, Magnolia 11

Capo Vall. Chr. 19, O’wood 4 run scored. Mike Trout and Gio Urshela each had two hits for the Halos.

Gomez led the way with a 3-for3 hitting performance and five innings of striking out five while yielding just one earned run. Elle Magga was 2-for-2 with two walks and three runs scored.

Griffin Canning (1-0) had a solid start lasting five innings and giving up four hits and three earned runs. He walked two but struck out seven. The bullpen did well, as three relievers gave up just two hits and no runs.

Retorts: Is there a home field edge?

Comtinued from page 8

• Back-to-back games and jet lag wear on the visiting team

• Officiating trends toward the home team on subjective calls such as penalties, fouls and (in basketball) traveling.

He cites stats that show in baseball – for example – during a full count, more pitches are called for the home team’s pitcher, and that home teams (in basketball) are awarded more free throws than the visitor.

I’m not suggesting that the of- ficials are bought off or biased.

If there’s a bias, it’s unconscious and after all, you get the advantage back at home. And, after all, the impact on a NBA game – for example – amounts to about three points per game. Better play, conditioning and coaching can certainly more than overcome that.

Since the difference is relatively slight, maybe the real reason is unknowable, except that – you know – there’s really is no place like home.