Laguna earns playoff berths

The regular season may have come to an end this week for the Laguna Beach baseball and softball teams, but the 2012 campaign is far from over for both squads. By winning Orange Coast League games Tuesday, both have earned berths to the upcoming CIF Southern Section playoffs.

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Baseball

A stellar pitching effort by Grant Wilhelm, Kurt Rebone, Larry Stewart and Preston GrandPre translated into a no-hitter and a 10-0 home shutout of Saddleback. Wilhelm, a sophomore, threw four innings and got the win. GrandPre, also a sophomore, also had a big game offensively with a three-run home run.

It was the final regular-season home game for the Breakers, who celebrated Senior Day on Tuesday.

The win upped Laguna's record to 16-8 and put the Breakers at 9-5 in league, good for third place.

"We had all cylinders firing [Tuesday]," Bair said. "Four pitchers combined for a no-hitter, we made no errors in the field, and had 13 hits and 10 runs offensively. A great team effort."

In their previous game May 4, the Breakers scored a 7-1 win at Godinez. Blake Hester went two for three with a double, run batted in and run scored, and Steven Harrison homered. Junior Jackson Rees got the win.

"We are clicking together at the right time, playing solid defense, pitching extremely well and taking quality at-bats," Bair said. "We feel confident together as we move toward CIF."

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Softball

Things didn't look too promising for Laguna after five innings at Costa Mesa on Tuesday.

Laguna wiped out a two-run deficit on Costa Mesa's Senior Day by scoring three runs in the top of the sixth, then put the game away by sending 10 batters to the plate in the top of the seventh to produce six more runs. The late scoring onslaught led to a 10-3 victory.

"We sort of slumbered through the game early, but we came on strong at the end," Laguna Coach Alan Ludloff said after this Breakers improved to 6-3 in league and 14-7 overall. "We put runners on base in every inning, but we just we not manufacturing runs. The girls, though, had great energy in the game and we ran the bases well and they came through."