Loara Tournament : Loara Aces Under Wraps; El Dorado Wins, 11-1

The Empire League continued to play hot potato with the No. 1 ranking in the county as the El Dorado High School baseball team pounded top-ranked Loara, 11-1, for the championship of the Loara tournament Saturday.

“We had great programs, that’s what you say,� was Saxon Coach Ray Moore’s joking description of the game, only the second loss of the season for Loara.

The Saxon programs--Moore was referring to the ink and paper kind--did look terrific. The Saxon pitching staff? Not nearly as sharp.

Loara (8-2-1), which was playing its fourth game of the week, didn’t showcase any of its three best pitchers. A parade of five others gave up a total of 13 hits and 8 walks, while striking out only two.

It looked as if both coaches were trying to maintain a little mystery about their personnel with the heart of a brutal league schedule still ahead.

The title game, twice postponed, was threatening to become a reliable method of forecasting rain. When it wound up re-re-scheduled after league play had already begun, it couldn’t help but become anticlimactic.

For one thing, the finalists had expended their aces in Friday’s league games--both of which had gone badly for the county’s top two teams. Loara was coming off a frustrating, 10-inning 1-1 tie with Pacifica; the second-ranked Golden Hawks (8-2) were coming off a 6-5 upset by Katella.

But Saturday’s game, which evolved into something like a Hawk batting practice, had the right elements to renew El Dorado’s morale. After taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning and adding a run in the second, the Golden Hawks exploded for a seven-run sixth inning in which they sent 13 players to the plate.

Second baseman Bret Boone was named the tournament’s Outstanding Offensive Player. He singled, doubled and drove in three runs.

Seven Golden Hawk batters got at least one hit, and another, lead-off man Jim Buck, walked five times, stole two bases and scored a pair of runs.

Left-hander Steve Gill received the Outstanding Pitcher award for holding the Saxons to four singles in five innings. And he’s only the No. 3 man on the Golden Hawk staff. In the last two innings, the Saxons didn’t manage a hit off reliever Rob Hanna, El Dorado’s No. 4 pitcher.

In the fourth, Rich Kupfer singled to drive in Chuck O’Dey to account for the Saxons’ only run.

“Maybe we took (spring) vacation a little early,� one Saxon commented glumly.

The only bright spot for Loara--apart from the nifty programs--was the defensive play of third baseman Curt Henson. He made a fine throw in the third inning to nip Doug Yates at first and robbed Rob Sporrer of a probable double down the third-base line in the fifth. He was named the tournament’s Outstanding Defensive Player.