Trabuco Hills Is Back on Track

Trabuco Hills Coach Tim Ellis hugged everyone in sight Friday after his Mustangs edged Irvine in a Southern Section Division II baseball quarterfinal.

“I got a little too fired up there,” Ellis said Monday.

There’s plenty to be fired up about for Ellis and the six other Orange County coaches whose teams play in semifinals today with a chance to advance to this weekend’s finals at Cal State Fullerton and Dodger Stadium.

While coaches always point to their players when asked to explain their teams’ success, these seven coaches have contributed significantly.

The Mustangs looked like also-rans when they dropped their last three regular-season games after having a virtual lock on the South Coast League title. But Ellis refused to let his team sulk heading into the playoffs.

“We were real low,” Ellis said. “But I told the players there were a lot of teams not in the playoffs that would love to trade places with you.”

Ellis also shook up his team’s batting order, moving power hitter Sean Boatright to third, and the results are undeniable: The Mustangs (21-8) host fourth-seeded Riverside Poly (22-7) today in the school’s first semifinal appearance.

“I’m real proud of our kids,” Ellis said. “They have done an excellent job of coming back from some adversity. We hope we can ride it out the rest of the week.”

If Laguna Hills Coach Jeff Cecil can pull out victories today and Saturday, it will be a major accomplishment.

“Somehow I’ve gotten them to be play their best baseball when it matters most,” Cecil said. “That’s the key. Whatever things you’re doing to get you into that situation, you try to find them and keep doing them over and over again.”

Two other big reasons Laguna Hills is still playing are pitcher/first baseman Daniel Miltenberger and pitcher/outfielder Brian Anderson, who led the Hawks to a 3-0 upset of second-seeded West Torrance in the quarterfinals.

Laguna Hills (18-10) looks for another upset today when it plays third-seeded El Dorado (24-5) in a semifinal at Cal State Fullerton.

Another coach who has worked magic is Mater Dei’s Burt Call. The Monarchs have won a school-record 25 games.

Mater Dei has not lost more than one game in a row this season, a testament to Call’s ability to keep his team focused.

For the second time in three years, the Monarchs (25-4) have reached the semifinals, where today they host Edison (20-8-1) in a Division II game. The Chargers defeated Mater Dei, 6-3, last month in the championship of the Big West Invitational, but Call said he has a better idea what to expect this time.

“Their team speed is tremendous,” he said.

Call has difficulty praising himself. But he couldn’t stop talking about the job his former coach, Bob Zamora, has done this season at Capistrano Valley.

“Bob has his team playing very well down the stretch, just like last year,” said Call, who played for Zamora in the early 1980s. “He has established a tradition there and done a great job.”

Zamora has Capistrano Valley two steps from a second consecutive Division I title. The Cougars (21-8), winners of 10 consecutive games, play Fontana Miller (22-7) at 7 tonight at Blair Field in Long Beach.

Other top-notch coaching jobs have been performed by:

*Edison’s Dave Tallman, who in his first season has the Chargers in the semifinals for the first time since 1991.

*Whittier Christian’s Brett Thorsteinson, who has taken a team that was .500 at the end of the regular season into the Division V semifinals. The Heralds (16-12) play today at Los Angeles Baptist (22-5).

*El Dorado’s Matt Stine, who in his first season has the Golden Hawks in position to win their second section title in three years.

Heads-Up Play

It’s important to remember that little plays still make a difference in games.

Trabuco Hills’ Devin Campbell made such a play in the Mustangs’ 4-3 victory over Irvine Friday.

Following Brad Boster’s leadoff home run in the fifth that gave Trabuco Hills a 3-2 lead, Campbell placed a bunt that caught the Vaquero defense off guard and went for a single.

Although Campbell was erased at second on a fielder’s choice off the bat of P.J. Sandoval, Sandoval later scored the winning run on consecutive two-out singles by Mike Thompson and James Webster. All because of some quick thinking by Campbell.

“Devin Campbell made a [heady], veteran play,” said Ellis, the Mustang coach. “That’s a play we work on in practice, and Devin recognized the situation.”

Giving Back

San Diego Padre first baseman Ryan Klesko, who terrorized Orange County high school pitchers while playing for Westminster in the late 1980s, will host a Westminster player and several Lion coaches at the Padres’ game against Texas July 7 at Qualcomm Stadium. Klesko will give the group a pregame tour and introduce the coach and players to other Padres.

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Correspondent Mike Haubrich contributed to this report.