Youth Baseball: Friendly Back Bay rivals wage All-Star duel

FOUNTAIN VALLEY — Rarely do you see two opposing teams gather for a photo minutes before a baseball game. The teams weren’t just any teams, most of the 11-year-olds on each team know each other. They play in Newport Beach for the Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. on one side of the bay and the Newport Beach Baseball Assn. on the other side.

The Back Bay teams had to wait on Saturday to play for a spot in the PONY West Zone Central Region District Bronco-11 championship game. The game ahead of theirs was running a little late, so Newport Harbor and Newport Beach had some time to kill — time to take a photo.

The photo is a keepsake for sure. A half hour later, almost a quarter past noon, Newport Beach and Newport Harbor played a memorable game.

Newport Beach, in its inaugural season playing PONY after leaving the Little League organization, moved on to the finale in dramatic fashion, thanks to Conrad Olivier-Meier.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning, Olivier-Meier broke a tie with a two-run single up the middle. Those two runs proved to be the difference, leading Newport Beach to a 7-6 win against Newport Harbor at Mile Square Park.

“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I did it,” said Olivier-Meier, who went three for four with three runs batted in. “At first base a little tear rolled down my cheek. It was a tear of joy.”

Even Newport Beach Manager Shawn Miller said he wanted to cry afterward. He and his team clinched a berth in the Super Region tournament in Whittier, July 14-19.

The top three teams in the Central Region District qualify for the next tournament, and the finalists, Newport Beach and Placentia, are the top two. As for which team enters as the No. 1 or No. 2 representative, that will be decided in Sunday’s final between Newport Beach and Placentia at 2:15 p.m.

“This is all about the 11 kids who were here,” Miller said. “Each one of them played a critical role, and that means a lot.”

Newport Beach held off Newport Harbor, which overcame a 4-0 deficit to tie it in the third inning, then took a 5-4 lead in the fourth.

In the bottom of the seventh, after Jake Sommer and Cooper Hoch each singled and Ray Herold walked, Newport Harbor had the bases loaded with one out.

Newport Beach brought in Andrew Miehe. He took over for Luca Curci, who gave up three hits in his three-inning stint.

Miehe came in to face Brennan Seiber, Newport Harbor’s cleanup hitter with the bases loaded.

“He’s got ice in his veins,” Miller said of Miehe. “We knew that if we gave him the ball he would definitely throw strikes.”

Miehe got Seiber out on four pitches, but Seiber’s sacrifice fly to left field brought in a run to make it a one-run game. Next, with runners on first and second, Miehe induced a grounder to Curci at shortstop. Curci fielded the ball cleanly and fired to first base to end the game.

“I want to cry,” Miller said. “It’s just amazing for the whole league and for all the kids who played today.”

While Newport Beach kept its season alive, Newport Harbor had to play again on Saturday, needing to win in the loser’s bracket for a shot on Sunday to earn the Central Region District’s third-and-final berth into the Super Region tournament.

Newport Harbor Manager Justin Sommer believed his teams could win twice more.

“They’ve been [coming back] all year,” Sommer said.

Sommer saw his team rally against Newport Beach, which scored a run in the first inning on a Dustin Miller single and a run in the second inning on a bases-loaded walk by Tyler Duss.

Newport Beach doubled its lead in the third inning, the big hit was a double to left field by Olivier-Meier. The four-run lead didn’t last long.

In the bottom half of the third inning, Newport Harbor evened things up. Charlie Ransom led off with a double toward the right-field line, getting the team’s first hit off Miller.

Newport Beach cut the deficit in half, with Ryan Cornuke laying down a bunt to score Ransom, and Jake Sommer bringing in another with a single. Miller exited after Cooper Hoch’s comebacker to the mound struck him on the kneecap and the ball ricocheted toward left field.

Miller went down and stayed down for a couple of minutes. He got up and he limped off the field.

Duss entered in relief with runners on the corners and one out. Hoch moved up to second by stealing it, and Herold’s groundout made it a one-run game. Then a wild pitch tied the game at 4-4.

In the fourth inning, Newport Harbor took its first lead. Ransom started things with a single, then swiped second. Spencer Webb drove him in and Newport Harbor led, 5-4.

Newport Harbor tried to score again in the fourth, once on a wild pitch and once on a passed ball, hoping to give Seiber, who came in relief in the third, more run support. But Miehe, playing catcher at the time, retrieved the ball and threw it to Curci who covered the plate to tag out each runner sliding home.

“He came in and pitched great for five innings and kept us in the game,” Justin Sommer said of Seiber, who before the seventh had only allowed one run and four hits. One of those hits was to Troy Jenkins in the sixth and he eventually scored to tie the game at 5-5.

“I made a couple of mistakes,” Sommer said. “I ran us into outs a couple of times. We stayed in the game and just kept fighting. Both teams played great.”