WHS Boosters present WHS Sports with a check for $139,000

Woodbridge Athletic Boosters give an assist to all WHS sports with a check for $139,000
Woodbridge High’s Athletic Boosters have given the school’s athletic department a pretty big boost to start the school year – in the form of a check for $139,000.
The funds, which were raised during the most recent Southern California Half Marathon & 5K race, will help pay for capital improvements, safety equipment, uniforms and coaching fees, as well as increased participation opportunities for students.Kevin Trussell, co-chair of the race, said Woodbridge’s booster program is rare in that it benefits all sports on campus.
“This allows us to work as a team and has provided over a half-million dollars to our athletic department in the last three years,” he said.
Pictured above, clockwise, are booster President Jim Mellor; race Co-Chair Julie Flaiz-Windham; WHS athletic directors Rick Gibson and Eric Bangs; booster Doug Schneble; the aforementioned Trussell; Assistant Principal Belinda Averill; race Director George Varvas; and boosters Richard Crellin and Ellen Bartell. (Click to enlarge.)
Needless to say, the big check was a welcome sight for Woodbridge.
“We are absolutely blessed to have such involved parents working on behalf of all sports,” Gibson said.
For more information on Woodbridge’s Athletic Boosters, click here. For information on the next Southern California Half Marathon & 5K race, click here.

New scoreboard lights up Ryan Lemmon Stadium

By TIM BURT / The Orange County Register
Fans attending this weekend's Ryan Lemmon Showcase baseball games in Irvine will notice a new state of the art scoreboard at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.
The inning-by-inning scoreboard was tested on Wednesday and will be in use for Friday's two games. Over the weekend, the Showcase will feature seniors from eight leagues.

Guy Lemmon (right) and Woodbridge baseball coach Tim Murray in front of the new scoreboard on Wednesday.

TIM BURT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
On Saturday, the Sea View League faces the Empire League at 1 p.m. and at 4:30 p.m. the Trinity League faces the Sunset League.
There will be home run hitting contests between the games on both days.
The scoreboard is 30 feet wide and 40 feet tall and includes a 12 foot wide by 9 and a half foot video screen. There is also a clock on top of the scoreboard and an indicator which displays speed on pitches, which will be tracked by a radar gun.
The Ryan Lemmon Foundation made a major donation for the scoreboard, which is being installed at a cost of approximately $60,000, Lemmon said. The cost would have been much higher had it not been for numerous donations, Lemmon added.
"The scoreboard that was here had gotten to the point where nobody could read it," Lemmon said. "One thing led to another and we had the good fortune that a philanthropist gave the foundation us some money and a challenge grant and we raised some money at a dinner."
The facility on 285 East Yale Loop in irvine, off of Barranca, is the home field for Woodbridge. But Irvine, Northwood and University have the option of playing games there too.
After the foundation began raising funds through a number of events, coaches suggested that the best use for the money would be for a new scoreboard for the stadium, which opened in 1992 and was renamed a couple years later after the late Ryan Lemmon.
Ryan Lemmon, a Woodbridge High baseball star, was killed in a traffic accident in 1994. He was attending Pepperdine University at the time and pursuing his dreams of one day playing baseball in the Major Leagues.
Woodbridge Coach Tim Murray said the coaches are appreciative of what Lemmon has done.
"I think Guy comes from a good place and he's got a big heart," Murray said. "He cares a lot about high school sports.
"I think it (the scoreboard) is pretty special. It's going to be special for a long time. It's going to be tough to beat. I did coach at El Dorado and El Dorado has a special scoreboard, but Guy kind of looked at their plans and said, 'what can we do?' This is for every school in Irvine and all the teams in Irvine are going to be able to utilize this field. Think of all the kids that this is going to benefit."
A new sound system, also donated by the foundation, will also be in use this weekend, Lemmon said.

Brandon Smith

The Washington Nationals used their final selection Tuesday on Woodbridge outfielder Brandon Smith (15th round, No. 474 overall).
 
Smith (6-3, 195) batted .429 with 21 steals and had a 2.95 ERA in nine appearances on the mound, mostly as a reliever. He recently committed to Grand Canyon University.
 
Smith was the fifth and final county prep player drafted Tuesday, and only the second position player (Edison’s Timmy Lopes).
 

Woodbridge's MacKenzie pitches a no-hitter

Woodbridge's MacKenzie pitches a no-hitter
By TIM BURT / The Orange County Register
Woodbridge senior Cameron MacKenize pitched a no-hitter tonight for Woodbridge in the Warriors 3-1 Pacific Coast League baseball victory over Northwood at Ryan Lemmon Stadium, according to Woodbridge Coach Tim Murray.
MacKenize (4-4) struck out four.

Cameron MacKenzie of Woodbridge, shown in a game earlier this season, had a no-hitter against Northwood Tuesday night.
TIM BURT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

MacKenzie walked eight and Woodbridge made two errors in the game, Murray said. Northwood, which is battling for a playoff berth, scored in the sixth inning taking advantage of two errors and a walk to load the bases. But MacKenize struck out the next batter. Northwood scored on a fielder's choice.
In the seventh inning, Northwood threatened again with two outs on two more walks, but MacKenzie struck out the next batter to end the game.
Woodbridge scored all of its runs in the third inning on a two-run single by Takumi Usui and a sacrifice fly by Tyler Durkee.
Usui was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBI. Steven Whisler pitched for Northwood, walking seven but allowing just two hits.
It was the third no-hitter in the PCL this year. James Kaprielian of Beckman has pitched two of them against Woodbridge and University.
Coach Kevin Lavalle decided to rest Kaprielian today against Irvine.
Beckman won, 9-2, to earn its fourth consecutive PCL title. There is a chance that Kaprielian may pitch on Thursday when the Patriots host Irvine in the regular season final. Beckman and University entered the week tied for first, but Beckman has a one-game lead and won the season series with the Trojans.
In the other PCL game, Corona del Mar defeated University, 9-5.

Warriors' Lumanlan shuts out Beckman in PCL game

Warriors' Lumanlan shuts out Beckman in PCL game

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By TIM BURT / The Orange County Register
Woodbridge senior Chris Lumanlan has had his share of bad luck this season.
But Friday afternoon, he was in control and his teammates supported him with plenty of run support as the Warriors topped Pacific Coast leader Beckman, 5-0, at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.

Woodbridge senior Chris Lumanlan fires a pitch Friday against Beckman.

TIM BURT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Lumanlan (1-5) struck out eight and allowed just four hits while walking one to register his first career shut-out.
"I can't do it without my teammates," said Lumanlan. "Everyone worked hard, they put up runs and I keep them where they need to be. It was real exciting to me.
"I just tried to do my job and throw strikes. My mentality was just to let them hit it. My team will do the rest."
The performance couldn't have come at a better time for Woodbridge, which was no-hit by Beckman's James Kaprielian in an 8-0 loss on Tuesday.
"There's a reason we give him the ball," Woodbridge Coach Tim Murray said. "He's had some hard luck this year but he pitched very well against them the first time we faced them. We had a lead in the seventh inning and we couldn't finish it.
"Chris Lumanlan is a very good pitcher, a competitor and he's the kind of guy you want on the mound and I thought he did great job."
Woodbridge (7-11, 4-5) scored four runs in the first inning. Brandon Smith gave Woodbridge a jump start with a single. He stole second and third and came home on a wild pitch.
Tyler Durkee had an RBI single and Max Mariahazy drove in another run on a sacrifice fly.
Cameron MacKenzie came in to score on a catcher's interference play.
Woodbridge added another run in the fourth inning. Mariahazy singled and came around to score on a single by Chad Jacob.
No. 9-ranked Beckman (15-4, 7-2) couldn't get much going against Lumanlan.
Torin Goldsten had a double in the fifth inning but was stranded there. Garret Brown doubled in the sixth and Tyler Cook doubled in the seventh inning. But both runners were stranded.
"That's baseball. He was dominant today and the last time we played them, he was pretty much dominant for six innings and we got to him in the seventh," said Beckman Coach Kevin Lavalle. "Sometimes, there's not a lot you can do. The other team is just better than you.
"I don't think we were who we are today, but that's not to take anything away from them. They played five runs better than us."
Beckman starter Juan Padilla (3-1) took the loss and was relieved by Jake Hellar, who came on in the second inning and pitched the rest of the way.
Mariahazy had two hits for Woodbridge and Smith reached all four times with two singles.
Beckman is back in action Saturday, meeting Fountain Valley in the championship of the Beach Pit Classic at 11 a.m. at Fountain Valley.

Woodbridge pulls one out over Irvine

Woodbridge pulls one out over Irvine
Warriors scored two runs in the seventh to win PCL game over Irvine, 6-5. For game action, please click on the photo.

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  By TIM BURT / The Orange County Register

Woodbridge's baseball team bounced back from a rocky top of the seventh inning to score two runs in the bottom of the inning and defeat Irvine, 6-5, in a wild Pacific Coast League game Thursday afternoon at Ryan Lemmon Stadium.
Irvine (4-10, 1-6) took advantage of two errors in the top of the seventh and RBI triples by Cole Moeller and Nick Lockwood to score three runs and go ahead, 5-4.

Brandon Smith of Woodbridge beats the throw back to first and the tag by first baseman Nick Lockwood.
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But in the bottom of the inning, Woodbridge (6-7, 3-4) cashed in four Irvine errors to win it.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Connor Rogers delivered a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Cameron MacKenzie. Sam Lemmon, seeing that the ball had been dislodged from the Irvine catcher, also came racing in to score the game-winner.
"That's baseball, you're going to see stuff like that happen," said Woodbridge Coach Tim Murray. "It just all seemed to happen in the last inning."
Lemmon made the biggest play when he scored on the fly ball from second base.
"Lemmon read it on his own," Murray said. "We teach our kids to be aggressive and in the last inning, we had a couple times where we were aggressive on defense and it hurt us a little, but I still believe that this game has to be played being aggressive."
It was a heartbreaking loss for Irvine, which was trying to win its second game in a row over Woodbridge after winning Tuesday's game, 2-1.
"We've just got to learn how to win," Irvine Coach Keith Szczudlak said. "Hats off to Woodbridge, they took advantage of mistakes. We did a great job of coming back in the seventh, we've just got to learn how to close it out, that's the next step."
The game was tied, 2-2, going into the bottom of the fifth inning before MacKenzie hit a two-run home run, his first of the year.
MacKenzie also pitched the first 6 2/3 innings before giving way to Brandon Smith. MacKenize had two outs in the top of the seventh but an error allowed Irvine's Sean Toma to reach on an error and extend the inning. Smith (1-1) got the victory.
Alex Franklin started on the mound for Irvine, before being relieved by Raz Bracha in the fifth inning. Ben Kessler came on to pitch in the seventh but was victimized by poor defense as the first three Woodbridge batters reached on errors.
"This game is full of adversity," Murray said. "Irvine has played us as good as any team we've seen all year and they're doing a great job. They (Irvine) were down two runs with two outs, but it was nice to see our kids fight back."
MacKenzie led Woodbridge with two hits and two RBI. Anthony Torralba and Takumi Usui also had RBI on sacrifice flies for the Warriors.
Moeller had two RBI to lead Irvine's eight hit attack. Jake Garmon had two hits, an RBI and a run scored for Irvine and A.B. Blanchet doubled, scored two runs and had two stolen bases.
The Vaqueros stranded seven runners and had five errors in the game.
Both teams had eight hits.

Warriors top T'Wolves, 6-3

Warriors top T'Wolves, 6-3, in PCL baseball (pictures)
Cameron Mackenzie goes the distance for Woodbridge. For a look at game action, please click on the photo.

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  By TIM BURT / The Orange County Register

Woodbridge's baseball team needed a Pacific Coast League victory to get back on track Friday afternoon.
Senior right-hander Cameron Mackenzie came through, pitching a complete game in the Warriors 6-3 win over Northwood at Northwood.

Anthony Torralba of Woodbridge scores from second on an error in the seventh inning to put the Warriors ahead, 4-3 as Northwood catcher Michael Tran waits for the throw.
TIM BURT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Mackenzie (3-1) scattered six hits and struck out six and was supported by an eight-hit attack.
Northwood first baseman Alex King tagged Mackenzie for a three-run home run in the first inning to put the Timberwolves ahead, 3-2.
But Mackenzie blanked the Timberwolves (6-4, 3-2) the rest of the way.
"Alex King is a great hitter and he made one mistake to a really great hitter and usually it doesn't cost you three runs but we had a walk and a catcher's interference before that," Woodbridge Coach Tim Murray said.
"Cameron MacKenzie is as good as it comes in this league and every time he's on the mound, he gives us a chance to win, and that's what you appreciate about a kid like that. He competes."
Woodbridge (5-6, 2-3) trailed, 3-2, before tying the game in the sixth inning. Connor Rogers drove home Mbusi Hlatshwayo with a sacrifice fly.
Then in the top of the seventh inning, Anthony Torralba led off with a double down the left field line. He came home when Brandon Smith reached on an error. The Warriors then scored two more runs, one coming on a sacrifice fly by Sam Lemmon.
Chad Jacob, who had reached on a walk, scored all the way from first base on an errant pick-off throw which went all the way down the right field line, for the other run.
"It was nice to see us compete today," Murray said. "I thought the game in the seventh was decided by our number nine hitter, Anthony Torralba.
"When the No.9 hitter can come up like that in a tie ballgame, that's big."
In the bottom of the inning, Mackenzie blanked the Timberwolves to earn the win.
It ended a frustrating afternoon for Northwood which stranded seven runners in the last six innings and made three errors in the game.
"They just out-competed us the whole game from the first pitch," Northwood Coach Rob Stuart said. "Give them credit, they played great and we flat-out got beat. I thought our pitchers threw great. Good for them, they came out and got a win that they needed to win.
"It really was a must-win for us. Every one is a must-win. It's a baseball game and you want to do things better. We got out-played and out-coached. They played better than we did."
Torralba had two hits and scored a run and Smith scored two runs for the Warriors.
Jack Pabich (2-1) pitched the first six innings for Northwood before being relieved by King.