Ray Holly etched his name into the record books

Posted by Tony Lee - Nov. 18

Coast's running back Ray Holley broke the all-time single season rushing record at OCC Saturday (Nov. 14) when he rushed for 266 yards with five touchdowns against Long Beach City College. See all the entire game summary and how Holley got the record.

Fastest of them all

Posted by Tony Lee - Oct. 31

Orange Coast College's cross country teams proved Friday (Oct. 30) that both men's and women's squads are the team to beat for the 2009 state championship. At the Orange Empire Conference Cross Country Tournament in Huntington Beach's Central Park, Coast finished first in the men's five-mile run and the women's 5K run in a convincing fashion. See how the runners finished.

Where are the champs?

Posted by Tony Lee - Oct. 25

The defending Orange Empire Conference Player of the Year, Brett Wallach, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, leads the pack key players on the 2009 state champion baseball team have moved onto different locations. See where they moved to since then.

What loss to Golden West?

Posted by Tony Lee - Oct. 25

After the Orange Coast College women's volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season, the lady Pirates have won five-straight games - the latest on Friday (Oct. 23) against Santa Ana College. See how the lady Pirates have bounced back.

Meet a Pirate: Danny Orona

Posted by Tony Lee - Sept. 20

Danny Orona is a 5 foot 6 inch, 160 pound driver from Los Amigos High School who starts on the men's water polo team. “Last year, he really didn't get much playing time but he kept working in practice every single day,” head coach Monty McCord said. "He makes things happen when he's in there. He's a great defensive player (and) he's willing to do a lot of the dirty work not everyone is willing to do." See how he answered the questions.

Victory Bell stays at Coast

Posted by Tony Lee - Sept. 20

For the first time in the West-Coast Showdown history, the Pirates have won the Victory Bell three years in a row. In a dramatic 24-21 victory, Coast (3-0) defeated the Golden West College Rustlers (0-3) to even up the all-time series at 20-20-2. See the last-second dramatics of the game with pictures and quotes from players and coaches.

Meet a Pirate(s): Rebecca Murray and Melissa Mahi

Posted by Tony Lee - Sept. 11

The women's basketball coaching staff have picked their captains for the 2009-2010 season. Rebecca Murray (left) and Melissa Mahi (right) are sophomore returners. See how they answered the questions from the hat.

Costa Mesa City day 1 summary

By Tony Lee On Saturday, August 01, 2009 0 comments
Three Orange Coast College golfers shot under-par at the Costa Mesa City Championship and no player posted a score above 75.

Coast's Benny Santa Maria leads the pack with his three-under-par 67 and trails tournament leader Jason Bittick by three strokes.

Kord Tagley and Ryan Indovina both shot a one-under par 69, and Marcus Sostak-Rosa and Kyle Ritter posted an even-par 70.


Joe Doody and Kurt Mascio posted 71s and both Chase Behr (left) and Andrew Ayala (right) shot a five-over-par 75.

Day two of the Costa Mesa City starts as early as 7:10 a.m. (Behr and Ayala) and as late as noon (Santa Maria) for current and former Pirates.


Click here to read day one summary I wrote for the Daily Pilot.

[Photos by Tony Lee]

OCC golfers set to tee off in tournament

By Tony Lee On Friday, July 31, 2009 0 comments
There's a good chance a former or current Orange Coast College golfer will win the 37th Annual Costa Mesa City Championship on Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 1-2).

OCC's Marcus Sostak-Rosa (pictured) had a 72.1 scoring average in the 2009 spring season and was the No. 2 ranked player in the SoCal region.

He is also the No. 9 athlete on the Top 10 Pirates of the 2009 spring season.

His teammates Joe Doody, Chase Behr, Ryan Indovina and Kord Tagley from the 2009 spring season is also entered in the tournament.

Kurt Mascio, the only player to make it to the state championship under OCC head golf coach Sean Collins, and Kyle Ritter are also entered in the tournament.


Benny Santa Maria, who will transfer from Santiago Canyon College to OCC next semester, and incoming OCC freshman Andrew Ayala are also on the tee time list.

The OCC athletes tees off as early as 6:40 (Indovina) and late as 8:30 (Sostak-Rosa) at Costa Mesa Country Club.

Look for a story on Sostak-Rosa in Saturday's issue of the Daily Pilot and a story on Ayala on Sunday.

[Photo by Tony Lee]

UC Irvine cuts aquatic sports, OCC maybe next

By Tony Lee On Wednesday, July 29, 2009 0 comments
[Photo courtesy of WikiMedia.org - photo edited by Tony Lee]

According to a Daily Pilot report by Jeremiah Dobruck, "UC Irvine’s swimming and diving, rowing, and sailing teams are no more as a response to a tightening state budget, UCI officials announced Wednesday, saying the move would save the university close to $1 million."

This is one of the many potential responses by SoCal academia to the bill Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed.


OCC already increased its tuition to $26 per unit from $20 in response to the bill Schwarzenegger signed.

In Dobruck's article...


Jeff Hobbs, Orange Coast College communications director, said his college would love to take on extra athletes, but they have capped their growth as mandated by the state and would not be able to take the extra influx of students.


OCC has not had to cut entire athletics programs, but with the volatile economic situation, there aren’t any guarantees, Hobbs said.


“I don’t think the programs themselves are going to see any drastic cuts as of now, but that could change,” he said.


Here's to hoping OCC will not cut its athletic programs.

To donate to the UC Irvine's swimming and diving programs, go to http://www.anteaterswimminganddivingfoundation.org/.

Making a comeback

By Tony Lee On Tuesday, July 28, 2009 0 comments
No other sport provides the fans with as many come-back-from-adversity-feel-good stories as baseball.

Baseball's latest is about former Newport Harbor High School and Orange Coast College pitcher Scott Beerer (pictured).

In a feature story in the Rocky Mountain Independent on July 24, Jack Etkin writes about Beerer, a 2003 second-round draft pick by the Colorado Rockies, coming back as a position player after dealing with injuries as a pitcher throughout his professional career.

At first, the Rockies didn't grant Beerer his wish to come back as a hitter and he returned back to SoCal.

Shortly after, he started attending classes at UCLA and worked nights as a bartender to prepare for a life without baseball.

Without giving away too much of the story, Beerer made it back to the Rockies and is now back on a baseball-oriented life path.

OrangeCoast tweeted this story to twitter.com/OccSports and now I'm blogging a little bit about it to share with the world.

And as always, OCC Sports Blog always welcomes tips, story ideas and/or comments.

[Photo courtesy of eBay]

Orange Coast College basketball camp

By Tony Lee On Sunday, July 26, 2009 0 comments
If you want to teach 7- to 17-year-olds how to play basketball like a Pirate, then bring them down to the Orange Coast College Peterson Gym Monday (July 27) for the boys and girls OCC Basketball Skills Camp.

The camp is from July 27 to July 31 and will be directed by OCC head men's basketball coach Steve Spencer.

Men's assistant coach Yee Tran and women's assistant coach Teeya Fernandez will also cordinate the camp.


The first session, from 9 a.m. to noon, is for the 7- to 12-year-olds. The second session, from 1-4 p.m., is for the 13- to 17-year-olds.

Simone Ibbotson (pictured) will be one of the former OCC players helping out in the camp. Ibbotson is a first-team, All-Orange Empire Conference player and will play for Chapman University in the fall.

The camp's cost is $125 for each child - $75 for each additional sibling - and includes a T-shirt.
To register, contact OCC's Bursars office at (714) 432-5880 x1.

OCC Peterson Gym is located at 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626.

[Photo by Peter Bicknell]

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