The Orange Coast College Pirates should've saved some runs from Friday's 15-1 victory.

Coast, in a 10-inning thriller, beat Ventura College 1-0 thanks to pitcher Chris Licon's (pictured) performance and one big swing from Scott Hong.

According to the press release by OCC Sports Information Director Tony Altobelli, "With the win, second-seeded OCC (31-13) will host next week's Southern California Super Regional Playoffs, which begin on Friday at noon. The Pirates will play Friday's second game, which will begin at 4 p.m. against an opponent to be determined."

[Click here to read about game two and how the other teams in the playoffs played]

Congratulations Coast. You're one step closer to the state championships.

[Photo by Melissa Lee]

My lucky shoes are now 8-1. I can't believe I didn't think about this until half the semester went by.

[Click here to read my sports column "It's Me, Tony Lee" to read about why I started wearing these shoes.]

With an overall record to 13-17 with only two weeks of school left to go, I plan on attending as many events as possible to get my record up to .500.

Game one is in the books and the Orange Coast College Pirates looks like the No. 1 ranked baseball team again.

When I talked to starting pitcher Brett Wallach about winning the Orange Empire Conference player of the year, he said he's never won an award like that and worked hard on his game this year.

One of the things he's worked on is how he handles himself after he throws a mediocre pitch.

"I mean that stuff doesn't really bother me anymore," Wallach said of the first pitch of the game that almost went over the fence. "I kind of let that stuff go. I mean it's just one pitch."

Wallach also bats cleanup for the Pirates and will be asked to do a lot during the playoffs. I hope he'll rise to the occasion and his fellow teammates can vibe off of that.

I also talked to interim head coach Bob Flint about the funk the team was in. He's told me before that in whatever sport and in whatever skill level it's in, offense will be inconsistent but defense is consistent.

"It's the nature of offense," Flint said. "It's here and it goes away - it comes and goes. Today it was there."

Since head coach John Altobelli can't be at the games, he's found creative ways to get game updates. It used to be his wife Keri text messaging him but now there's a live world wide web feed that he can look at.

"At least I got a visual. I got to write notes - things we did good, things we did bad," Altobelli said. "It wasn't too too bad but still painful but I guess I'm paying my price."

Some of his notes included a play between Ryan Sheeks and Drew Hillman. He said the team does that drill maybe once every two weeks but he wanted to reiterate to the team that every drill means something because it could be the difference in a one run game.

He also talke about the depth of his roster and also two out clutch hits - especially from Ricky Stokes.

"Not having him early in the year, we really missed his bat and his leadership," Altobelli said. "Boy he went through some hard times when he came back,he kept his chin up...That's why you're a good team. Good players and good teams push each other."

[Photo of posters that Alexis and Alyssa Altobelli made for the team - photo by Tony Lee]

You had a pretty good day at the plate today. What was going well for you?
I was seeing the ball pretty good – I got some runners on early and did my job to get some Pirates in. But we all hit the ball hard today.

You guys won pretty big game today – good hitting good pitching. Are you guys out of your funk?
Yeah we were in a funk in the last couple games but we’re back. Everybody’s putting the ball into play, a lot of clutch hits. We’ve been hitting well with two outs and hopefully it’ll carry on and keep on going.

Head coach John Altobelli is definitely gone for the playoffs now. Are you guys doing anything differently?
Well we lost him but we also lost J-Wat (Jourdan Watanabe) at the beginning of the season so we always have them in our hearts. We’re playing for Alto and J-Wat and everybody out there supporting Orange Coast.

Anything else you want to add about today?
Great day for Orange Coast and happy birthday Alto.

[Photo by Tony Lee]

Orange Coast College's Kris Martin hit his first home run of the season on Friday to help the Pirates win 15-1 against Ventura College.

But Martin told me that this wasn't just his first home run of the season, it was also his first home run of his life.

"You know what, I have so much emotions going through me," Martin said. "I went in there with a clear mind state and he threw me a fastball and I jumped on it."

Martin, who came in the game as a pinch hitter, said even though he doesn't start, he's ready to contribute when he gets the chance.

Once again, congratulations Kris.

[Photo by Tony Lee]