IRVINE – If there’s one baseball tournament on the schedule that Woodbridge has circled on its calendar, it’s the one that stands in tribute to one of its former players, Ryan Lemmon. On Wednesday night at Great Park Stadium, the Warriors put on a great show.
Behind a five-run third inning and a solid pitching performance by Alex Johnson, Woodbridge won the Ryan Lemmon Invitational with an 8-4 victory over San Dimas.
It’s the first time since 2010 that Woodbridge has won its own tournament. The Warriors – now 14-5 and riding a six-game winning streak – lost in the finals to Palm Desert in 2011 and El Modena in 2022.
It was a nice bounce-back from three consecutive league losses. The significance of their victory Wednesday was not lost on the players.
“We play at Ryan Lemmon Stadium every day in practice,” said shortstop Nolan Stottlemyer, one of two senior starters, referring to the field at Windrow Park where a statue of Lemmon watches over the area. “Being able to win this tournament is so huge to these guys. I think we’re going to rally past it and make a good run this year.
“We represent (he Ryan Lemmon name) every day and I feel like we really showed it today.”
Stottlemyer had two hits and scored three runs against San Dimas. He batted .600 for the tournament, but the MVP award belonged to the guy behind him in the batting order, Vince DeMarco. He had three hits, including two doubles, and four RBIs against the Saints. He also scored a run.
“It’s a good time to be getting hot,” said DeMarco, who batted .636 with three doubles, a triple, nine RBIs, a walk, and no strikeouts in the tournament. “It’s good to be good.”
DeMarco, a junior left-hander, also performed on the mound; he was the starting pitcher in Monday’s 3-2 victory over Foothill. He went the first four innings and got the win.
But the win on Wednesday went to Alex Johnson (4-2), who delivered five solid innings before encountering trouble – and a San Dimas rally – in the sixth. Johnson gave up four runs in 5.1 innings, on four hits, a walk, and four hit batters. He carried a two-hitter into the sixth, when San Dimas (10-6) scored three of its runs.
“We kicked some balls, made some errors, and they got some key hits,” San Dimas co-head coach Mike Regan said. “We did a lot of things wrong, but we battled back.
“But they just outplayed us.”
The Saints were led offensively by Jayden Carlos, who had three hits and scored a run.
San Dimas’ Joe Layva cruised through the first seven batters in the lineup, but disaster struck the Saints in the top of the third inning.
A one-out fielding error was followed by Nevan Namgoong’s double down the right field line, and Johnson scored when the throw went between fielders in the infield. Caden Camacho singled to right, scoring Namgoong. Stottlemyer singled off the pitcher’s body, and DeMarco’s opposite field double to left scored Camacho for a 3-0 lead. Henry Uhrik’s bad-hop single ate up the shortstop and plated two more runs.
The Warriors had six hits in the inning and made San Dimas pay for its two errors.
San Dimas answered in the bottom of the fourth inning with two outs. Jayden Claros’ line single past the shortstop ended Johnson’s no-hitter, and after Aaden Escarcega was hit, Jayden Medina delivered an RBI single to left field.
Woodbridge immediately responded with two runs in the top of the fifth. Caden Camacho and Stottlemyer singled, and DeMarco’s blast to right-center field made it 7-1.
San Dimas added three runs in the sixth. Claros, who singled, scored on Medina’s double. Medina took third on a wild pitch and scored on Johnson’s balk. AJ Larios was hit, and Woodbridge replaced Johnson with left-hander Kyle Underwood.
It did not go smoothly. Underwood walked his first batter, hit the second, and walked the third – giving an RBI to leadoff batter Vaughn Coleman. Facing a potential five-alarm fire with the heart of the order approaching, Underwood escaped the bases-loaded jam with a strikeout. He also pitched the seventh.
Woodbridge answered with a run in the top of the seventh. After a walk to Stottlemyer and a wild pitch, DeMarco added a run-scoring single to right field. That made it 8-4.
At the heart of the Ryan Lemmon Foundation are the late player’s sister, Katie (left), and dad, Guy Lemmon. Woodbridge won the tournament Wednesday for the first time since 2010, when it had a different naming sponsor. (Photo by Martin Henderson)The Ryan Lemmon Foundation has been the presenting sponsor of the tournament for the last several years even though it has been attached to the tournament since the 1990s. Lemmon was a Woodbridge player who died with two others in a single-car accident in the spring of 1994 following his first season at Pepperdine.
Though there have been other corporate naming sponsors, the community has always regarded it as the Ryan Lemmon tournament. Among those in attendance on Wednesday were Ryan’s father, Guy Lemmon, and Ryan’s sister, Katie. Her son – Ryan’s nephew, Vaughn Tase – is a junior who played second base for the Warriors.
“For us, it’s the most important tournament we play,” said Woodbridge coach Ryan Brucker, who played in the finals when he was at Irvine High and has coached the Warriors in the finals twice. “To be able to win it is a neat deal for us.”
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