ANAHEIM – The game was in danger of not being played because of a power issue.
The game was played, and Will Tribucher brought some power of his own.
Tribucher of San Clemente hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning to provide the winning run for the South in an 11-8 win over the North in the Orange County All-Star Baseball Game at Dee Fee Field at La Palma Park.
The South leads the series, 26-21-1. Last year’s game ended in an 8-8 tie, the only tie in the county all-star game that was first played in 1968. The Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim has organized and managed the game throughout its history.
Tribucher also had a two-run double. He pitched 1-2-3 innings, the seventh and eighth, with four strikeouts and was named the game’s most valuable player.
Valencia’s Coby Kauhaahaa won the hustle award. He had two hits, including a double, scored twice and made one of the game’s better defensive plays when he went to his left to snag a grounder hit by Mater Dei’s Brandon Perez and threw Perez out at first.
Vandalism created electrical problems that had the Kiwanians considering other options like moving the game to Boysen Park in Anaheim or Windrow Park in Irvine. The problems were resolved well enough by mid-Tuesday afternoon that lights and the sound system were operable, but the scoreboard was not.
The scoreboard would have been busy.
The South took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on wild pitches, an error and an RBI single by JSerra’s Jake Pries.
Another South run, in the second, made it 5-0 as Luke Williams of Dana Hills doubled and scored on a grounder.
Foothill’s Dylan Doherty singled to drive in Austin Case of Yorba Linda as the North trimmed the South lead to 5-1. The North added a run in the fourth when Foothill’s Sebastian Lopez singled to send home Kauhaahaa who had doubled.
The South pushed the lead to 8-2 with a three-run fifth inning that included Tribucher’s two-run double.
The North tied it, 8-8, with a six-run sixth inning. Esperanza’s Sammy Jones hit a two-run double and Kyle Molnar of Aliso Niguel also had a double in the inning.
Tribucher then hit his two-run home run, a smash into the football bleachers in left-center field, for a 10-8 South lead.
Brett Kay of JSerra was the South coach. John Weber of Cypress coached the North.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com