Baseball: Strongest and deepest RHL season ever?
It's not everybody's best team but that doesn't mean this season's Rio Hondo League isn't the strongest and deepest.
That's what Monrovia High School baseball co-head coach Brad Blackmore said when asked to discuss the parity this season.
"It's good for the league overall," he said. "Personally, I'd rather be 8-0 and three or four games on top, I'm not going to lie to you.
"This is as strong and deep I've seen as a whole. It's not everybody's best team but it's evenly matched, and you can throw South Pasadena in there, too."
La Cañada (14-2, 6-2) and the Wildcats (11-6-1, 6-2) are tied for first while San Marino (12-6, 6-3) and Temple City (12-7, 6-3) are tied for second, respectively.
South Pasadena's (6-12, 2-7) record doesn't look competitive on paper but they've put a scare on its counterparts.
"They haven't had a lot of wins but they've played everyone tough," Blackmore added. "We should be battle-tested for the playoffs."
What's stranger are the scenarios that can play out. A bad week from Monrovia can easily mean going from a first-place tie to dropping fourth and possibly outside looking in come playoffs.
"That's the thing," Blackmore said, "you're up one game on one or two teams but a loss here and there and suddenly you can drop to fourth because it's so close; somebody is going to be fourth real quick."
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Temple City coach Barry Bacon can attest to the havoc the Tigers can still create as the season's end approaches.
"South Pasadena is going to cause damage down the road," Bacon said. "They're a good ball club. They hung with us. There's two outs in the seventh and they scored two runs to tie us. We hit a home run to win it but they battled us the whole way. Every venue in this league is tough, even Blair plays tough for two or three innings."
The Titans last week routed Monrovia, 10-2, and the week before that they beat Temple City, 4-0.
However, the Rams recorded a key 4-3 win in 10 innings over the Spartans.
So, is there some parity in the Rio Hondo League?
"It really exposed the parity in the Rio Hondo League," Bacon said. "I told the boys we have to grab La Cañada and pull them back to us, and that's what (the) win does.
"Now we're a game out. There's some parity in league, yeah, you can say that."
La Cañada coach Dennis Ballard said the race to the top will be an exciting one.
"This is one of the best high school leagues in Southern California," he said. "This happens a lot of times when we go in the last two or three games where the league title isn't decided. We have Temple City and San Marino right behind us. It's exciting baseball."
The Titans will march into La Cañada on Wednesday at 3:30 for yet another key win, and it's safe to say San Marino's latest wins has increased its confidence.
"As far as the league goes we'll decide that (this week) as far as where we'll be," Ballard said. "It's a big seven or eight days. We don't know who the best team in this league is."
The Wildcats have won the league title eight out of the last 11 years, including the last three in a row.
Temple City will try to avenge its loss when it travels to San Marino on Friday.
Still fresh on La Cañada's mind is a 12-0 drubbing courtesy of Monrovia in the league-opener. Payback will be on the Spartans' mind when they host the Wildcats on Friday.
"I told the kids, 'Don't fool yourselves. We're not 12 runs better than them,'" Blackmore said. "Every game has its own entity. We don't expect that to happen again, especially since we have to go to their place again."
Monrovia is hoping to have Richard Kilbury back by the end of the week for its game against the Spartans or early next week. Kilbury has been out with a left elbow injury and hasn't pitched since leading the Wildcats to a 12-0 win over La Cañada in the league-opener.
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
I'm sorry, but I can not agree with that.
TCChamps: LOL!!
I completely disagree with your assessment, Miggy. It's completely off-base and totally uncalled for.
Parity and spoiler potential: Monrovia 1, South Pas 0. IF the Wildcats could only score 1 run off South Pas, maybe LC can do some much overdue hitting Friday & Monday.
You guys are COMPLETELY missing the point. You don't have to trust what I'm saying. Just listen to what I'm telling you ... You might want to go back and read the first two paragraphs.
Strongest and deepest? That comes from a reporter who hasn't been around that long. It's not the strongest and deepest by any stretch, rather the weakest and by weak I mean all teams are average so their is parity. C'mon, when TC had Tucker, La Canada had Stoner and Monrovia had McKiernan, that was deep and strong. Do some homework before you make silly statements like that. When the Rio was strong, Tucker was taking TC to the semifinals in back-to-back years and McKiernan was leading Monrovia to back-to-back title games. These Rio teams would be lucky to get to the second round. How can you ask if this is the deepest RHL ever? The question alone is utterly ridiculous.
Big Baseball Fanatic:
The Rio Hondo League has always been mediocre in every sport, especially baseball. It's fun, has kids that can move on up, but RHL is just the RHL.
Big Baseball Fanatic:
The Rio Hondo League has always been mediocre in every sport, especially baseball. It's fun, has kids that can move on up, but RHL is just the RHL.
Seen too much baseball around here for nearly 15 years. Have to agree with HS Baseball fan.
Geez, MM, check the emotions. I’m sure if you went off the record with the Coaches they would agree with HS Baseball fan. If you ever saw a Trevor Bell vs. Nolan Bruyninckx, Tucker vs. Mc Kiernan, Wilson vs. Dearth…., you would agree with the Parity among Mediocrity. LC: had Max Hibbs, Stoner, Monrovia: Conley, Parry, TC: Britel, Malcznnski, O’Leary, Cullen, SP’s Alex Christ would dominate today. I’m not even going to touch on the great hitters that would thrive on today’s offerings. Danny DelAquella comes to mind, Manny and Moses from M-town. Where are the HR’s off good pitching? Does it make a difference, well……, yes/no, but RHL is on the line and certainly a fun year. Let’s go guys, this thing is wide open and right there for the taking. Imagine you can return to your school and see a sign that has RHL 2009 Champions printed for eternity. Yes, you can be part of it, go get it done. Good Luck to all and give it hell these last few weeks
The Rio Hondo has never been mediocre in any sport and especially baseball
This is a great year for the Rio Hondo. It shows how strong the league is with so many good teams gunning for the same top spots and it has been great to watch.
I completely disagree with your assessment, HS Baseball fan. It's completely off-base and totally uncalled for.
Parity among Mediocrity can still be fun to watch.
That is what we are seeing in the RHL this year.