May 2009 Archives

Former Bishop Montgomery and El Camino College coach Rudy Garbalosa has led the Lynn University baseball team, which includes a pair of Torrance High graduates, to the NCAA Division II World Series final.

Daniel Flores and Justin Garica, both of whom went to Torrance High and Harbor College, are playing for Lynn, which plays in the World Series final Saturday against Emporia State.
Lynn defeated Belmont Abbey, 7-5, on Friday to reach the title game, which takes place  at noon at the USA National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. The game is being televised by CBS College Sports.

Flores hit a two-run home run against Belmont Abbey, which turned out to be the difference in the game.

UC San Diego, which boasts former South Torrance star Vance Albitz and former Mary Star standout Justin Robles, were eliminated from the World Series with a 5-3 loss to Emporia on Thursday.

West Torrance High will induct its second Athletic Hall of Fame Class tonight at the Los Verdes Country Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. The 12 new inductees slated to be honored include soccer coach Mike Eaton, football and baseball players Gary Kendrick (1969), Andy Center  (1976) and Dave Weatherman (1977), professional baseball player Denny Hocking (1988), track runners Kati Petersen Krumpe (1982) and Valerie Ross Anderson (1979), softball player Rhonda Nelson Feenstra (1984), professional football player (punter) Stan Talley (1977), football and track athlete Mark Knox (1966), wrestler/football player Brian Stranger (1976) and administrator Paul Hawkins.

Former South Torrance baseball star Vance Albitz continues to light it up for UC San Diego in the NCAA Division II World Series in Cary, N.C. On Tuesday, Albitz went 3-for-6 with two RBIs in UC San Diego's 13-1 win over Dowling. The win kept UC San Diego alive in the double-elimination tournament.

UC San Diego now has to beat Emporia St. today and Friday in order to get to the World Series championship game on Saturday. Albitz is a junior shortstop for UC San Diego and a two-time all-conference selection.

When the Chadwick boys volleyball team saw that it had to play at
Sage Hill in the CIF Division V quarterfinals last Friday, it could not
have made them feel good. Chadwick lost at Sage Hill in the
playoffs last year and has met them in the playoffs the last four years in a row, going 2-2.

Once again, Chadwick fell at Sage Hill, losing in three games, 25-23, 25-20,
25-23, last Friday night.

 

This year Chadwick star Max McFarland was hobbled going into the
match. He missed Chadwick's first-round win and was limited to a
little bit of back row action in the second round. He contributed 17
kills against Sage Hill but Chadwick could not achieve victory.
"McFarland played his best, I give him all the credit in the world,
wild horses couldn't keep him off the court," Cass said. "He was no
more than 70 percent, but he was still the best player on the court.
He is definitely the best player I've coached."

The Bay League champion Palos Verdes baseball team's 4-1 first-round loss at home to Damien in the CIF Division II playoffs might have been the most shocking result early in the playoffs. Palos Verdes finished second last year in the Bay League and made a run to the
semifinals.

But the team managed just one hit against Damien. They had runners
reach base via walks and errors, but the entire lineup went into a one-day slump.
"We had base runners, we just couldn't get a clutch hit and we made
base running mistakes," Palos Verdes coach Evan Fujinaga said.

The whole game was uncharacteristic for Palos Verdes, which made four errors after being solid in the field most of the year.
"Defense has not been a problem except that one game against West,"
Fujinaga said. "And now this game."

Palos Verdes turned a rare double play that was key in the team's 5-4 Bay League win over host Mira Costa on Tuesday. In the bottom of the third, with Palos Verdes ahead, 3-1, Mira Costa was rallying. With runners on first and third and no outs, Jake Jelmini hit an RBI single to right field. Austin Chavira scored from third and Kyle Demarco went from first to third on the play. Palos Verdes right fielder Tim Novom's throw toward third was cutoff by shortstop Atlee Schwab, who got Jelmini in a rundown between first and second.
First baseman Cole Trezek took the throw from Schwab, ran Jelmini  toward second base and threw the ball to second baseman  Matt Blankenship, who made the tag on Jelmini as Demarco took off for home. Blankenship threw home to catcher Jarratt Rouse, who made the tag on Demarco.
Mira Costa was held to one run, when it looked like it could be a big inning.
The fact the Novom hit his cut-off man and good execution by the team's infielders enabled Palos Verdes to record two outs on the play.
"Blankenship had the presence of mind to apply the tag, hear the chatter about the runner leaving third and throw home," Palos Verdes coach Evan Fujinaga said. "That was huge to hold them to one run that inning."
Palos Verdes (24-4, 8-1) earned  a share of the Bay League title with the win, but needs to beat Mira Costa (18-10, 7-2) in the regular-season finale for both teams on Thursday at Palos Verdes High to win the title outright.
 

Point guard Dashawn Gomez of the Inglewood boys basketball team, who led the Sentinels to the Ocean League title and the CIF Division IV-AA championship game, will sign a letter of intent on Wednesday at the Inglewood District Office to play for New Mexico State, Coach Patrick Roy confirmed on Tuesday.
Gomez was a four-year starter who averaged 18.7 points and 6.7 assists for Inglewood this season. Gomez was named the Ocean League's Most Valuable Player and was a first-team all-area selection by the Daily Breeze.
Gomez, a prolific scorer and gifted distributor of the ball, will play for Coach Marvin Menzies at New Mexico State, which finished 17-15 overall last year, 9-7 in the WAC.

Palos Verdes' girls swim team won the Bay League Championship meet by more than 100 points and appears primed to compete for a CIF Southern Section Division II championship. Palos Verdes is led by sophomore Chaya Zabludoff and junior Natalia Vecerek. In the Bay League final, Zabludoff tied for first in the 200 freestyle with Mira Costa's Marisa Purcell at 1:54.12 and also won the 100 butterfly (59.47). Vecerek won the 100 freestyle (53.46) and both were apart of the winning 400 freestyle relay.

Mira Costa also has a strong one-two punch in Purcell and Taylor Spivey. In the Bay League final, Purcell also won the 100 backstroke (1:00.58) and Spivey won the 500 freestyle in 5:22.29. Both were apart of Mira Costa's winning 200 freestyle relay.

On the boys side, Peninsula won the Bay League Championships by more than 70 points as the Mayfield brothers led the charge. Michael Mayfield won the 200 freestyle in 1:43.25 and his younger brother, Cory Mayfield, won the 500 freestyle in 4:43.50. Mira Costa also looks strong with the Kevins leading the way. Kevin Silberman won the 100 freestyle (47.77) and Kevin Reinhardt won the 50 freestyle (22.20) at the Bay League Championships. Both look like they could do some damage in CIF's Division II.

Boys and girls qualifiers from the Bay League and the Prep League are slated to swim in the CIF Division II preliminaries on Friday at 10 a.m., with the Division II finals taking place on Saturday at 4 p.m. Boys and girls qualifiers from the Pioneer League will compete in the Division III preliminaries on Thursday at 10 a.m., with the Division III finals taking place on Saturday at 10 a.m. At events take place at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

Two-time Daily Breeze Player of the Year Taylor Petty has continued to thrive in her freshman season at Long Beach State.

Petty, the former San Pedro star, earned Big West Conference Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career.

Petty helped Long Beach State sweep Pacific. She threw an eight-inning complete-game in a 2-1 victory over Pacific, allowing three hits and one run while tying her career high with 11 strikeouts.

Petty then earned the start in the finale and responded with her 15th complete game of the year. Petty again gave up just one run while scattering five hits and registering seven strikeouts.

For the series, Petty posted a 0.93 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 15.0 innings of work. She held the Tigers to eight hits, two runs and a .160 batting average.

Palos Verdes boys' volleyball just concluded its best season in recent memory by taking powerhouse Mira Costa to five games, only to lose the Bay League tilt, 25-21, 25-21, 23-25, 24-26, 15-13, at Palos Verdes.
Palos Verdes is 20-6 this season and looks poised to do some damage going into the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs.
"Taking Mira Costa to five games is a big confidence boost heading into CIF," Palos Verdes coach Patrick Lynch said. "I think we prepared better for them this time and realized we can play with them. We just need to have confidence in ourselves when we play a team like Mira Costa."
Lynch thinks taking Mira Costa to five games is big for the team at this juncture.
"Going 5 games with them puts the program on such a different level," Lynch said. "I'm proud and happy with the progress the kids have made coming off last year, when we did not even have a winning season."
Palos Verdes (20-6, 5-3), which finished tied for second in the Bay League with Redondo, was led by Eric Feldmen, who had 22 kills and 11 digs, Kyle Stevenson, who had 16 kills and 13 digs, Kyle Rehkemper, who had 12 kills and four aces, Jackson Belcher, who had 49 assists, and Grant Delgado, who added 33 digs.
"All the guys playing right now were sophomores last year," Lynch said. "They bonded together in the offseason and made a commitment to be the best team they can be."

The L.A. City Section softball seeding meeting is officially over, and here is what emerged from the meeting.

San Pedro, still fresh off a dramatic 4-3 comeback win over Carson to win the Marine League title, is the No. 1 seed.

The Pirates and pitcher Kailee Cuico, pictured, will try to win the program's ninth City title in the last 10 years and the fourth in a row for the Pirates.

Marine League runner-up Carson is No. 5 and Banning is No. 6. We could possibly see a San Pedro-Carson semifinal.

Western League champion Westchester is No. 9 and could face San Pedro in the quarterfinals, the fourth time these teams would hook up. 

Here are the early seedings:

1. San Pedro
2. El Camino Real
3. Kennedy
4. Granada Hills
5. Carson
6. Banning
7. Chatsworth
8. Marshall
9. Westchester
10.Lincoln
11. L.A. Poly
12. Narbonne
13. San Fernando
14. Sylmar
15. Birmingham
16. Grant
17. South East
18. King-Drew
19. Eagle Rock
20. Bell
21. Venice
22. Huntington Park
23. Palisades
24. Arleta
25.Garfield
26. Verdugo Hills
27. Bravo
28. Roosevelt
29. Fairfax
30. Crenshaw
31. Wilson
32. Hollywood

 

CAMS might be a small Carson-based school known for its academics more than its athletic achievements, but its doubles team of Larry Pang and Attila Lassu enjoyed a great milestone.

Pang and Lassu posted a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Brentwood's Chris Lord and Jackson Isaacs to win the Olympic League doubles title Thursday for the first time in CAMS history, according to Coach Larent Lassu. Lord and Isaacs made the CIF semifinals last season.

Here is a picture after winning their doubles title today -- thanks for dressing up guys!

The Hawthorne softball team knows how to clinch a CIF playoff spot in style. Hawthorne beat Culver City, 9-7, in eight innings in a crucial Ocean League game on Wednesday when Jackie Delgado hit a walk-off three-run home run over the right-field fence.
It marks the second straight season Hawthorne has made the playoffs after not making the playoffs for 10 years.
Delgado had five RBIs, Cynthia Quiroz had four hits, including two doubles, and two RBIs and Winnie Reece and Ivana Verdin had three hits and an RBI each for Hawthorne (10-6-1, 6-1), which is in second place in the Ocean League.
Culver City (9-11, 4-3) scored two in the top of the seventh to tie the score and one in the eighth to take a one-run lead before Delgado's walk-off blast.
"This is by far our biggest win of the season," Hawthorne coach Jerry Contreras said. "A walk-off home run over the fence to put us into CIF, the crowd went crazy, this is something we have not experienced here."

Two high-profile recruits certainly elevate Serra to a new level.

Receiver Paul Richardson, a UCLA-bound receiver from Los Alamitos, checked into Serra on Monday and attended his first classes at the Gardena-based school.

Quarterback Conner Preston, who threw for more than 2,000 yards last season as a sophomore at Palisades, also is at Serra, having transferred at the semester break in February.

"Both these guys, 100 percent, unequivocally, came to us," Serra coach Scott Altenberg said Monday. "I've always said that if you come to our campus and spend some time here, you'll fall in love with Serra. That's what happened with these guys."

Richardson, who has several friends on the Serra team, had 48 catches, 809 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns for Los Alamitos last season. He joins a receiving corps that includes 2008 Daily Breeze Player of the Year Robert Woods and George Farmar. 

Preston, who threw for 2,026 yards, 16 TDs and 10 interceptions for Palisades last season, helps fill the void left by Ted Landers' graduation. Landers threw for 2,646 yards, 37 TDs and six interceptions last season.

Landers transferred from South Torrance, and now Serra has these high-profile transfers, but Altenberg said Serra has built its reputation from within.

Serra's lower-level teams - the freshman team and the junior varsity team - have combined to lose just twice in the last four years.

"We're not a transfer school," Altenberg said. "We've had a few kids because of our success and things that happened in the past, but our lower-level teams are how we've built our success. The proof is in the pudding."

What is it with the Peninsula baseball team? The Panthers split their first three two-game Bay League series, losing the first game each time. Last Friday, the Panthers reached down deep, played small ball, and won at Mira Costa, 5-1, to earn its third straight split and stay in the  CIF playoff race, tied for third at 3-3 with West Torrance.
"You can't get swept in this league if you want to make the playoffs," Peninsula coach Dennis  Gonsalves said. "And these guys have played with more heart and determination than any team I've coached."
The best teams in league are behind Peninsula. The Panthers play two against Leuzinger (1-5 in league) this week and finish with two against Redondo (1-5 in league). So getting one of the three automatic playoff berths out of the  Bay League looks good for the Panthers, as long as they can manage to break tradition and record a sweep.

Meanwhile, it looks like the race for the Bay League title will come down to the final week of the regular season, when Palos Verdes and Mira  Costa meet for two games.
Both teams are 5-1 in league play. Mira Costa plays rival Redondo this week and Palos Verdes plays West Torrance, which is fighting for its playoff life.
Most likely Palos Verdes and Mira Costa will be either  tied for  first or one game apart when they meet, which means the league title will be on the line.
"It's probably in the stars," Mira Costa coach Mike Neily said.