Gardena High’s baseball team is a very young and small sophomore studded squad, while Banning has numerous experienced seniors and is coming off wins over two of the top CIF-Los Angeles City Section top programs in defending champion San Fernando and Chatsworth.
The Pilots proved it on the Panthers by sweeping them with a six-inning mercy rule 11-1 victory on April 2 at Gardena, and shutting out Gardena, 5-0, to give their head coach John Gonzalez his 400th coaching win last Thursday night at Banning.
Gardena High’s baseball team is a very young and small sophomore studded squad, while Banning has numerous experienced seniors and is coming off wins over two of the top CIF-Los Angeles City Section top programs in defending champion San Fernando and Chatsworth.
The Pilots proved it on the Panthers by sweeping them with a six-inning mercy rule 11-1 victory on April 2 at Gardena, and shutting out Gardena, 5-0, to give their head coach John Gonzalez his 400th coaching win last Thursday night at Banning.
At Gardena, the Panthers ran into highly regarded prospect pitcher Gino Brockway. He pitched five innings, striking out seven batters, allowing three hits and walking just one.
Another top prospect, Juan Gallardo, went 3-for-3 with a two-run home run. Julian Villegas was 2-for-4 with a double and three runs batted in.
Gardena, which is 2-5 overall and 0-2 in league, had a double by Jesus Barbosa, who went to second on a grounder to third from Nick Cardona. Barbosa scored on a grounder to second by Robert Chavez that cut the Pilots lead to 3-1.
From there, Banning broke the game open.
“We lost our morale,” Gardena head coach Robert Morales said. “We’re young with mostly sophomores.”
Losing pitcher Tony Yanez, a sophomore, pitched four innings and Angel Gomez finished off.
The Panthers also are shorthanded with just 10 players on their roster.
Nick Cardona and Yanez, key players who are involved with the Tri Park Little League, are key players for Gardena.
The Pilots, who are 8-2 overall and 2-0 in Marine action, continued to dominate the Panthers last Thursday to help Gonzalez, who headed Banning since 1994.
Gonzalez guided the Pilots to eight Marine League crowns, seven CIF-L.A. City semifinal appearances, and two final showings, losing both. Their last championship game was a 13-11 loss to El Camino Real in 1997.
Gardena continues its tough league at home against Carson today at 3 p.m.
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Cavalier’s Freeman keys Blue stars to All-Star victory
By Joe Snyder
GVN Correspondent
Serra High standout Ronald Freeman made two three-point baskets down the stretch to help the Blue all-star boys’ basketball team to a 112-106 win over the Red team in the South Bay All-Star Basketball Classic last Thursday at South Torrance High School.
Freeman put the game away for the Blues, who made the game close.
The Blues were ahead by two (102-100) late in the game, before a three-pointer from Redondo’s Ian Fox and a free throw by Justin Strings of Manhattan Beach Mira Costa gave them a six-point lead. That’s when Freeman sealed the deal with back-to-back three’s.
Freeman and the Reds’ Serra star, Tavrion Dawson, shared slam dunks in the second quarter that saw the Blues ahead 53-49 at halftime.
Dawson will be playing in an all-star classic at Concordia University in Irvine on April 19. Freeman was expected to play in the Collision Classic between the senior all-stars from the CIF-Southern Section and L.A. City Sections on April 26 at Redondo High.
Dawson is headed to Cal State Northridge, who is headed by former National Basketball Association and Inglewood High standout Reggie Theus, after graduation in June.
In the girls’ all-star classic, Serra’s Caily Hailey played for the winning Red team, which topped the Blues, which was co-head coached by the Cavaliers’ McKenzie Hadley, 57-52.
Leading the Reds was DeMoria White from St. Bernard with 14 points.
The Reds held a 56-37 fourth quarter advantage but the Blue team made it close. The Blues were led by Serra’s Cydney Bolton with 12 points.
Hailey will be playing at Washington State University next year.
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Serra hopes for better things in Del Rey play
By Joe Snyder
GVN Correspondent
With a six-game losing streak, Serra High’s baseball team hopes to end it with Del Rey League opening games against Los Angeles Cathedral this week.
After hosting the Phantoms last Tuesday, the Cavaliers will visit Cathedral at the Bishop’s Field, located at Elysian Park above Dodger Stadium, Friday at 3:15 p.m. Serra hosts La Puente Bishop Amat next Wednesday at the same time.
Since March 29 through last Friday, Serra played four games in the rigorous Boras Classic at Mater Dei in Santa Ana. On March 29, the host Monarchs humiliated the Cavaliers, 16-2. Things did not get much better as Serra faced three more premiere squads. On March 31, the Cavaliers were routed by Temecula Great Oak, 12-3. Two days later, CIF-San Diego Section power Grossmont from El Cajon rolled over Serra, 10-2. Things were a little better last Friday but the Cavaliers fell short of defending CIF-L.A. City Section champion San Fernando, 4-3.
In Serra’s loss to the Tigers, Mateo Brambila hit a two-run single to bring the Cavaliers to within one run, but the Cavaliers could not get over the hump.
Returning all-American Marcus Wilson added a double.
A bright spot for Serra in its loss to Grossmont was another all-American, Denz’l Chapman, who went 2-for-2 and scored a run.
Three errors and 10 strikeouts by Grossmont’s winning pitcher Daniel Rolf proved pivotal for the Cavaliers, who fell to 3-8. Serra had only five hits for the game.
Brambila was 2-for-3 with one RBI and two runs against Great Oak. Serra had two freshmen pitchers, Kennedy Guilen and Jose Silva pitching. Silva went four and two-thirds innings, allowing eight runs (four earned, striking out five and walking five.
