By Joe Snyder
After struggling to finish in third place in the Pioneer League with only a 4-8 record and 11-17 overall, North Torrance High’s baseball team moved on to the semifinals after shutout wins over Simi Valley Grace Brethren and Carpinteria in the CIF-Southern Section Division VII playoffs last week.
It is the furthest the Saxons made in the playoffs on five years, when they advanced to the semifinals of the Southern Section Division V playoffs in 2021.
On May 19 at North, the Saxons blanked Grace Brethren 7-0. In the quarterfinals last Friday, also at home, North rolled to a 10-0 victory over the Warriors.
Against Carpinteria, the Saxons, who improved to 14-17 for the season, needed only four hits for their 10 runs as they cashed in on 10 walks, one hit batman and three errors. North started with three runs in the bottom of the second inning, behind back-to-back walks by Warrior starting pitcher Dallas Bartholic. In the third, the Saxons padded their lead to 7-0 with four more runs, included a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to David Iniquez. Tanner Okaway, then, added a two-run single.
More walks helped North finish its scoring, including a bases-loaded walk to Andrew Bellow and a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Lucas Blackwell.
The Saxons thrived on their outstanding pitching. Junior Mason Matsumoto went 5 2/3 innings, limiting the Warriors to just one hit. He struck out five batters. Joseph Banuelos finished off allowing just one additional hit in 1 1/3 innings.
North also had some fine defense by Tanner Okawa, according to head Saxon coach Diego Alarcon.
In the second round, three days earlier, Saxon pitchers Seth Narasaki and Banuelos combined for a four-hit shutout. Narasaki allowed Grace three hits while striking out five in five innings. Banuelos pitched two innings, allowing two hits.
Bello hit a two-run home run. Blackwood and Shane Yamamoto each had two hits and drove in one run.
“We’re playing our best ball now,” Alarcon said. “We had some good pitching and defense. We played a tough schedule and in a tough league that is helping us in this division (Division VII).”
North pitchers allowed only one run in its three playoff games; that in the first round in the Saxons’ 5-1 win over host Baldwin Park on May 15.
Six of the Saxons’ eight Pioneer losses were to league champion South Torrance and runner-up El Segundo; both who played in Division III but lost in the first round. North also had non-league games against last season’s CIF-Los Angeles City Division I champion Carson, which was eliminated in the L.A. City Open Division quarterfinals by host and top-seeded Birmingham 4-1 on May 20 in Lake Balboa, Simi Valley Royal, Culver City (which advanced to the Division V semifinals after defeating Playa del Rey St. Bernard in the quarterfinals last Friday) and Moore League champion Long Beach Millikan (currently in the Division III semifinals that included a first-round win over South).
North took about a 90-mile trip to Santa Paula, located in Ventura County between Ventura and the Grapevine, for the semifinals last Tuesday. Santa Paula is coming off a 7-1 quarterfinal win over Riverside Patriot in the quarterfinals on Friday. If the Saxons win, they will be making their first Southern Section final appearance since 1974 on Friday or Saturday at either Cal State Fullerton or Quake Stadium in Rancho Cucamonga. Quake Stadium was the recent home of the Major League Baseball Los Angeles Dodgers “A” team, Quakes through last season until moving to a new stadium in Ontario. The Quakes were in the California League. In 1974, North, led by Jim Zamberelli, Sr., won the Southern Section Class 4A crown.
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Serra looks strong in Masters Meet
Serra High’s boys’ and girls’ track and field teams had strong showings but found a lot of it tough going in the CIF-Southern Section Masters Championships Saturday at Moorpark High.
In the Masters, the top five, plus those with CIF-State qualifying marks and times, made it to Friday and Saturday’s California State Championships at Buchanan High in Clovis.
The best the Cavaliers did was their boys’ 4×100-meter relay team, which finished seventh at 41.25 seconds in a very fast race, led by United States national record holder Anaheim Servite, which won clocking 40.17 but already broke the national prep record in 39.70 at the Arcadia Invitational on April 11. Runners with Serra included Lamar Roberson, Landon Thomas, Lawson Griggs-Andrews and Wesley Ace. Sources are that the 41.25 timing was good enough for Friday’s State Prelims.
In the 100-meter dash, Ace had a very good time of 10.58 but it was worth just 14th place. The race was won by Benjamin Harris of Servite in 10.17, followed by Torrance’s Nicolas Obimgba (10.3). Despite placing four runners in the top six in the Southern Section Division IV Finals in the 200 on May 16, the Cavaliers had no runners compete and Obimgba placed just 13th timing 21.23, but it may had still qualified him for state.
Obimgba also anchored the Tartars’ 4×100 relay to a 13th-place finish in 41.9. Other runners were freshman Craig Winston, Lacey Chance and Morgan Dixon.
Serra’s 4×400 relay team of Griggs-Andrews, Dion Edwards, Dwayne Fuqua II and Landon Thomas took ninth clocking 3:18.88 and it could have been state-qualifying.
For the girls, Serra had both relays in the Masters championships as the 4×100 and 4×400 finished 12th and failed to qualify for state. Its 400-relay squad of Avante Davis, Sarah Nakounou, Mecca Muhammad and Najah Kelly were timed at 47.55. The Cavaliers’ 1,600 team of Lyryc Taylor-Dawson, Muhammad, Savannah Coleman and Nakounou recorded a 3:55.45. In the 4×100, Fullerton Rosary, one of two sister Catholic high schools (the other being Anaheim Connelly) of Servite, won clocking 44.79 and is inching in the national record of 44.5 recorded by Long Beach Poly in 2004.
Moorpark High has one of the fastest tracks in the nation that could have resulted in very fast races; especially in the sprints.
In the CIF-Los Angeles City Championships last Thursday at Birmingham High in Lake Balboa, Gardena did not have any athletes qualify for boys nor girls but had a very good showing in the Inclusive Division (for special needs athletes) by senior Kendall Washington. Washington won the 100 in 17.88 and placed second in the 400 (1:48.81) and long jump (three feet, 10 inches). She also led the Lady Panthers’ 4×100 relay to a win in 1:10.42.
Carson’s girls won the team championship with 117 points to 50.33 for second-place Granada Hills. King-Drew Medical Magnet and Venice tied for third, each with 42 points.
The Lady Colts were led by senior sprinter Christina Gray who won the 100 (12.14), 200 (25.45) and keyed Carson’s 4×100 to a win in 47.87. Kelis Hicks had wins in the long jump (18-5.5) and triple jump (34-9.75).
Harbor City Narbonne, including Kidayah Meadows, Sarah Gee, Sadiya Sanda and Oluwatonisia Olatokoibo, won the 4×200 timing 1:49.62.
For the boys, Carson’s Jaden Rendon continued to dominate both hurdles, winning the 110 highs (14.35) and 300 intermediates (37.39) and is one of the favorites to win both events at this week’s state meet.
Rendon’s performance helped the Colts place eighth as a team with 21 points. Winning the championship was Granada Hills with 75 points to 68 for runner-up Palisades. San Pedro took third with 47.
The state championship begins with the prelims on Friday at 1 p.m. and the finals on Saturday at 3 p.m. for field events and 4:30 p.m. for the running events.
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North softball run ends with semifinal loss
After barely making the CIF-Southern Section Division III playoffs with two play-in wins over South Torrance and El Segundo, North Torrance High’s softball team made amazing run to the semifinals but saw its hopes of making the championship game come to an end after falling short to Great Oak High from Temecula 4-3 on Saturday at North.
On Saturday, the Lady Saxons and Great Oak each scored two runs in the first inning and North took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth. Great Oak, though, scored one run, each, in the top of the sixth and seventh to eliminate the Saxons, who ended their season at 21-10.
Olivia Marshall sparked North by going 2-for-3 with one run batted in and one run scored. Averi Anderson and Corina Alvillar each scored a run.
In the quarterfinals at San Juan Hills in San Juan Capistrano, the Saxons won 4-3, scoring a run in the top of the seventh.
Isis Jones went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run. Leslie Anne Torres was 2-for-4 and drove in a run. Alvillar scored two runs.
Kloie Iboy was the losing pitcher for North.
