North Torrance overcomes Lennox; gets routed by Manhattan Beach
By Joe Snyder
GVN Correspondent
The North Torrance Junior All-Star Little League Baseball team blew a 7-0 lead, but rallied for an eight-inning 11-9 victory over Lennox in the first round of the Section 4 Tournament last Saturday at North Venice Little League Field.
North Torrance, the District 27 champion, then found powerful Manhattan Beach way too much to handle in a five-inning mercy rule 24-5 loss on Sunday.
North Torrance overcomes Lennox; gets routed by Manhattan Beach
By Joe Snyder
GVN Correspondent
The North Torrance Junior All-Star Little League Baseball team blew a 7-0 lead, but rallied for an eight-inning 11-9 victory over Lennox in the first round of the Section 4 Tournament last Saturday at North Venice Little League Field.
North Torrance, the District 27 champion, then found powerful Manhattan Beach way too much to handle in a five-inning mercy rule 24-5 loss on Sunday.
Against Lennox, the District 37 champion, North Torrance dominated the first 5 ½ innings with a 7-0 lead as starting pitcher Nicolas Dersua held Lennox to just two hits over five innings. North’s offense was able to tag Lennox starting pitcher Jesus Sanchez for seven runs (four earned) in six innings.
Lennox, who had most of its players from its California Division III (Southern California) championship team that advanced to the Western Regional finals from last year, exploded for nine runs in the sixth to grab a 9-7 lead.
North, then, tied the game after two outs in the top of the seventh when Robert Rodriguez slugged a two-run home run off Lennox pitcher Cardinal Fernandezees, who was an all-Del Rey League pitcher for Serra High’s co-league champion (with eventual CIF-Southern Section Division III champion La Puente Bishop Amat) as a freshman over this past high school baseball season.
After reliever Tyler Baskett, who followed second reliever Matt Benson, shut down Lennox in the bottom of the seventh, North rallied for two runs in the top of the eighth. Saul Gonsales led off the inning with a base hit, then scored the go-ahead run when Julian Munigarro tripled. Ivan Rodriguez, then doubled, scoring Munigarro.
Lennox tried to rally back in the bottom of the eighth after two outs. Kennedy Guillen was hit by a pitch and Salvador Gonzalez singled but Baskett got Andrew Fleming to strike out.
“We went ahead 7-0, then we were down 9-7,” North manager Andrew Monigarro said. “It was definitely a good win. The kids stepped up.”
North also had a fine game by Kyle Hatai who went 4-for-4 with two runs batted in and four runs scored.
Rodriguez had two hits, including the two-run homer that tied the game and sent it into extra innings, and drove in three runs.
That moved North into the second round against a very physical Manhattan Beach team that just proved overwhelming against a squad that just does not have as much depth, especially in pitching, according to Andrew Monigarro.
Manhattan Beach, which has enjoyed success in recent years that included a third place finish at the 2010 Junior Little League World Series in Maine, and three other appearances in the Western Regionals (making the finals in two of those), was led by 6-foot-3, 14-year-old left-handed pitcher Jesse Scorey who dominated the North batters, according to Andrew Monigarro. Manhattan hitters also had two home runs. Manhattan, in fact, won its 11th consecutive District 36 crown and has the potential to return to the World Series this season.
Robert Rodriguez sparked North’s offense with a two-run homer.
Last Monday, North had a rematch against Lennox, which stayed alive with a 15-4 five-inning mercy rule rout of District 25 champion Santa Monica in a losers bracket game on Sunday.
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Little Giants top Sundevils for softball title
The Gardena Parks and Recreation crowned its first City championship in Bantam softball that was accomplished by the Rowley Park Little Giants last Saturday at Rowley Park.
The Little Giants topped the Mas Fukai Park Sun Devils, 13-10.
There will be a Bantam (age 8-9) baseball final on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. at Rowley Park. Four teams were to meet in the semifinals last Tuesday. There was an American League championship between the Angels and the Pirates at Freeman Park and the Twins against the Braves for the National League title at Bell Park.
The winners would play for the Bantam championship on Saturday.
In the Pee Wee (age 10-11) Division, regular seasons were to be completed last Monday with the semifinals at Freeman and Bell today at 6 p.m.
— Joe Snyder.
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Serra softball, volleyball players make all-league
By Joe Snyder
GVN Correspondent
Neither Serra High’s girls’ softball team nor boys’ volleyball squads advanced to the CIF-Southern Section playoffs but a few managed to make the all-Camino Real League teams.
The Lady Cavaliers finished fifth in the CRL. They had five players make all-league, including one on first team. That was Erika Dominguez.
Second team players included Diana Barba, Nina Roebuck, Kandice Henderson and Sharice Floyd.
The league’s Most Valuable Player was Amanda Garcia from league champion Cantwell-Sacred Heart from Montebello.
For boys’ volleyball, Serra was also fifth in the CRL. The Cavaliers had one player in Justin Hawkins make the first team. Second teamers were Simeon Beaupierre and Austin Hudson.
Most Valuable Player was Neven Skoblar from league champion Mary Star of the Sea from San Pedro.
Carson senior Jordan Molina, who keyed the Colts to their first CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division I title, was Most Valuable Player in the Marine League and the L.A. City Division I.
Ralph Mertens was Coach of the Year for Carson, which lost in the quarterfinals of the Southern California Division I playoffs to Southern Section Division I runner-up L.A. Loyola in four games. The Cubs lost in the regional and Southern Section Division I finals to Huntington Beach, which ended the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the United States.
Carson’s softball team, which also captured the City Division I crown, had junior Brianna Tautalafua get Player of the Year.
In the Pioneer League softball, Sydni Overly of co-league champion North Torrance was Co-Most Valuable Player with El Segundo’s McCall James. Both were seniors. The Lady Saxons tied for the Pioneer crown with the Eagles.
North head coach Howard Miller was also Co-Coach of the Year with El Segundo’s Keith Cameron.
In Pioneer League boys’ volleyball, senior Milosh Stojcic from South Torrance was Most Outstanding Player. The Spartans finished second, behind El Segundo, in league play. The Eagles were Southern Section Division II semifinalists and lost in the quarterfinals of the Southern California Division III playoffs to Laguna Beach. El Segundo was also eliminated in the Southern Section Division II playoffs by Laguna Beach.
El Segundo senior Jacob Richmond was Most Valuable Player.
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Sports Scoop
Torrance legend Zamperini will always be remembered
By Joe Snyder
GVN Correspondent
It was back in the 1930’s that Louis Zamperini was probably Torrance High’s first standout athlete.
Zamperini was a standout distance runner for the Tartars’ track and field and cross country squads. Perhaps his best moment was breaking the United States national high school record in the mile at four minutes and 21 seconds. Today a lot of top runners in the league run faster than that, although the mile was replaced by the 1,600-meter run, which is just a few yards shy of the mile.
Zamperini, who graduated from Torrance in 1935, would run the mile in 4:08 (an NCAA record that was held for 15 years) in 1938 on the University of Southern California track and field team.
He also competed in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany where he placed eighth, out of 41 runners, in the 5,000-meter run but would dash the final 400 meters in a blazing time of 56 seconds, very fast for the final lap of the 3.1-mile race especially for that time.
It was hard to believe hearing about Zamperini’s death of pneumonia at 97 years old on July 3. However, he was believed to already being deceased in 1944 when his plane, which had two other soldiers, crashed into the Pacific Ocean. He survived 47 days in a raft before landing on the Marshall Islands. He was captured by Japanese soldiers who imprisoned and tortured him, along with the two others, for two years.
Zamperini was a World War II hero with the United States Army Air Force, which separated to form its own military in 1947. He definitely lived a long life.
When he was a Torrance High, the school was in the Los Angeles City School District and in the CIF-L.A. City Section during his last year there. The Tartars competed in the Marine League with Gardena, Banning, Huntington Park, Narbonne and San Pedro. Torrance left the L.A. School District and moved into the Redondo Beach School District in 1946 before forming its own school district in 1948. The L.A. City Section broke away from the Southern Section beginning at the start of his senior year in 1934.
The Torrance High athletic field (used mostly by the Tartars’ football, soccer and track and field teams as well as some of the Torrance Panthers Pop Warner football teams), the entrance of the USC Track and Field Stadium and the Torrance Airport are all named after him.
There is also expected to be a movie about his life which will be released this fall.
Lakers fail attempts on James, Anthony: The Los Angeles Lakers National Basketball Association team was unable to pick up free agent star players “King” LaBron James nor Carmelo Anthony, leaving them continuing to have to rebuild.
James is returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Anthony is staying with the Knicks.
Gone from the Lakers will be Pau Gasol, who signed with the Chicago Bulls. They also lost another key player, Jordan Farmar, who signed with their Staples Center rival Clippers.
The Lakers, though, were able to obtain guard Jeremy Lin, who surprised observers and fans with outstanding showings with the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets, from the Rockets.
The Lakers also will get a first round draft pick from the Rockets next year in a deal for their right to an overseas player and cash.
The only other consolation is that Kobe Bryant will spend another one to two seasons with the Lakers.
The Lakers are still seeking their next head coach as Bryant and most other of his teammates seem to be favoring ex-Laker star and former New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers and New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans) head mentor Byron Scott. Scott played with the Lakers during the 1980’s and 1990’s and is an ex-player at Morningside High in Inglewood.
Currently, Mark Madson is the Lakers’ interim head coach.
Dodgers are atop Western Division: The Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team is in first place, one game in front of their prime rival San Francisco Giants, in the National League Western Division after edging the San Diego Padres, 1-0, last Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
This writer was there as a spectator and it was a very good pitching duo, especially between starters Hun Jin Ryu of the Dodgers and the Padres’ Tyson Ross.
It was a match-up between two teams who have struggled much with their offenses as they combined for just 14 total runs in the four-game series. Each team scored a total of seven runs, but the Dodgers managed to take three of four games from San Diego.
Ryu was the winning pitcher, allowing just two hits in his six innings of work.
L.A. scored its only run when starting National League all-star outfielder Yasiel Puig singled home Dee Gordon in the bottom of the sixth.
Relievers Brandon League, J.P.Howell and closer Kenley Janson were able to hold the Padres scoreless, allowing only two additional hits.
Last Thursday, Clayton Kershaw saw his scoreless streak of 41 innings come to an end on a solo home run but he won his eighth straight start over San Diego, 2-1.
Kershaw was expected to be a candidate for the N.L.’s starting pitcher last Tuesday in the All-Star Game at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minn.
The Dodgers are 54-43 and hope to improve more in the second half that begins in St. Louis on Friday.
The L.A. Angels of Anaheim are on a hot streak with the Major League’s second best record, only behind their American League Western Division rival Oakland Athletics, at 57-37. They are just one and a half games behind the A’s.
Mike Trout keeps pouring it on. He has 22 home runs this season.
Garrett Richards holds a 12-2 record after shutting out the Texas Rangers, 3-0, last Friday in Arlington, Texas.
The Angels completed a four-game sweep of the Rangers with a 10-7 win last Sunday. Texas is having a bad season at 38-57 that includes a current eight-game losing streak.
The Dodgers and Angels square off from Aug. 7-10. The first two games are at Dodger Stadium with the next two at Angel Stadium. All games start at 7:10 p.m.
