By Joe Snyder
Prior to last Saturday’s CIF-Southern Section Division IV Track and Field Championships, Serra High head coach Princeton Williams was confident that the Cavaliers could win the championship.
It ended up with the Cavaliers tying for the title with Viewpoint High from Calabasas with 49 points apiece Saturday at Moorpark High. Foothill Tech from Ventura finished third with 37 points.
Otis “Tre” Harrison repeated as Division IV 300-meter intermediate hurdle champion at 38.2 seconds. He won by more than two seconds over second-place Lucas Monge from San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s (40.36). Harrison, a senior bound for University of California, placed fourth in the 110-meter-high hurdles in 15.68.
Harrison was also on Serra’s CIF champion 4×400 relay, which won in three minutes and 23.49 seconds, and the Cavaliers’ 4×100, which placed second timing 41.96. Other runners on Serra’s 1,600-meter relay squad included Lawson Griggs-Andrews, Jordin Stephens, and Landon Thomas. Other runners in the 400 relay were Thomas, Craig Johnson, and Griggs-Andrew.
Griggs-Andrews, a sophomore, took third in the 200 (21.85) and fourth in the 100 (10.91).
Other top performers for Serra’s boys included junior Joey Bolder (shot put, sixth place, 43 feet, 1.5 inches) and Jimmy Butler (triple jump, seventh place, 38 feet). Harrison and both Cavalier relays moved on to Saturday’s CIF-Southern Section Masters Championships which begin at 10 a.m. (field events) and 1 p.m. (running events) at Moorpark High.
Serra’s girls were led by senior Raelyn Pleasant who finished second in the triple jump (37-1.5) and third in the long jump (17-8). Pleasant advanced to the Masters in the triple jump. She is the Lady Cavaliers’ only qualifier.
Pleasant, along with Del Rey League 100- and 200-meter champion Isabella Samuel, helped Serra’s 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams to fourth-place finishes clocking 49.26 and 4:04.02, in order. St. Mary’s Academy from Inglewood, which also tied for the Southern Section Division IV crown with Fullerton Rosary, swept both relays winning the 400 (48.51) and 1,600 (3:47.69). The Belles have one of the top times in the United States at 3:42.64. Serra ended up seventh with 22 points.
“I’m very, very impressed with our team,” Williams said. “We thought our chances were slim over injuries but a lot of our guys stepped up. We have a young team. The kids had a commitment to make it to the Masters.”
The top eight finishers in the four divisions, combined, advanced to the Masters Championships with top finishers competing in the CIF-State Championships at Buchanan High in Clovis, Fresno area, on May 30 and 31.
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Carson, Torrance baseball teams advance
Carson High’s baseball team entered the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division I playoffs as the No. 2 seed as rival Wilmington Banning is top seed and many CIF-L.A. City Section baseball and other sports fans might be excited if the two teams play for the championship on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
It could bring back those old memories of the two football teams playing for L.A. City championships from the 1960’s into the 2000’s decade.
That could happen as the Colts and the Pilots both advanced to the semifinals with quarterfinal wins last Friday. At Carson, the Colts shut out seventh-ranked Palisades 6-0. At Banning, the Pilots nosed out East L.A. Garfield 2-1.
Carson faced Taft High from Woodland Hills, then Banning took on Verdugo Hills Wednesday at Casey Stengel Field in Glendale with the winners playing at Dodger Stadium for the title on Saturday.
Torrance began the CIF-Southern Section Division II playoffs by downing host Chino Hills 5-1 last Friday.
The Tartars, who finished second behind Manhattan Beach Mira Costa in the Bay League, scored one run in the top of the second inning, two in the third and one each in the fourth and fifth before Chino Hills scored in the bottom of the seventh.
Torrance’s offense was led by sophomore Trevor Fortuna who went 2-for-4 and drove in a run. Junior Hector Chavez was 1-for-3 with one RBI and two runs. Junior Aiden Bai had a hit and scored twice.
Sophomore winning pitcher Aiden Anaya went six innings allowing one unearned run and two hits.
The Tartars hosted Oaks Christian from Westlake Village last Tuesday seeking a spot in Friday’s quarterfinals.
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Walks, error doom Serra baseball in playoff loss
Serra High’s baseball team advanced to the CIF-Southern Section Division III playoffs despite a fourth-place finish in the Del Rey League at 4-8 but was 18-8 overall after a 14-0 non-league record.
The Cavaliers’ reward was a first-round trip to No. 2 seed Yucaipa High in the first round last Thursday. Serra started out well by scoring three runs in the top of the first inning only to see Yucaipa take the lead for good with four runs in the bottom of the inning and two more in the second, due to a rash of walks and a critical error.
Serra, which ended its season at 18-9, got things going at the beginning. Josh Bronson drove in a run on a suicide squeeze sacrifice bunt, a run-scoring hit by C.J. Hughes and a sacrifice fly from Ethan Balera that gave the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the first, Serra got the first two outs but walked back-to-back batters, before back-to-back hits and a miscue and things unraveled. The Thunderbirds went on to take the lead for good with four runs, then added two more in the second. From there, the pitching took over as neither team did any further scoring.
“The walks killed us,” Serra head coach A.J. Perry, Jr. said. “We made mistakes on defense. Our offense didn’t win or lose for us. In the playoffs, you can’t make mistakes.”
A bright spot for the Cavaliers was Hughes, a senior bound for UC Santa Barbara but also a pro prospect. Hughes went 4-for-4 with one run batted in. He had three singles and a double.
Three Serra seniors, Hughes, Marc Emmerman and Amari Hackett, are expected to play one more game in the South Bay All-Star Classic at Redondo High on June 3.
Perry plans to have the Cavaliers play in the South Bay Summer League this summer.
