Special Olympics feature local athletes at CSULB

Three sprinters (middle runners are from South Bay Community) compete in the 100-meter dash in the Southern California Special Olympics at Cal State Univ. at Long Beach. (Photo by Joe Snyder)

By Joe Snyder

Since 1968, athletes of all ages with intellectual disabilities have been competing in various sports and last weekend’s Special Olympics at Cal State University, Long Beach was another success. 

Included were local teams from Torrance and the rest of the South Bay. It was a grand finale of the unified spring sports that included athletics (track and field), basketball, bocce (a little like croquet or lawn bowling), flag football and swimming. Due to pool replacement at Cal State University, Long Beach, the swimming events were moved to Millikan High, located about a mile and a half north of the university.

The basketball tournament included two teams from Torrance, including Nothing But Net, which won the silver medal in the Brown Division, and the Sharpshooters, which placed third (bronze medal) in the Pink Division.

The Torrance team is run by the Torrance Adaptive Sports in the Torrance Recreation and Parks Department. There were several other outstanding performances by South Bay athletes.

The Special Olympics, today held worldwide, was started by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968, although she had plans to start the event dating back to the late 1950’s when she would host events for children with special needs at the backyard of her own home.

The first Olympics, that included athletes from United States and Canada, were held at Soldiers Field in Chicago in 1968.

Los Angeles hosted the World Special Olympics in 2015 and the next World games will be in Santiago, Chile in October 2027.

Bowling will dominate the summer with golf, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball for the fall with its Games being on Nov. 16 and 17 at the Fountain Valley Recreation Center and Sports Park, along with nearby David A. Baker Golf Course.

After suffering through a losing season last year, the UCLA baseball team turned things around by advancing to the College World Series after sweeping by the surprising University of Texas at San Antonio team by 5-2 and 7-0 scores last Saturday and Sunday at UCLA’s Sawtelle Field. UTSA is coming off shocking the NCAA’s second-ranked team, University of Texas, for the Austin Regional title to make the Los Angeles Super Regionals against the Bruins.
UCLA begins the eight-team World Series in Omaha, Neb. today.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are still sitting in first place with a 39-27 record, one game ahead of co-second-place teams San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants after avoiding getting swept by the host St. Louis Cardinals with a 7-3 win on Sunday. Clayton Kershaw won his first game, as the starting pitcher, since he returned to the Dodgers a few weeks ago. He pitched six innings, allowing one earned run.

The Dodgers went on to visit the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego before returning home to face another top rival, San Francisco Giants on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Dodger Stadium. Currently playing for the Giants, after earlier stints with the New York Mets and Washington Nationals, is former Serra High standout Dominic Smith. Smith will be looking forward to returning to Dodger Stadium, where he played previously with the Mets and Nationals, and where he hit a home run that cleared the fence 12 years ago when the Cavaliers won their only CIF-Southern Section baseball crown, winning the Division III over Manhattan Beach Mira Costa 8-1. That team was head coached by Wilmer Aaron, youngest cousin of the late Major League Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Henry Aaron, who played with the Milwaukee-Atlanta Braves from 1954-74 and the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1975 and 1976 seasons before retiring. He broke the Major League career home run record of 715 against the L.A. Dodgers in 1974 and finished with 755 before his record was broken by the San Francisco Giants’ Barry Bonds in 2007. Bonds ended his career a year later with 782. Wilmer is now assistant to Serra head coach Art Perry, Jr.

Friday and Saturday’s games begin at 7:10 p.m. and Sunday at 4:10 p.m.

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Nationals defeat Americans in SB All-Star Baseball Classic

On June 2, the 53rd annual South Bay All-Star Baseball Classic was held at Stevenson Field on the grounds of El Segundo Recreation Park and it ended with the National team downing the American squad 7-3.

The Nationals had a strong pitching performance by Anthony Dorado from the CIF-Los Angeles City Section Division I champion Carson. Dorado pitched two shutout innings and struck out two batters. San Pedro’s Mason Mendoza struck out three batters in his two innings of work as well as driving in the eventual winning run on a double in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Nationals scored first on a bases loaded walk to Chase Williams of Playa del Rey St. Bernard that scored North Torrance’s Eric Mirabel. Mirabel started the rally with a double.

The Americans came back with a 2-1 lead in the top of the third when Ben Lee (El Segundo) singled home Cedric Taylor (St. Bernard). Edward Sanchez (El Segundo-Wiseburn-DaVinci) drove in the second run in Seth Rodriguez (Lawndale).

The Nationals, though, took the lead for good behind a run-scoring single from Wiseburn-DaVinci’s Peyton Tate and the double from Mendoza that scored Sam Forthuber.

In the final four innings, there was no further scoring as Mendoza and Forthuber shut down the Americans, but the American squad also had scoreless pitching by Dylan Savin of Bay League champion and CIF-Southern Section Division I quarterfinalist Manhattan Beach Mira Costa and West Torrance’s Reef Sharman.

Prior to the game, there was a home run derby and it was won by Mateo Rickman of Torrance with eight.

The Nationals also saw some action from C.J. Hughes (Serra) and Kai Nagashima (North).

Two Serra players, Marc Emmereman and Amari Hackett, along with Gardena’s Anthony Garcia played for the Americans.

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So. Bay softball All-Star Classic ends in deadlock

The 30th annual South Bay All-Star Softball Classic featured 16 players who are bound for four-year colleges on June 4 at Dee Lee Field on the Torrance High campus.

The game ended in a 5-5 tie after West Torrance pitcher Audrey Lopetequi of the Nationals got out of a bases-loaded jam to hold the Americans scoreless.

A run-scoring single by Maddy Riethmiller (Mira Costa) gave the Americans a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

A solo home run by South Torrance’s Hina Usuti tied the game for the Nationals in the top of the second. Emily Gonzalez (Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula) followed with a walk before stealing second base. San Pedro’s Mia Guerrero gave the National squad a 3-2 lead when she drove in Gonzalez on a single.

Maddox Gregory of Pioneer League champion Palos Verdes started the top of the fifth inning with a double and scored the tying run on a double from Torrance’s Maize Martinez. Martinez gave the Americans a 4-3 lead when she scored on a wild pitch.

In the bottom of the fifth for the Americans, South Torrance’s Izzy Cacatian, who is bound for Stanford University, drove in a run with a single to tie the game at four.

Each team scored once in the sixth. The Americans had a big scoring opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the ninth but came up empty against Lopetequi, who went three innings allowing just one hit and striking out six batters.

North Torrance High, which is rebuilding and did not make the playoffs this year after several outstanding earlier seasons, had one player each on the Americans (Jaelyn Toat) and the Nationals (Athena Singer). No players from Gardena or Serra were chosen to participate.

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