SPRING SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS : Poly Breaks on Top in East Valley

Polytechnic High opened East Valley League play by defeating North Hollywood, 7-5, Thursday at Poly.

Danny Gil tripled home three runs to cap a six-run fourth inning and enable Poly to break a 1-1 tie. Poly pitcher Ray Palafox allowed four runs over the last three innings but held on for a complete game.

Tim Hunt doubled and singled for Poly and Gil singled in addition to his triple.

For North Hollywood, Jody Richardson tripled and doubled, Paul Duran doubled and singled, and Glen Raasch hit a two-run home run.

Grant 7, Sylmar 5--Despite a furious five-run rally by Sylmar in the seventh inning, Grant won its first East Valley League game.

Rodney Beck was sailing along with a shutout when Sylmar erupted. Isidro Rodriguez tripled home two runs for Sylmar.

Leading 5-0, Grant scored what appeared to be insurance runs in the sixth inning on a double by Matt Simpson and singles by Juan Guerrero and Sean Pettaway. The runs turned out to be necessary.

Beck doubled and singled for Grant.

Granada Hills 4, Cleveland 1--Starter Sean Casey threw three no-hit innings for Granada Hills, striking out two in the nonleague game. Mark Kessler succeeded Casey, allowed one run on three hits in three innings, and Brett Browning pitched the seventh.

Danny Takahashi singled home Greg Fowble with the a Highlander run in the first inning. In the fifth, Kessler doubled, Danny Ginnetti singled him in and Fowble tripled home Ginnetti.

Casey scored the final Granada Hills run on a sacrifice fly by Sean Brown.

Bill Watson singled twice for Cleveland.

Bellarmine Jefferson 7, Mary Star 4--Fernando Gauna was 2-for-3, scored three runs and had four stolen bases to lead Bell-Jeff to the nonleague victory.

Winning pitcher Nick Pavicic allowed only five hits in Bell-Jeff’s season opener. Mary Star is 1-1.

Westminster 8, Simi Valley 2--Westminster pitcher John Gonzales allowed only two seventh inning runs in the semi final game of the El Segundo tournament’s fifth place bracket.

Ron Tazza singled and tripled to drive in three runs for the Lions. Teammate Rob Martinez was 2-for-3.

Westminster is 3-1, while Simi Valley’s record dropped to 3-2.

Torrance 10, Crespi 9--A passed ball charged to Crespi catcher Randy Mehringer allowed Torrance to score the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning and advance to the consolation finals of the El Segundo Tournament. Torrance (3-1) manufactured three runs in the inning on two walks, two singles and the passed ball.

Crespi (2-2) trailed, 7-5, going into the top of the seventh, but scored four runs--all with two outs--to go ahead by two. Drew Kempf had a three-run homer for the Celts in the inning.

Westlake 15, Hawthorne 7--Steve Zeiss had eight strikeouts in four innings and five Warriors had two hits each to lead Westlake in the consolation bracket of the El Segundo tournament.

Pat Campbell had a three-run homer to start a 10-run uprising for the Warriors in the fourth inning. Jim Henderson had three RBIs on two hits for Westlake (2-2).

Girls Softball

Hart 8, Canyon 0--Cyndi Smith tossed a two-hitter and Canyon committed five errors as the Indians won for the third time in four outings this season. Smith has been the pitcher of record in each game.

Kristen Paris had three of Hart’s 13 hits, and Christi Stavropoulas and Kris Yeates had two hits each.

Canyon is 0-3.

Village Christian 7, Pasadena Poly 3--The Crusaders pounded out 12 hits and pitcher Michelle Vail gave up only one hit in the nonleague victory at Stonehurst Park.

Vail also produced at the plate, doubling in two runs in the second inning.

Village Christian (2-2), which made four errors, also turned two double plays in the game.

Cal Prep 13, Highland Hall 11--Erica Annenburg did it all for the Knights at Balboa Park. Anennburg was 4-for-4, including a grand slam and five RBIs. She was also the winning pitcher.

For Highland Hall (0-2), Holly Holmes was 2-for-3 with two RBIs, and Kris Kinney had three RBIs on two hits. The Hawks committed seven errors.

Burroughs 10, Hoover 0--Christy Alves hurled her second no-hitter of the season and claimed her sixth win against no defeats for the Indians.

Alves struck out 12 and gave up two walks as Burroughs improved its record to 6-0.

Sophomore Alves and Leigh Hacker had three hits each in the nonleague victory at Olive Park.

JC Baseball

Valley College 8, Oxnard 5--Ron Dale hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning to help the Monarchs to a nonconference victory at Oxnard.

Dale, a sophomore right fielder, was 2-for-5. Teammates Tim Riley and Howard Halen also had two hits for the Monarchs (8-4).

Freshman pitcher Dave Bogacz went the first five innings and improved his record to 2-0. Chris Haslock picked up the save.

Oxnard fell to 0-4.

Girls Track

Westlake 84, Louisville 24--Desiree Joybert swept the 400 meter (59:09) and the 800 meter (2:19.35) runs to pace the Warriors at Westlake.

In the 3,200 meter race, Carolyn Feller ran a personal best 11:59.21 for Westlake (2-0).