PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Area Drought Continues as Local Nines Stumble in El Segundo Prep Tourney

South Bay teams are always well represented in the El Segundo Baseball Tournament, a prestigious event featuring some of the best prep teams in Southern California.

Trouble is, a South Bay team has not won since 1980 when South Torrance turned the trick.

Any hope the Spartans had of duplicating that banner year was dashed Wednesday by Hart of Newhall, which defeated South, 4-2, in a quarterfinal game.

Now the best South can manage is a fifth-place finish. The Spartans (1-1-1) were one of only two South Bay teams to reach the quarterfinals.

“It would’ve been good to be in there,” said South pitcher Zak Krislock, who was tagged with the loss despite holding Hart to four hits. “We should’ve won, but everything we hit was right at somebody.”

Hart (3-0) scored two runs in the first inning. In the seventh, South was down 4-2 and had the tying runs on second and third with two outs.

Hart Coach Bud Murray called a timeout to talk to pitcher Jason Edwards. A minute later Edwards fired to second, picking off Jason Walton to end the game.

“It was a stupid play on my part,” Walton said. “I should have been more attentive.”

South Coach Chris Scott said Walton’s gaffe was uncharacteristic of his right fielder.

“He is a heady player,” said Scott, who was coaching third. “He just had trouble picking me up and I’m sure they called the timeout because they thought they had a chance to get him.”

The Spartans had trouble getting to Edwards, who struck out six and walked none. Both of South’s runs were unearned, leaving Hart with a team ERA of 0.00 after 21 innings.

South’s first run came in the third when Scott Griffith reached on an error, advanced on Chris Kredo’s single and scored on a base hit by Jason Butcher.

Ben Norton started off the Spartans’ seventh by reaching first on an error and advanced to second on a passed ball. Brent Hannon drove him home with a single.

One out later, Walton singled and the ball rolled through the left fielder’s legs to put runners on second and third. But that was as close as South would get.

Krislock was the victim of wildness, allowing five walks and hitting three batters.

“I was stiff. I pitched seven innings last week,” Krislock said. “But I hung in there pretty good. I’ve just had trouble closing.”

Said Scott: “He did a good job. He’s one of my best competitors. He wants to do so well that he just gets upset with himself. He got into a couple of bad situations, but that’s going to happen sometimes.”

After spotting Hart two first-inning runs, Krislock held the Indians in check until the fifth when he hit leadoff batter Lance Migita, who came home on Kevin Tsukashima’s triple.

Hart scored its final run in the seventh with two outs. Tsukashima walked and stole second. Ray Gordocki brought him home with a single.

Banning 9, Esperanza 5--Chico Limas hit a three-run homer to spark a five-run first inning for the Pilots, who moved into the semifinals of the El Segundo Tournament.

Banning (3-0) remained in the winners bracket after Long Beach Poly was forced to forfeit its 10-8 win over the Pilots on Saturday because it used an ineligible player.

Banning will play either Millikan or Long Beach Jordan in the semifinals Friday.

Simi Valley 7, El Segundo 6--Simi Valley rallied for four runs in the seventh to pull out a victory in the ninth-place quarterfinals of the El Segundo Tournament.

Trailing 6-3, Simi Valley got within one on a two-run homer by All-American first baseman Scott Shartf, who had earlier hit a solo homer. The Pioneers got another run across and won it on a squeeze play.

Senior right-hander Heath Jones (0-2) suffered the loss for El Segundo, which dropped to 1-2. Jones hit a two-run homer in the first and Ted Schutte went 4 for 4 for the Eagles, who had 12 hits.

Gahr 6, North Torrance 1--Right-handers Cain Gamez and Mike Akers combined on a three-hitter to lead the Gladiators in the consolation quarterfinals of the El Segundo Tournament.

North right-hander Greg Davis suffered the loss to fall to 0-2, equaling his defeats for last season when he was 9-2. Anthony Anetema tripled and scored in the fifth for the Saxons (1-2).

Miraleste 9, Brea-Olinda 8--Alex Cantafio hit a three-run homer in the sixth to lift the Marauders (1-2) in the ninth-place consolation quarterfinals of the El Segundo Tournament.

Westlake 8, Rolling Hills 1--The Titans committed six errors and dropped to 1-2 in the ninth-place quarterfinals of the El Segundo Tournament.