Prep Wrap-Up : Young Coach’s Team Maturing Quickly

At 23, Chris Scott of South Torrance is believed to be the youngest varsity baseball coach in the South Bay.

In the past week, the rookie experienced a career’s worth of emotions.

First there was the embarrassment of Tuesday’s 27-15 loss to Miraleste. That was followed by relief on Wednesday when South resumed Bay League play with a 6-3 win over Rolling Hills. Then there was the euphoria that Scott felt Friday after the Spartans beat first-place North Torrance, 3-2, to strengthen their position in the league race.

Suddenly, Scott is talking like a young executive on his way up the corporate ladder.

“I’m confident where we’re sitting now,” said Scott, whose team is a game out of first place with a 3-2 mark. “I think we can win the league if our pitching holds up. Offensively, we’re as strong as anyone.”

South’s pitching held up very well against North (4-1), tied for the league lead with West Torrance. Jason Butcher threw a three-hitter to improve to 4-1 on the year. Jason Walton came through with the key hit, delivering a two-run single in the third inning.

Scott stressed the importance of Friday’s game to his players, as he will this week before the Spartans meet West in a two-game series. The 3 p.m. games will be played Tuesday at West and Thursday at South.

“Our game with North was just about as big as it can get,” he said. “I told the kids in practice Thursday that it was going to make or break our season. They knew it. They came ready to play.

“We were down after the Miraleste game. We know we’re a better ball club than that. We were embarrassed. I experimented with some pitchers who I thought could help us in league play.”

Scott is learning on the job. A former all-CIF linebacker and baseball player at South, he graduated from the University of Pacific last year. This is his first coaching position.

El Segundo and Simi Valley put on quite an offensive display on Friday night in their baseball double-header at Recreation Park.

El Segundo hit three home runs in one inning en route to a 6-3 win in the opener, but Simi Valley stormed back for a 15-7 victory in the nightcap that included the 28th career home run by Scott Sharts.

The Eagles broke open the first game in the fifth inning when Erik Evans hit a two-run homer and Jeremy Varner and Jose Sanchez followed with solo shots to snap a 2-2 tie. Sanchez hit his seventh homer of the year.

El Segundo’s Heath Jones hit his seventh home run in the second game, a two-run blast in the first inning, but it wasn’t nearly enough as Simi Valley erupted for nine runs with two outs in the fourth.

Sharts, who last week eclipsed the Southern Section record for career home runs by hitting his 26th, added two this week to bring his season total to 11. The 6-5, 220-pound senior hit a two-run homer in Simi Valley’s 8-1 Marmonte League win over Channel Islands on Wednesday and clubbed another two-run shot in the fifth inning of Friday’s nightcap.

“He’s going to take the record out of sight,” said one local coach. “No one is going to catch him.”

Right-hander Dave Lubs (4-1) gave El Segundo a solid performance in the first game, scattering nine hits and walking just one.

Torrance’s Tami Ybarra says when she hits against West Torrance pitcher Juanita Olloque, she tries to avoid eye contact with her friend “because I’ll start laughing like crazy.”

As far as West was concerned, there was nothing funny about the way Ybarra greeted Olloque in the sixth inning of Friday’s Bay League softball showdown at Wilson Park.

Ybarra’s single tied the game at 1-1 and ignited a three-run inning for Torrance, which moved into sole possession of first place with a 3-1 win.

Ybarra, who lives across the street from Olloque, ruined her neighbor’s shutout and then scored the last run of the sixth when Olloque wild-pitched her home from third. That was after Shelley Kovich drove in the go-ahead run with a single up the middle.

Torrance (5-0) got another impressive pitching effort from sophomore Jamie Sibley, who gave up six hits, struck out 10 and walked two. She has all of the Tartars’ league decisions.

West fell to 4-1 in league play, as did Olloque.

In the Ocean League softball race, Hawthorne (5-0) maintained its lead with an 8-6 win over visiting Culver City (3-2) on Friday. Jaymie Bradford keyed a five-run fourth inning for the Cougars with a bases-loaded triple.