PREP BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Loss by Beverly Hills Puts the Bay League Picture Out of Focus

The Bay League baseball race, confusing going into Thursday’s finales, became even more unclear at day’s end.

Beverly Hills, which held sole possession of first place by one game, needed only a victory over Torrance to secure the league title.

But Beverly Hills was defeated by Torrance, 13-2.

Meanwhile, Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, Santa Monica and Hawthorne tried to settle a four-way tie for second place.

Palos Verdes defeated Rolling Hills, 8-4, to eliminate the Titans from playoff contention; Hawthorne beat Inglewood, 12-5, and Santa Monica came up with three runs in the seventh inning for a 10-9 come-from-behind win over Leuzinger.

That produced a four-way tie for first place among Beverly Hills, Hawthorne, Palos Verdes and Santa Monica with 9-5 records. The league’s three berths in the CIF-Southern Section 5-A playoffs will be decided with two playoff games today and another one Saturday.

In today’s games, starting at 3 p.m., Beverly Hills will play at Santa Monica and Hawthorne plays as Palos Verdes.

Now for the confusing part.

Senario No. 1:

If Santa Monica and Palos Verdes win today’s games, Palos Verdes will gain the league’s number one playoff entry based on a coin flip. The teams split their two games during the season.

The losers, Hawthorne and Beverly Hills, will then play for the last of three playoff spots Saturday.

Senario No. 2:

If Santa Monica and Hawthorne win, Hawthorne will gain the league’s No. 1 playoff entry and Santa Monica will finish second based on a coin flip. The teams split their two games during the season.

The losers, Palos Verdes and Beverly Hills, would then play for the finals playoff berth.

Senario No. 3:

If Beverly Hills and Hawthorne win, Beverly Hills will gain the league’s number one playoff entry and Hawthorne will finish second based on a coin flip. The teams split their two games during the season.

The losers, Santa Monica and Palos Verdes, would then play for the final playoff berth.

Senario No. 4.

If Palos Verdes and Beverly Hills win, Beverly Hills will gain the league’s No. 1 playoff entry and Palos Verdes will finish second based on Beverly Hills’ sweep off the Sea Kings during the league season.

Santa Monica and Hawthorne would then play for the final playoff spot.

Palos Verdes joined the first-place tie with its win over visiting Rolling Hills, completing a two-game sweep over the Titans this week.

Rolling Hills had held first place in the Bay League throughout most of the season. Slowly, however, the Titans’ lead slipped away in the last three weeks as they lost five of their last six games.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” said Rolling Hills Coach Garry Poe. “If you look at what we’ve done the last few years, you’ll see that we’ve always played in May.”

Palos Verdes, as could be expected, was delighted to have swept its rival to remain in playoff contention.

“I was pleased with the way my guys played because we were under the gun,” said Palos Verdes Coach Gil Eberhard, whose team finished the regular season with an overall record of 16-10.

“We had to win two games and they had to win only one.”

Palos Verdes took a 3-0 lead off losing pitcher Ron Campbell on a three-run home run by Jason Goldberg (two hits, four RBIs) in the second inning.

After the Titans (8-6 in the league, 12-11 overall) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the second, Palos Verdes took a 6-1 lead in the third on a two-run home run by Mike Hoye (three hits, four RBIs) and an RBI double by Goldberg.

“We were aggressive today and our defense was super,” said Eberhard. “That made the difference.”

In the bottom of the third, the Titans cut Palos Verdes’ lead to 6-2 with their second unearned run off winning pitcher Pat O’Hara (4-2).

Palos Verdes concluded its scoring with two runs in the fourth inning off Rolling Hills reliever Frank Nastanski.

San Pedro 13, Gardena 1--Senior right-hander Joey Camello threw a five-hitter and the Pirates collected 16 hits at Gardena en route to their 10th consecutive Southern-Pacific Conference win, clinching a tie for the Pacific League title.

Sen Pedro (16-8 overall, 13-3 in league) leads Banning by one game heading into their league-ending showdown at 3 p.m. Tuesday at Banning. The rivals tied for the Pacific crown last season.

Moises Valle, Dale Johnson and Camello each collected three hits and Frank Castiglione drove in four runs for the Pirates. Johnson tripled in the first inning and drove in one run.

Banning 12, Carson 2--The Pilots, staying within one game of San Pedro in the Southern-Pacific Conference, buried the Colts with 20 hits and the six-hit pitching of Chico Limas at Carson.

Ralph Nuno and Jesus Olea each batted four for five and Nuno drove in two runs for Banning, which improved to 16-8 overall and 12-4 in league play.

Limas, a senior right-hander, raised his record to 8-2 and collected two doubles.