Tie Games Have Bishop Montgomery Baseball Coach All Knotted Up

Bishop Montgomery High School baseball Coach Bob Anderson is fit to be tied after watching his team advance to the semifinals of the Glendora Tournament without winning a game.

The Knights managed to get past the first two rounds on total bases after tying Eisenhower of Rialto, 13-13, Saturday and Riverside Poly, 7-7, Tuesday night.

“It’s ticking me off because ties don’t belong in baseball,” Anderson said. “But in this tournament, with the time limits because of the lights, there’s nothing you can do.”

Anderson said the lights at Henderson Field in Glendora, where all the tournament games are played, are automatically turned off at 10 p.m. That requires each game to be played within a strict time limit.

“It stinks,” Anderson said. “Still, we can win the tournament and only have won two ballgames.”

Bishop Montgomery (1-0-2) will meet Northview of Covina in the semifinals at 4:30 p.m. today.

So far in the tournament, the Knights have shown they can erase a lead as well as lose one.

They rallied from a 13-0 deficit Saturday to tie Eisenhower, but squandered a 5-1 advantage Tuesday against Riverside Poly.

“We haven’t been able to stay focused for an entire game,” Anderson said. “The kids know we could be 3-0, but I told them we could be 1-2, too.”

Senior left fielder Erik Geierman has enjoyed a productive tournament with six hits in nine at-bats, including a three-run homer Tuesday.

Despite student walkouts at Hawthorne and Leuzinger high schools this week, athletic programs have carried on without major problems, officials said.

“It really hasn’t affected our teams,” Leuzinger Athletic Director Steve Carnes said. “When the day is done, (the athletes) are still going out there and practicing.”

Hawthorne track Coach Kye Courtney said one-third of his male athletes were missing from practice Monday, the first day of student walkouts over alleged discriminatory hiring policies at the two schools.

“It was mostly freshmen and sophomores,” Courtney said of the absentees. “Most of our main guys were there.”

Hawthorne football Coach Goy Casillas was optimistic that the campus would soon return to normal.

“I just hope it’s a passing thing,” he said. “Any turmoil is going to be bad. I hope the kids realize that they have to make the right decision and do what they’re supposed to do, and that’s get an education.”

Hawthorne captured the boys team title at the Rio Mesa Invitational track meet Saturday in Oxnard despite the absence of star sprinter Chris Alexander, who is sidelined with a pulled hamstring muscle.

Without Alexander, the Cougars still ran an impressive early-season time of 42.13 seconds to win the 400-meter relay.

Courtney said Alexander will also miss this weekend’s West Torrance Mobil Relays. The meet starts Friday afternoon and resumes Saturday at 9 a.m.

“We’re nursing him along,” Courtney said of Alexander, who placed fifth last year in the state 100-meter dash finals.

Miraleste’s baseball team opened the season in dominating fashion Tuesday, posting a 19-1 non-league victory over visiting Serra.

Catcher Mike Cooper led the Marauders with four doubles in five at-bats and five runs batted in. Winning pitcher Jason Mavar, who worked four innings, was two for three with a three-run homer.

“It wasn’t a true test,” Miraleste Coach Ken Russell said. “(Serra’s) pitching isn’t that strong. We’ll find out what kind of team we are by the end of next week.”

The Marauders play a double-header Saturday at St. Anthony, followed by games Tuesday against Torrance, Thursday against South Torrance and March 17 against Redondo.

Palos Verdes’ girls basketball Coach Wendell Yoshida, whose team suffered a 50-33 loss to unbeaten Brea-Olinda in the Southern Section 3-AA finals, says he would enjoy a rematch with the Wildcats in the Division III regionals.

“I think we’ve got a chance to keep it a little closer,” he said. “Brea is the kind of team that you cannot fall behind. They’re a veteran team that’s well-coached and disciplined.

“But if you can stay within 10 points, you’ve got a chance. If we played them again, we’d change a few things. We learned from the first game.”

If both teams win tonight--Palos Verdes faces Costa Mesa, and Brea-Olinda plays Lemoore in the semifinals--they would meet for the Southern California Division III title and a berth in the state finals at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Sports Arena.

PREP NOTES--Southern Section basketball teams fared well in the first round of the regionals Tuesday, with boys teams posting a 16-4 record and girls teams an 11-8 mark. Here’s how the other sections fared: Boys--L.A. City (1-1), San Diego (2-8), Central (1-7); Girls--L.A. City (1-1), Central (4-4), San Diego (3-6). . . . San Pedro’s baseball team has advanced to the Red Division semifinals of the Westside Tournament with three victories. The Pirates, who open Southern-Pacific Conference action at 2:30 p.m. today with a home game against Gardena, will play at Channel Islands of Oxnard at 3 p.m. Friday in the Westside semifinals. The Red Division finals will be played at 11 a.m. Saturday at Jackie Robinson Field in West L.A. . . . Hawthorne forward Reggie Bell wasn’t considered one of the star basketball players in the Bay League at the start of season. But after helping Hawthorne to a second-place finish, the 6-foot-4 senior earned enough respect as a rebounder and defensive stalwart to be named league Co-MVP with center Peter Micelli of Bay champion Beverly Hills.

South Bay’s Baseball Top 10

Selected by Times Sportswriters Through Tuesday’s Games

Rank, School, League Record 1 El Segundo (Camino Real) 1-1 2 San Pedro (Pacific) 3-0 3 Bishop Montgomery (Angelus) 1-0-2 4 St. Bernard (Camino Real) 2-1 5 Hawthorne (Bay) 1-1 6 Miraleste (Santa Fe) 1-0 7 Palos Verdes (Bay) 1-1 8 Mary Star (Santa Fe) 3-0 9 Torrance (Bay) 1-1 10 North Torrance (Ocean) 1-1