St. Anthony Turns Around Season

Early last week, there was not a high school baseball team in Southern California more dominant than El Segundo. In earning the top Southern Section 2-A Division ranking, the Eagles had outscored their first four Camino Real League opponents, 108-4.

And in scoring 194 runs in 13 games overall, El Segundo’s offense had appeared unstoppable.

Then, on Thursday, the Eagles traveled to Long Beach and faced pitcher Eric Mooney and a rejuvenated league rival, St. Anthony.

The left-handed Mooney and his St. Anthony teammates beat the Eagles, 4-3, creating a three-way tie for first with St. Anthony, El Segundo and Playa del Rey St. Bernard.

“(Defeating El Segundo) is by far our biggest win,” said St. Anthony Coach Ron Tostenson. “They have way more talent than we do but somehow we kept ourselves in position to win. They had runners on second and third with two outs before Mooney struck out the last batter to win the game.”

The Saints have won their last six games but are only 7-7, mostly because of defensive problems early in the season. The main victim has been Mooney, who has a 0.857 earned-run average but only a 4-3 record to show for it.

“His record is a little misleading when you consider how well he has pitched this season,” Tostenson said. “He’s had an outstanding year.”

In 49 innings, Mooney, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior, has struck out 71 and has given up only six earned runs. In one early game, he pitched a two-hitter and struck out 13 but still lost, 5-1.

“I was really frustrated at first because we just were not winning,” Mooney said. “However, I just kept pitching my game and things have started to come around. Having a ground ball hit now is not like flipping a coin anymore. I have a lot a lot more confidence in my defense than I used to.”

Hawthorne, the perennial boys’ track power, has had problems this season with injuries, which caused Coach Kye Courtney to withdraw his team from Saturday’s Arcadia Invitational and contributed to ending the Cougars’ nine-year dual meet winning streak on Thursday against Beverly Hills.

With sprinters Dave Smith, Erik Allen and Chris Alexander out with injuries, Beverly Hills defeated Hawthorne, 70-51.

“We got them when they were down,” Beverly Hills Coach Howard Edelman said. “In all fairness to (Hawthorne), their top two sprinters were out. However, you have to do what you can on the day of the meet and the bottom line is that we won.

“We also had our top sprinter and long jumper (Darrin Smith) out with an injury for the meet so it ended up being our No. 2 sprinter against their No. 3. We did not know that we’d win the meet until Danny Edwards came through to win the 100 (meters) for us. But I feel kind of bad because I would have liked to see both teams at 100%.”

Based on his record-breaking performances last week, it might be only a matter of time until Brent Noon of Fallbrook breaks the national high school shot put mark of 77 feet set by Michael Carter, the San Francisco 49ers’ nose tackle, when he attended Dallas Jefferson in 1979.

On Thursday, Noon broke his own state mark of 73-3, which he set March 22, with a throw of 73-5 3/4, reinforcing his hold as the No. 3 all-time performer in prep history. Then in the Arcadia Invitational on Saturday night, Noon obliterated the meet record of 66-10 1/4, set in 1975 by Dave Kurrasch of Newport Harbor, with a throw of 71-4 1/4 inches.

Noon, who is California’s first prep 70-foot thrower, has been over 70 feet in four meets.

“My goal is 77 feet and I think that I can get it every time I compete,” said Noon, who also won the discus at Arcadia with a throw of 192-11. “I know I’m capable of throwing that far . . . it is only a matter of time. For me to get the record, I do not need more strength, I just have to have everything else right from my technique to the throwing conditions.”

Felice Lipscomb of Santa Monica is an another athlete chasing records.

Lipscomb, who won the state title in the 100-meter low hurdles last season and is the top returning hurdler in the nation, blew away last season’s state runner-up, Kwani Stewart of Yuba City, in a time of 13.88 Saturday night at Arcadia.

She did not come close to the state record of 13.34, set by Janeene Vicker of Pomona, but running against a wind blowing at 1.87 meters a second, Lipscomb appeared stronger than a year ago.

“This season I am running the 300 (low hurdles), which I did not run last season,” said Lipscomb, who finished third in that event at Arcadia behind Lompoc’s Twila Sims and Christine Gray of Houston Sterling. “I feel that running them will make me a better and stronger runner. I didn’t feel like I was pulling away from (Stewart), but I guess I was.”

Some of Southern California’s top boys’ and girls’ senior basketball players will be showcased in the sixth College Prep Basketball Classic at the Forum Friday, when all-star teams from the City and Southern sections meet. The doubleheader will begin at noon with the girls’ game, followed by the boys’ matchup at 2 p.m.

Manual Arts Coach Randolph Simpson, whose Toilers won the City 4-A Division title, will coach the City boys’ team and will be assisted by Kevin Crider of Los Angeles.

Players expected to represent the City, which has won four of the five meetings against the Southern Section, are: Dana Jones of North Hollywood, Aaron Atkinson of Lincoln, James Bacon of Dorsey, Damian Wilson of Westchester, John Woolery of Fairfax, DeWayne Lewis of Hamilton, Greg Vernon of University, Lionel Pandy of Fremont, Bobby McRae of Reseda Cleveland, Ijumaa Armstrong of Palisades, Bobby Kelly of Carson and William Celestine and Marcell Capers of Manual Arts.

Santa Ana Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight, whose Monarchs won the boys’ Division I state title, will coach the Southern Section team, assisted by Lou Cvijanovich of Oxnard Santa Clara and Jim Harris of Huntington Beach Ocean View.

Expected Southern Section players include Willie McGinest and Roderick Hannibal of Long Beach Poly, Ryan Jamison of Loyola, James Williams of Compton, Jeffery Rogers of Compton Dominguez, Fred Haygood of Fontana, Tyrone Paul of Inglewood Morningside, Earnest Killum of Lynwood, Shon Tarver of Santa Clara, Greg Evans of Ocean View, Travis Boyd of Huntington Beach Edison, Terrence O’Kelley of Lakewood and Andy Karich and David Boyle of Mater Dei.

The City girls’ team will be coached by Phil Chase of Washington, whose Generals won their second consecutive City 4-A Division title in March.

Heading the 13-player team will be Detra Lockhart and Remitha (Missa) Houston of Washington, Sherlett Hendy of Dorsey, Laura Oki of Marshall, Lupe Cota of South Gate and Stacie Toon of Van Nuys.

The Southern Section girls’ team will be coached by Frank Scott of Morningside, whose Monarchs won their second consecutive State Division I championship a month ago.

Playing on the Southern Section team, which has won four of the five meetings, will be All-American center Lisa Leslie of Morningside, Linda Watson of Lynwood, Sara Wilson of Newhall Hart, Amy Jalewalia of Westminster La Quinta and Aimee McDaniel and Tammy Blackburn of Brea-Olinda.

Prep Notes

The first day for high school basketball seniors to sign national letters of intent is Wednesday. Shon Tarver of Oxnard Santa Clara and Aaron Atkinson of Lincoln have already made unwritten commitments to Nevada Las Vegas and Colorado State, respectively, but All-American Ed O’Bannon of Artesia is not expected to announce his decision until the end of the month. O’Bannon, who scored 16 points and was voted most valuable player for the West team in last week’s Dapper Dan prep all-star game in Pittsburgh, still has a scheduled visit to USC later this month.

ESPN will televise the Dapper Dan game April 14 and O’Bannon will also play in the McDonald’s All-Star game in Indianapolis Sunday, which will be on televised live on Channel 7. . . . ESPN will feature the Arcadia Invitational April 30 and May 2 on its Scholastic Sports America program.