PREP WRAPUP / ROB FERNAS : Inglewood Coach Denies School Has Race Problem

A violent conflict between black and Latino students Tuesday at Inglewood High would lead many to believe there is a deep-seated racial problem at the school.

Andre Breland doesn’t buy it.

The Inglewood baseball coach has 13 players on his team: eight blacks and five Latinos. At a school where 53% of the enrollment is black and 43% is Latino, the baseball team represents a microcosm of the student body.

From his experience working with the players, Breland says the two ethnic groups have their differences. But, for the most part, they get along fine.

“We don’t have a problem racially with the kids on our team,” he said. “I guess anytime you have two different ethnic groups, you’re going to have different attitudes about different things. But basically everyone gets along very well here. We don’t have that problem.”

Breland, who is black, cited an example of the team’s ethnic harmony.

On April 24, Inglewood rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to upset Palos Verdes, 10-9, in a Bay League game. Oscar Barajas scored the winning run on a slide at home. Some of Inglewood’s players thought Palos Verdes catcher Blake Anderson had roughed up Barajas, a Latino, on the play. The first player to come to Barajas’ defense was teammate Greg Smith, who is black.

“It showed that we have a lot of unity,” Breland said. “It’s ironic that a week later you have (a disturbance) break out. But the baseball team and the school are a little different.”

Breland, an off-campus coach, said he drove to school Tuesday after some of his players told him that blacks and Latinos were fighting.

“It looked like a riot,” he said. “You had at least 25 police cars up there. You had the police in the middle of it, trying to break up the two groups. Meanwhile, I’m trying to find my players to see if they’re involved. It was an ugly scene.”

Breland said none of his players, as far as he knows, were involved in the fighting, which was touched off when black students walked out on a Cinco de Mayo celebration to retaliate against Latino students who left a black history assembly in February.

“I don’t know why it happened,” Breland said. “My feeling is it was something stupid and didn’t make any sense. It brought the school down and brought the area down. The community didn’t need that.”

The baseball team didn’t need it either. Because of the disturbance, which prompted administrators to end the school day early, Inglewood was forced to cancel its scheduled league game Tuesday at Santa Monica.

Breland, who said the Sentinels have a shot at gaining an at-large bid to the Southern Section 5-A playoffs, wants to make up the game this week. But Santa Monica Athletic Director Norm Lacy says Inglewood has to take a forfeit, which would eliminate the Sentinels from playoff contention.

Breland hopes to get an official ruling Monday from Torrance Principal Joe Rotcher, the Bay League president.

Regardless if Inglewood makes the playoffs or not, it has been a successful season for the Sentinels.

Their overall record of 7-10 and Bay League mark of 4-7 may not seem like much, but compared to the past several seasons, it is a big improvement. They were 3-16 and 1-13 last year, and have not reached the playoffs since 1982.

More importantly, though, Inglewood now has the respect of other teams in the league. The Sentinels own victories over Rolling Hills (tied for first place with Beverly Hills and Torrance), fourth-place Palos Verdes and fifth-place Santa Monica. Inglewood is in sixth in the eight-team league.

Much of the credit for the program’s turnaround belongs to Breland, 26, a former minor league player with the Chicago White Sox who became coach last year after guiding the junior varsity team for two seasons.

Breland takes pride in running a tight ship.

“I’m a no-nonsense guy,” he said. “I don’t take a lot of crap from the players.”

Breland is looking forward to next season, when the Sentinels return six starters, including two starting pitchers. Among the young stars are junior right-hander Marcel Scott (4-2 in league play), the son of Morningside girls’ basketball coach Frank Scott, and sophomore shortstop Anthony Mack, brother of Minnesota Twins outfielder and former UCLA standout Shane Mack and Montreal Expos minor leaguer Quinn Mack.

“It’s going to be interesting to see how it goes next year,” Breland said. “This team is oozing with talent. It’s just a matter if we can get it together and learn to respect one another and live together.”

Heading into the final week of the regular season, several league baseball races are still up for grabs. Here’s a look at the big games:

BAY LEAGUE: Torrance (8-4), Beverly Hills (8-4), Rolling Hills (8-4) and Palos Verdes (7-5) will fight it out for the title in a scenario that is similar to last season, when four teams tied for first place. In games Tuesday, Torrance plays at Beverly Hills and Palos Verdes visits Rolling Hills. Sites will be reversed for Thursday’s rematches.

OCEAN LEAGUE: The winner of Wednesday’s game between Mira Costa (10-2) and host Culver City (10-2) will clinch at least a tie for the title.

PACIFIC LEAGUE: Archrivals Banning (12-3) and Carson (10-3-2) will meet twice--Tuesday at Banning and Thursday at Carson--for the championship.

CAMINO REAL LEAGUE: If El Segundo (11-1) and St. Bernard (11-1) get past different opponents Wednesday, they’ll set up a winner-take-all showdown Friday at Loyola Marymount.

Rosa Olloque pitched a two-hitter and doubled in two runs in the fourth inning Friday to lead West Torrance past visiting South Torrance, 3-0, in an Ocean League softball game to decide first place.

West (11-0) moved a game in front of South (10-1) and can clinch at least a tie for the title with a win at South on Monday. Olloque, who has pitched eight shutouts in her last nine games, improved to 15-1 overall and set a school record with the 34th victory of her career.