PREPS / ROB FERNAS : Peninsula Coach Was Thinking Ahead

Gary Kimbrell breathed a sigh of relief Friday.

Finally, there seems to be little doubt that Palos Verdes Peninsula High will exist next fall.

Until a judge’s ruling Friday, however, rumors persisted that the courts could block the district’s plan to merge three high schools into one.

For Kimbrell, who has already begun working as Peninsula High’s football coach, those rumors were tough to live with.

“It put everything on hold,” he said. “The school told me to go ahead and order equipment. Then they started to get cold feet and told me I should hold off. But I ordered it anyway. I knew we wouldn’t get anything on time if I didn’t order it now.”

In rejecting a suit brought by a group representing mostly parents of Miraleste High students, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Zebrowski ruled that school officials can close two middle schools and relocate Miraleste and Palos Verdes high school students at a renamed Rolling Hills High.

If Zebrowski had ruled in favor of the parents’ group, it would have been disastrous for football. Spring practice starts May 20 and Kimbrell, the coach at Rolling Hills for the past three seasons, would have had an impossible time getting players from Palos Verdes and Miraleste to participate.

Kimbrell indicated that it has already been tough enough to get the Palos Verdes and Miraleste players, especially the older ones, to accept the idea of coming to Rolling Hills and playing in a new program.

“I’m concerned with the seniors,” he said. “Those are the ones who make your program. They’re suffering the most right now because they have to leave their program and come into a new situation. They’re the ones who really don’t want to do it.”

Kimbrell has tried to ease the transition by visiting with Palos Verdes’ players twice a week and with Miraleste’s players once a week since the end of spring break. He said assistant coach Jim Small also has been meeting with the Miraleste players.

One thing Kimbrell wants to make clear is that everyone will have an equal opportunity to earn playing time regardless of what school they are from.

“I’m not stupid,” he said. “You put the best kids on the football field. There’s no more Rolling Hills, Palos Verdes or Miraleste.”

To prove his point, Kimbrell said the booster club has purchased 200 pairs of shorts and T-shirts bearing the name of Peninsula High’s mascot, the Panthers, for the players to wear at spring practice.

El Segundo catcher Jeff Poor continued his assault on the school record book Friday night by hitting two home runs and driving in three runs in the Eagles’ 18-4 San Fernando League victory over Harvard of North Hollywood at Recreation Park.

Poor, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior, raised his season totals to 10 home runs and 44 runs batted in, both South Bay bests, going into Saturday night’s game against Gahr of Cerritos in the championship of the El Segundo Tournament.

With El Segundo assured of playing five more regular-season games and at least one playoff game, Poor is well within reach of school records for most home runs (13) and RBIs (50) in a season. The records were set last year by Tate Seefried, who now plays in the New York Yankees organization.

Friday night’s game also marked the varsity debut of pitcher Jamin Kear. The sophomore right-hander was called up from the junior varsity team and responded by pitching a complete game. He struck out five and walked one.

Unhappy with using day-to-day players in the No. 3 pitching spot, Coach John Stevenson opted to promote one of the promising players from the all-sophomore junior varsity team, which brought a 19-1 record into Saturday’s junior varsity final of the El Segundo Tournament.

“He pitched very well,” Stevenson said of Kear. “He’ll give us some innings this year.”

Stevenson said Kear will remain on the junior varsity team and hinted he might take a look at some other JV pitchers.

“There are a couple of other guys who are right there (with Kear),” he said.

Finding another arm or two will certainly help El Segundo’s chances of winning the San Fernando Valley League title and doing well in the CIF Southern Section 3-A Division playoffs.

The Eagles (6-0 in league play) appear headed for a two-game showdown with St. Francis of La Canada (6-0) for the league title. The teams will play night games May 8 at Brookside Park in Pasadena and May 10 at Recreation Park.

“It looks pretty certain (St. Francis) will be 8-0 after next week,” Stevenson said. “And if we do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll be 8-0.”

Things went from bad to worse this week for Morningside’s baseball team.

The Monarchs lost to Redondo by scores of 22-0 and 29-0 to fall to 0-10 in the Ocean League. In Friday’s 29-0 loss, Morningside pitchers issued 16 walks, six wild pitches and hit a batter. They gave up 10 walks in Wednesday’s game.

Ron Tatum, a junior who pitches and plays outfield, said the Monarchs have grown weary of being routed on a regular basis.

“I think the guys are just tired of playing now,” he said. “It’s mostly the pitching that hurts us. We walk too many people.”

The hitting wasn’t too sharp either. Morningside collected only three hits in both games.

Tatum, son of Morningside football and track Coach Ron Tatum, said it comes down to a matter of experience: The Monarchs are lacking in skills compared to the rest of the league.

Tatum, for example, said he had little pitching experience before this season. In Friday’s game, the left-hander gave up eight hits, 11 runs (all earned) and 10 walks in 1 1/3 innings of relief.

Why does he pitch? Frankly, because there is no one else, Tatum said.

“Not enough guys at our school want to play baseball,” he said. “They just want to sit around and do nothing instead of getting involved. And the good athletes just want to play basketball or football.”

Tatum also plays football and runs track for Morningside. He juggles his time in the spring between baseball and track. When there is a conflict for practice time, he chooses track over baseball for conditioning reasons.

Can you blame him?

Playing Morningside turned out to be quite a boon for Redondo, which improved to 13-9 overall and 4-4 in league play, and, in particular, for shortstop Danny Sanchez.

In two games, Sanchez batted five for 11 with eight runs scored, three doubles, a triple and 13 RBIs.

Torrance set up what should be a season-ending showdown for the Pioneer League baseball title by sweeping two games from South Torrance this week.

The Tartars beat South, 5-1, Friday behind the pitching of Ralph Martinez, who hurled a six-hitter, and the hitting of Eric Gonzalez, who went three for three with two RBIs.

Torrance (9-1) maintained a one-game lead in the loss column over West Torrance (6-2) in the league standings. The leaders will meet in a two-game series May 8 and 10 to determine the champion.

In the meantime, Torrance will play two games in the coming week against Ocean League leader Rolling Hills. Wednesday’s game is at Torrance Park and Friday’s is at Rolling Hills.

The Titans maintained their edge in the Ocean League with a 5-3 victory Friday over second-place Mira Costa. Rolling Hills improved to 8-1-1 in the league.