All-Star Game Was a Comedy of Errors

It would be putting it mildly to say that an all-star girls’ basketball game played Saturday at El Camino College experienced some difficulties.

Tonya Kong realized that right away.

Kong, an assistant coach at West Torrance High, went to El Camino to watch one of her players, West forward Tina Gross, compete in the Optimist All-Star Classic, featuring seniors from the South Bay and Westside areas.

As she was settling into the stands, though, Kong was met with a stunning request: Would she coach the South Bay team?

“Tina Gross came up to me and said, ‘If we don’t have a coach, we can’t play,’ ” Kong said. “I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ It was kind of weird.”

Kong was summoned to duty because the team’s scheduled coach, Ron Randle of Morningside, failed to show because of a family emergency. Randle said his daughter needed to be taken to the doctor after suffering an asthma attack.

But some question whether Randle ever intended to coach in the game.

He also missed both of the team’s practices last week and the absences were blamed for contributing to the South Bay’s low turnout (seven players) Saturday for a game that promoter Jerry Weiner said was expected to draw 16 seniors from the area.

Nonetheless, the game was played and the South Bay posted a 57-47 victory over the Westside, which also fielded a squad of seven players but did have its regular coach, Lori Pawinski of St. Bernard.

Palos Verdes Coach Wendell Yoshida said one of his players, forward Nicole Dietel, decided not to play after no coach showed for the first practice.

“I’m glad our girls didn’t show to be part of something like that,” said Yoshida, who had another player, Kaaren Iverson, turn down an invitation to play. “They expect high standards. If someone tells them to be somewhere, they expect that person to be there, too.”

Also among the no-shows were four Morningside players who Weiner had said would play in the game. The trouble is that two of the players--Akiba Flanagan and Princess Murray--had already played in two all-star games (the limit under NCAA rules) and the two others--Jakeena Bacon and Tyesha Whiting--chose to play in another all-star game Saturday night at Long Beach City College, according to Randle.

With none of Randle’s own players in the game at El Camino, some reasoned that the Morningside coach became disinterested and blew it off.

In his defense, Randle said he tried to get a Morningside assistant coach to take his place Saturday. But he was apologetic for causing any problems.

“I take full responsibility,” he said. “I’m deeply saddened that I was not able to live up to the commitment I made, but the family commitment came ahead of the game commitment.”

Explaining the two practices he missed, Randle said they happened to fall on the same days that the Morningside state finalist girls’ team was honored by the Inglewood school board at a banquet. One of his assistants attended the second practice at El Camino.

Weiner, who has promoted dozens of all-star games in Southern California, said it was the first time a coach ever failed to show.

“I was a little scared,” Weiner said. “He never called me or left any messages. I wasn’t sure what happened to him.

“When I asked him to coach the game about two weeks ago, he said, ‘Fine.’ He wanted four of his girls to play. I made arrangements to use El Camino for (two practices).

“You believe what people tell you. I was confident it was all handled.”

Perhaps next time Weiner should take the time to see that his instructions are carried out. It would help to avoid an embarrassing situation.

Despite the circumstances that led to her coaching the South Bay all-stars, Kong said it was a rewarding experience. It was the first time the 21-year-old Cal State Long Beach student was head coach in a varsity game.

“It was a strange way to start,” said Kong, a former basketball standout at West. “I was a little bit nervous. It was fun, though.”

Kong, however, was not happy with the way the game was run.

“It was not well-organized,” she said. “It was real sad, because I played in that all-star game when I was in high school and it was so much better. This time they didn’t have an MVP or anything to give the girls.”

Weiner, who said he was paid a fee by the Optimist Club of Santa Monica and did not get a percentage of the gate, said there wasn’t enough money to provide T-shirts for the players, as was done at last year’s game.

“We don’t have the wherewithal to be doing that,” he said. “The reason we put these games on is to benefit recruiting. We certainly didn’t get rich off it. There wasn’t $1,000 worth of admissions. To go off and buy T-shirts would have been a considerable expense.”

But it can be done.

Organizers of a similar all-star game played a month ago at North Torrance High were able to provide the players with T-shirts and MVP awards.

Weiner was not involved in that game.

Even the boys’ all-star game, which followed the girls’ game and had a healthy turnout of players, was not immune from problems.

Weiner said the coaches, Rick Sabosky of El Segundo and Leo Klemm of St. Monica, failed to bring basketballs, as he had instructed.

Fortunately, Weiner said, a coach from the girls’ game had a boys’ basketball in her equipment bag and another coach in attendance was kind enough to fetch two balls from his car.

In the meantime, the boys used girls’ basketballs, which are smaller, to warm up with.

“It was very disorganized to the extent that all the work was thrown in the laps of the coaches,” Sabosky said. “Weiner did tell us to bring basketballs, but he said that if we didn’t someone at El Camino would have them.”

Sabosky said the off-the-court problems detracted from an otherwise fine game.

Torrance forward Joe Zaletel scored a game-high 21 points and guards Jerry Wells of San Pedro and Jabari Anderson of Banning each added 19 to lead the South Bay to a 120-109 victory over the Westside.

Fred Sims, Carson’s top sprinter, has decided to sit out the rest of the track season after straining a hamstring muscle two weeks ago at the Mt. San Antonio College Relays, Carson Coach Bill Mocnik said.

The injury further weakened the Colts’ 400-meter relay team, which was once considered one of the best in the state. Shawn Parnell, the team’s second-best sprinter, was declared academically ineligible three weeks ago, Mocnik said.

Last season, Carson ran 41.4 seconds to place second at the state meet.

“I thought we were capable of doing just as well this year,” Mocnik said. “Now we’re just a good high school relay team. We’re not going to run under 42 (seconds).”

Mocnik said Sims, rather than risk injury by returning to competition, was advised by his doctor to rest before preparing for next football season. Sims, a wide receiver, has signed with UC Berkeley.

Losing Sims and Parnell has diminished Carson’s chances of contending for the team title at today’s Southern Pacific Conference final at Crenshaw High. The meet begins at 2 p.m.

Mocnik said the conference coaches voted to keep team scores for the first time at the final since . . . well, since anyone can remember.

“I’ve been here 13, 14 years, and we’ve never kept team scores,” he said. “Washington or Dorsey are probably the favorites.”

The top five finishers in each event qualify for the L.A. City prelims May 10 at Birmingham High in Van Nuys.

Karen Zareski of Palos Verdes has been selected a finalist for the state Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.

Zareski, whose primary sport is cross-country, was one of 10 girls and 10 boys chosen from a field of 575 candidates from California who were nominated by their high school principals.

The two winners, a boy and a girl, will be announced Monday. Winners will be introduced at the state track championships June 1 at Cerritos College and receive a $2,000 scholarship to the college of their choice.

If it wasn’t for bad luck, Mary Star baseball Coach Frank Ponce De Leon wouldn’t have any luck at all.

Injuries have sidelined the first three batters in Mary Star’s lineup, perhaps for the season, Ponce De Leon said.

The latest setback occurred Sunday when No. 3 hitter Mark Ponce De Leon, who is leading the South Bay with a .550 average, suffered torn ankle ligaments playing in a pick-up basketball game. Ponce De Leon, the coach’s younger brother, was also the Stars’ top pitcher.

Others on the disabled list are third baseman Brynne Orloski, who broke his hand last week sliding in a game against Cathedral, and outfielder David Bozanich, who suffered a head injury earlier this season in a collision with a teammate. Bozanich, the lead-off hitter, was batting .350 when he was injured. Orloski, the No. 2 hitter, was batting .360.

Notes

Hawthorne sprinter Erik Allen returned to action Tuesday after missing two weeks with a strained hamstring muscle to run 22.2 seconds in the 200 meters at the Bay League track prelims at Beverly Hills. Allen’s return again makes the Cougars a strong contender for the state title. The league final will be Friday at Beverly Hills at 2 p.m.

Mike Ryan, an All-CIF shortstop for Miraleste’s baseball team, has signed with UC Irvine. Ryan brought a .406 batting average and 2-2 pitching record into the Marauders’ Camino Real League game Wednesday against Bosco Tech. He is the second baseball standout from the Peninsula area to sign with Irvine. Rolling Hills pitcher Kirt Kishita also will play for the Anteaters.

In running his pitching record to 8-0, Banning right-hander Mike Busby also displayed his prowess as a hitter Tuesday in a 9-3 Pacific League victory over host Carson. The 6-foot-4, 215-pound Busby, batting in the clean-up spot, hit two home runs, including one that cleared the 417-foot sign in left field. The ball landed in the street beyond the field and bounced over the fence of the neighboring elementary school.

Mira Costa’s volleyball team reached the quarterfinals of the Redondo-Mira Costa tournament Saturday at Redondo before bowing to Woodbridge of Irvine, 15-7. San Marcos of Santa Barbara, the top-ranked team in the Southern Section 4-A Division, won the title with a 15-12, 15-11 victory over Harvard of North Hollywood. San Marcos’ Zak DeMatteo was chosen most valuable player and Mira Costa outside hitter Mark Shoptaw was named to the all-tournament team.

South Bay’s Baseball Top 10 Selected by Times Sportswriters Through Tuesday’s Games

Rank, School, League Record 1 El Segundo (San Fernando) 20-3 2 Torrance (Pioneer) 16-4 3 Banning (Pacific) 15-5 4 Rolling Hills (Ocean) 12-5-1 5 St. Bernard (Mission) 12-7-1 6 West Torrance (Pioneer) 14-7 7 San Pedro (Pacific) 13-5 8 Narbonne (Southern) 15-7 9 South Torrance (Pioneer) 11-9 10 B. Montgomery (Mission) 8-8