Redondo High Makes Its Move in Ocean League

Two weeks ago, Redondo High’s baseball team played a nonleague doubleheader against El Segundo with embarrassing results.

El Segundo, ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section 3-A Division, defeated the visiting Sea Hawks, 17-4 and 10-1.

It would be easy to question Redondo’s pitching after such a poor performance. But judging Redondo by what happened that day would not be fair because neither Ted Silva nor Frank Bignami threw a pitch.

And, as Coach Tim Ammentorp will tell you, Redondo isn’t close to the same team without Silva or Bignami on the mound.

“El Segundo can swing the bats, but I’d love to play them with one of our top two guys (pitching),” Ammentorp said. “But the way the schedule worked, El Segundo didn’t have any other games that week and we had (three).”

Ammentorp has saved Silva and Bignami for Redondo’s Ocean League games, and for good reason. This week, the senior right-handers each threw complete-game victories against Beverly Hills to help the Sea Hawks move into first place.

Bignami held Beverly Hills without a hit for six innings Friday night before settling for a two-hitter and a 3-1 victory at Redondo. Wednesday, Silva gave up five hits and struck out 16 in an 8-4, eight-inning victory at Beverly Hills.

As a result, Redondo (4-1) surged past the Normans (4-2) into the league lead. Redondo is 10-6 overall.

“Yeah, I like our pitching,” Ammentorp said. “I love our pitching.”

With only three players batting above .300, Redondo has had to rely on pitching and defense to carry it to the top of the Ocean standings.

Silva, who played quarterback in football and point guard in basketball, has come through most effectively. He is 5-1 with an 0.42 earned-run average. In 34 innings pitched, he has 57 strikeouts and allowed only two earned runs. He has struck out 28 batters in his last two games, covering 15 innings.

Silva depends largely on his breaking pitches.

“He throws a true slider that high school kids don’t see very often,” Ammentorp said. “It’s a very tough pitch to hold up on. He throws sliders that I couldn’t hit when I was in college.”

While Silva is considered a finesee pitcher, Bignami is known for his fastball. He is 2-3 with two saves and a 2.48 ERA. He has 43 strikeouts in 31 innings.

Ammentorp said Bignami, who has been a varsity player since his freshman year, has settled down after a few rocky performances earlier in the season. He has allowed only six hits in his last three outings, all complete games.

“Frank came out this season putting a lot of pressure on himself,” Ammentorp said. “He felt he had to strike out 21 guys a game and dominate. We played lousy defense behind him early in the year and he struggled with his control.”

Bignami’s control was sharp Friday night. He finished with six strikeouts and three walks against Beverly Hills, which did not get a hit until Doron Barness led off the seventh inning with a home run that skipped off the top of Redondo’s right-field fence, about 280 feet away.

After that, a single, an error and a walk helped Beverly Hills put the tying runners on first and third with two outs.

“It got exciting, to say the least,” Ammentorp said.

Bignami helped heighten the drama by going 3-0 on the next batter.

“He was one pitch from having Silva come in,” Ammentorp said.

But Bignami saved Ammentorp the trouble of bringing in a reliever by throwing two consecutive strikes before getting the last out on a ground ball to first baseman Rick Janssen.

Bignami’s performance gave Redondo four complete games in five league outings. That trend, if it continues, will go a long way to helping the team secure the league title.

“The way those two kids are throwing,” Ammentorp said, “we’re going to hold teams down every game.”

Senior catcher Jeremy Veasey, one of the heroes in Redondo’s victory over Beverly Hills on Wednesday, missed Friday night’s game because he is a part of a group of French Club students who are visiting Paris for a week.

Ammentorp’s wife also made the trip.

“I told (Veasey) when he left to take care of my wife,” said Ammentorp, who was understanding in granting one of his best players a leave of absence.

“Obviously you want your players to be committed, but I’ve never been to Paris,” he said. “If I had the chance, I would have went too. I’m certainly not going to keep a kid from going on something like that.”

Ammentorp said junior catcher Kenny Keating did a good job filling in for Veasey, who scored four runs and stole four bases in Wednesday’s game.

How good a season is Torrance High’s Jason Kendall having?

In a word: awesome.

The senior catcher improved his batting average to .650 this week by going four for five in two games. On Friday, Kendall tripled, doubled, drove in two runs and scored two runs to lead the Tartars past visiting South Torrance, 8-7.

He also earned his second save in as many chances by striking out two South batters with two runners on base to end the game. Torrance improved to 5-1 in the Pioneer League to remain in a first-place tie with West Torrance.

For the season, Kendall has 26 hits in 40 at-bats, including 18 extra-base hits. He leads the team with 11 doubles, five triples, two home runs, 23 runs batted in and nine stolen bases.

With as much attention as Kendall gets for his hitting, you almost forget his defense. He has thrown out nine of 15 runners attempting to steal.

But pitching wins games, and that’s where Torrance, once 1-4, has improved the most in recent weeks. The emergence of Kendall as an effective reliever and the return of right-hander Ralph Martinez from an arm injury have helped the Tartars (7-6) win six of eight games.

Mira Costa, which had already lost matches to the top three teams in the Southern Section 4-A Division, appeared headed for defeat against No. 4-ranked Santa Barbara in a nonleague boys’ volleyball match Wednesday night.

Santa Barbara won the first two games, but Mira Costa Coach Mike Cook made some key substitutions that helped the Mustangs rally for a 13-15, 5-15, 15-5, 15-11, 15-3 victory at home.

It was the highlight of a 4-0 week for Mira Costa, which scored three-game victories over Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Morningside on Thursday and Harvard-Westlake on Friday night to improve to 9-4 and extend its winning streak to eight matches.

With his team being badly outplayed by Santa Barbara, Cook inserted three players into Wednesday’s match: sophomore outside hitter Sean Shoptaw, junior middle blocker Chris Walmer and senior outside hitter Ryan Moeller, the son of former Dodger pitcher Joe Moeller.

The inspired play of the three substitutes helped the Mustangs rally against Santa Barbara, perhaps turning around their season.

“Maybe that was a turning point for us,” Cook said. “Maybe we found some guys that will give up some steadiness and consistency.”

Shoptaw, Walmer and Moeller were all in the starting lineup Friday night against Harvard-Westlake, the No. 4-ranked team in the Southern Section 3-A Division. Mira Costa responded with a 15-6, 15-5, 15-7 victory at home that Cook called his team’s best performance of the season.

The Mustangs have also benefited from the continued fine play of senior outside hitter Cameron Green and junior setter Zane Smythe. The 6-4 Green, who Cook said will probably sign a letter of intent with Cal State Northridge, had 24 kills against Santa Barbara and played the entire five-game match.

Peninsula’s baseball team showcased the pitching talents of two right-handed sophomores this week to improve to 5-1 in the Bay League.

Brian Bowles, son of Peninsula vice principal Chris Bowles, pitched a three-hitter and struck out 10 Wednesday to lead the Panthers over Hawthorne, 12-1, and Arin McCarthy gave up four hits in five innings Friday to earn the victory in a 7-0 win over Hawthorne.

It was also a big week for Jason Brown, Peninsula’s designated hitter. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior homered in each game.