Despite Loss, West Torrance Shows It Can Play With Best

For three games, West Torrance was as impressive as any baseball team in the competitive Glendale tournament.

The Warriors parlayed errorless defense, outstanding pitching and timely hitting into victories over Quartz Hill, Crescenta Valley and Newbury Park to reach Thursday night’s championship game at Stengel Field.

Although West lost to Westlake, 12-3 in the final, a strong showing in the 16-team tournament should provide the Warriors added confidence in their quest for the Pioneer League title and a berth in the Southern Section 4-A Division playoffs.

“I think we’ve matured of late,” Coach Harry Jenkins said. “We played very well in this tournament. We saw some really good ball clubs. There were no slouch games.”

West (12-5) reached the final with a 4-3 victory over Newbury Park, which had advanced with a second-round upset of top-seeded Hart of Newhall, the fifth-ranked team in the Southern Section 5-A Division.

“Hart was really impressive,” Jenkins said. “They were a big, physical team.”

West senior left-hander Josh Bendik (5-1) went the distance against Newbury Park, giving up three hits, striking out seven and walking two. He also singled in a run during a three-run fourth inning that gave the Warriors a 4-2 lead. Bendik’s hit followed a two-run single by Brian Lacroix.

The semifinal victory represented the third consecutive well-pitched game for West in the tournament. Senior right-hander Steve Sarkisian (5-0) went the distance in a 6-1 victory over Crescenta Valley in the second round, and the Warriors defeated Quartz Hill, 8-1, in the first round.

Unfortunately for West, the championship game was a different story.

Neither Sarkisian nor Bendik were rested enough to start the final, and third baseman David Marsden did not play because of a back injury suffered against Newbury Park. Forced to move people into unfamiliar positions, Jenkins watched as West committed an uncharacteristic six errors against Westlake. It was Warriors’ first loss by more than one run.

“We had to move people around, and we made errors in those spots,” Jenkins said. “We ran out of pitching. Westlake is a real good team, but with one of our top two guys going, I think we can beat them.”

Bendik leads the Warriors with a 1.30 earned-run average, followed by Sarkisian at 1.47.

West also has several players enjoying productive seasons at the plate. Sophomores Derek Nicholson and Joe Intermill lead the team with .421 and .400 averages, respectively, followed by Sarkisian at .393 and Marsden at .375.

Jenkins is hopeful that West’s impressive showing in the Glendale tournament will carry over into league play. The Warriors are tied with Torrance for first place in the Pioneer standings at 5-1.

“We’ve got to beat Torrance, and we’re ready to do that,” said Jenkins, whose team lost the league title to the Tartars last season, 2-1, and suffered a 3-2 setback to Torrance earlier this season. “I think they’ll see a different team the next time around.”

Peninsula senior Kristen Mulligan started at point guard and helped the White All-Stars to a 93-74 victory over the Red All-Stars on Friday in the first Kodak Girls’ High School All-America basketball game in Jackson, Tenn.

Mulligan scored two points and had a team-high four assists in 20 minutes for the White All-Stars, which were coached by Peninsula’s Wendell Yoshida.

“She did well, I don’t think there was any question of that,” Yoshida said. “I know I never had any doubts in her ability.”

Yoshida also started Washington High forward Charisse Sampson, who scored 17 points and had five rebounds. Crystal Robinson, a 5-foot-11 forward from Atoka High in Oklahoma, led the White All-Stars with 25 points and nine rebounds and was named the game’s most valuable player.

Oddly enough, Robinson’s high school still plays six-on-six basketball, in which three players are restricted to one half of the court. Yoshida said Robinson played on the offensive end for her high school, but was impressive with her defensive play in the all-star game.

“She is tremendous,” Yoshida said of the Louisiana Tech recruit. “I think she plays a lot with the boys. She’s a tremendous defensive player.”

Yoshida said the game, which drew a crowd of 3,420 and was televised live by ESPN, was a nice way to end the season after guiding Peninsula to a 33-0 record and the State Division I and mythical national titles.

“It was a terrific display of high school talent,” he said. “These girls were better than a lot of college players I’ve seen.”

After Mulligan helped her all-star team to victory Friday, her Peninsula teammate, Jeffra Gausepohl, did the same.

The 6-5 Gausepohl scored 24 points Friday night to lead a team of South Bay all-stars to a 102-50 victory over the Westside in the 11th annual Optimists All-Star Classic at El Camino College. The Virginia-bound center was named her team’s MVP.

In the boys’ game, Westchester guard James Gray scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half to lead the Westside all-stars over the South Bay, 118-111. Gray was named Westside MVP. Peninsula forward John Anthony led the South Bay with 18 points and was named his team’s MVP.

Westchester baseball Coach Ron Kasparian hasn’t gotten too excited about his team’s 11-game winning streak.

Why?

Because he knows the real season has yet to begin for the Comets.

Although Westchester (11-4) owns an 8-0 Coastal Conference record, all of those victories have come against the weaker Metro League teams in the conference. In the 4-A Division Western League--the Metro is 3-A--the Comets are tied for first place with Venice and University, with Palisades a game behind at 7-1.

“We’re hot, but so is everybody else (in our league),” said Kasparian, whose team will open league play Tuesday at Venice. “We’ll just have to see who can stop who.”

Kasparian rates Venice and University the best pitching teams, but says Westchester has the best hitters. Seven Comets are batting above .300, led by senior shortstop Al Watson at .526.

“I’ve always said that good pitching beats good hitting, except for this year,” said Kasparian, laughing. “We have to do whatever it takes to win.”

Pitching was a question mark for Westchester before the season, but now Kasparian considers it the team’s most-improved area. Junior right-hander Andrew Spencer is 5-1 with a 1.68 ERA and will start Tuesday’s game. Senior right-hander Jose Flores is 3-1 and has pitched 11 consecutive scoreless innings. Senior left-hander Lance D’Antignac earned his first decision of the season Tuesday with a no-hitter against Manual Arts.

“The pitching has really come around,” Kasparian said. “I said we’ll go as far as our pitching takes us, and I still feel that way.”

Garry Poe, co-coach of the Peninsula baseball team, was a proud father this week after his son Scott delivered the winning hits in two of the Panthers’ three victories at the Fresno tournament.

Scott, a senior catcher who leads the team with a .404 batting average, singled in a run in the sixth inning Tuesday to give Peninsula a 4-3 victory over Madera. Wednesday, he came through with a three-run double to lift the Panthers over Fresno Roosevelt, 6-4.

The elder Poe said he managed to keep his emotions under control.

“I’ve been a coach a lot longer than I’ve been a father,” he said. “If I was in the stands, I’d probably be going out of my mind. But I’m just happy for the kids. To come back like that is a milestone for us. It means we’re starting to get things together a little bit.”

Another hero for Peninsula in Fresno was designated hitter Jason Brown, whose three-run homer tied the score against Madera. Brown leads the Panthers with six home runs and 16 runs batted in.

After winning three of four games in the tournament, Peninsula (11-6) returns to Bay League play this week. The Panthers are in second place at 5-1 behind Santa Monica in what has essentially become a two-team race.

“I don’t like the fact that the league is not strong this year,” Garry said. “It’s not going to get us ready for the playoffs.”

On the other hand, Poe pointed out that the lack of competition throughout the league has allowed the coaching staff to give the team’s young pitchers a chance to throw.

Joel Garber hit a two-out double in the ninth inning to score Sean Wright from first base and lift Mira Costa to an 8-7 nonleague victory over visiting Torrance on Friday. The Mustangs improved to 11-4.

Torrance (8-7) had sent the game into extra innings with a run in the top of the seventh to tie the score, 7-7. Jason Kendall scored the tying run from second on a two-out single by George Reyes.

It was only the third loss in 10 games for the Tartars.