PREPS : Tournament Was Turning Point for South Torranace

The events of the first weekend in May will remain with many Southern Californians for the rest of their lives.

The South Torrance High boys’ volleyball team is no exception.

With many parts of Los Angeles County torn by rioting, it seemed that everyone’s schedule was changed. Curfews were in effect in many cities. Events were canceled. Local sports nearly came to a standstill.

Somehow, though, 16 teams managed to come together May 2 at Redondo High for the Redondo-Mira Costa volleyball tournament. During the course of that Saturday afternoon, South Torrance may have come of age as a team.

It didn’t receive much attention at the time, but South pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year by beating Loyola, 15-11, in the quarterfinals. Loyola entered the tournament ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section 4-A Division. South, a 3-A team, was unranked at the time.

Although South lost in the semifinals to Peninsula, 15-1, the Spartans’ victory over Loyola garnered the team newfound respect. They moved up to No. 4 in the 3-A coaches’ poll the following week, which led to South being seeded fourth and getting a favorable draw for the 3-A playoffs.

The Spartans opened the playoffs Friday night with a 15-3, 15-6, 9-15, 15-9 victory over Los Amigos of Fountain Valley at South. Coach Guy Takashima said it may have been South’s first-ever playoff victory in boys’ volleyball.

“It hasn’t happened before since I’ve been here,” he said.

That’s not to say Takashima was surprised. He expects South (12-3) to go far in postseason play. The Spartans will play host to Downey at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a second-round match.

“I made it a goal to see that these guys make it to the (3-A) finals,” he said.

That might be a tall order. To reach the final, South would most likely have to defeat top-seeded Royal of Simi Valley in the semifinals. Some regard Royal as the finest team in Southern California.

Takashima, though, remains undaunted.

“I’ve heard about Royal’s reputation,” he said. “If we stand up and go swinging with those guys, I couldn’t care less what the outcome is.”

In other words, as long as South plays hard, Takashima will be happy. So far, he has been very happy.

Although not as talented as the South Bay’s two best teams--Mira Costa and Peninsula--South has put together a landmark season with a group of players that make up in dedication and desire what they lack in physical ability.

Senior hitter Stewart Murrey leads the team in kills--he had 24 in Friday night’s playoff victory--and hopes to play collegiately at Penn State. At 6-foot-1, he is the tallest starter on a team lacking in height.

The other starters are outside hitters Ken Estrella, a 5-9 senior, and Joe Gover, a 5-10 junior; senior middle blockers Greg Bracy (5-11) and Albert Lee (6-0), and senior setter Sean Terwillegar (5-10), who was named all-tournament at Redondo.

Perhaps more than any player, Bracy personifies South’s spunky image.

“It’s funny,” Takashima said. “At 5-11, he has given away at least five inches to other middle blockers all through his career. But he is a very determined athlete who plays with a lot of focus and intensity. That makes him excel.”

Most of the starters have played together since they were sophomores on the South junior varsity team coached by Takashima. When Takashima took over the varsity last season, they moved up and helped South tie for its first Pioneer League title. This season, the Spartans won the championship outright.

The cohesion and determination was always there, Takashima said. What was lacking was confidence. That came with the upset over Loyola.

“Perennially South has never been a power of any sort in volleyball,” he said. “(The victory over Loyola) was good for the guys.

“Before that, I think they were struggling with a stigma of coming from a school that’s never had a good volleyball team. It builds confidence for them to hear other guys saying that they’re good.”

Takashima, a pastor at the Hope Chapel in Hermosa Beach, says his increased responsibilities at the church will prevent him from coaching South next season. His last assignment will be to coach the South girls’ volleyball team in the fall.

“This is a great way to go out,” he said. “These are a great bunch of guys. They’re good, solid kids. It’s been a privilege for me.”

And, on occasion, a surprise.

For the first time in seven seasons as St. Bernard’s baseball coach, Bob Yarnall will not have a team in the Southern Section playoffs.

The Vikings finished fourth in the Mission League after dropping a 3-2 decision Friday to Chaminade, which snapped a 21-game losing streak.

“There wasn’t much said afterward,” Yarnall said. “There were some pretty sad faces.”

It was a up-and-down league season for St. Bernard (14-11-1), which lost its first three games, won seven in a row and lost its last two to finish 7-5 for the second year in a row.

Last season that record was good enough for third place. This season the Vikings finished behind champion Crespi, Alemany and Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks.

Yarnall said his team’s downfall was poor hitting in league play.

“You’re not going to beat too many teams with a team batting average of .280,” he said. “We started the season hitting the ball really well. It’s a mystery to me why we stopped.”

St. Bernard scored only two runs in its last two games. Crespi shut out the Vikings, 2-0, May 9 on a two-run homer in the seventh inning, and Chaminade broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning Friday on a check-swing infield single.

It was the only league victory for Chaminade (4-22, 1-11).

St. Bernard has not won a league championship since 1988, the year the Vikings boasted a team that included shortstop Royce Clayton, first baseman Dan Melendez and pitchers Pat Ahearne and Tom Fulkerson.

Clayton is now the starting shortstop for the San Francisco Giants, Melendez and Ahearne are first-team All-West Coast Conference players for fourth-ranked Pepperdine and Fulkerson plays for Hawaii-Hilo.

With those players, St. Bernard won the Camino Real League title in 1988 and reached the semifinals of the 2-A Division playoffs.

Clayton, a three-year varsity starter, was replaced at shortstop in 1989 by freshman Grant Hohman, who completed his fourth season as a varsity starter in Friday’s loss at Chaminade.

After enjoying a remarkable string of consistency at shortstop--two players in seven seasons--Yarnall suddenly finds the cupboard bare.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” he said. “I doubt if we’ll ever have that kind of consistency again.”

It’s safe to say the baseball teams in the San Fernando League are happy to see El Segundo moving to the Pioneer League in 1993.

In two seasons in the league, the Eagles were 20-0. They completed their second consecutive unbeaten season Friday night with a 10-3 victory over St. Francis at Brookside Park in Pasadena.

El Segundo outscored league opponents, 132-31, in nine games. The team’s other victory came when St. Genevieve forfeited the day after losing to the Eagles, 21-0.

El Segundo’s only test in league play came Wednesday night when it rallied from a 7-0 deficit to pull out an 8-7 victory over St. Francis at Recreation Park.

Matt Gangawere, the Eagles’ ace right-hander, was chased early from that game. But he made amends Friday night, pitching a complete game and allowing one earned run to improve to 11-0.

El Segundo built an 8-1 lead after two innings, highlighted by a two-run homer that cleared the 400-foot mark in center field by Jim Zambarelli. It was the fourth home run of the season for the 5-foot-8, 160-pound junior.

Chris Feeny, one of the Eagles’ hottest hitters, led an 11-hit attack with three hits. Lawrence Norris had two hits, including a two-run double in the first inning.

It was a big year for several of the South Bay’s veteran baseball coaches.

John Stevenson won his 21st league title in 33 seasons at El Segundo, Jerry Lovarov won his 16th championship in 32 seasons at San Pedro when the Pirates clinched the Pacific League title this week, and Harry Jenkins won his 11th title after West Torrance swept South Torrance, 14-0 and 14-1, to tie Torrance for the Pioneer League championship. Jenkins, in his second season at West, won 10 league titles at Redondo.

Kudos are also in order for the distinguished duo of Garry Poe and Gil Eberhard, who guided Peninsula to a share of the Bay League title after many years of success as the respective coaches at Rolling Hills and Palos Verdes.

The Panthers could have won the title outright, but they squandered a 6-1, sixth-inning lead as Santa Monica came back to win, 7-6, Friday. Santa Monica then rallied to beat Leuzinger, 2-1, in a makeup game Saturday to tie for the title.

Santa Monica enters the Southern Section 5-A Division playoffs as the Bay League’s No. 1 entry because it beat Peninsula two out of three games.

Ron Kasparian, in his 18th season as Westchester’s baseball coach, will be gunning for his fourth league title when the Comets visit University at 3 p.m. Tuesday in a showdown for the Western League championship.

The teams are tied for first place with 15-1 records heading into the game, which completes the regular season.

Coaching success wasn’t limited to the old-timers.

Ray Estrada, in his first season at Mary Star, guided the Stars to a share of the Santa Fe League title.

Mary Star lost to Cantwell, 6-2, Friday to fall into a tie for first with the Cardinals, but the Stars won a coin flip to gain the league’s No. 1 entry in the Southern Section 2-A Division playoffs.