PREPS / KIRBY LEE : He Makes the Grade on, Off the Field

His players call him one of the nicest guys around. But when it comes to excusing players from practice, Peninsula baseball Coach Garry Poe can be as strict as they come.

“It’s understood, nothing has to be said about missing practice,” junior pitcher Brian Bowles said.

Poe, though, has made an exception for first baseman Tim Akins.

The senior, who has scored 1,390 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, is permitted to skip practice to attend interviews for college scholarships.

“Sometimes people want to go on family outings, but our lives are pretty much planned around baseball,” Akins said. “By now everyone knows not even to ask. It’s very seldom anybody gets to leave practice for anything.”

Akins has been accepted to UC Berkeley, Rice and UCLA and is a semifinalist for the National Merit Scholarship.

He has won nearly $3,000 in scholarships from the Elks Foundation, National Charity League and UCLA Alumni.

His father, Frank, never had a problem keeping a watchful eye on his son’s academic progress. He’s a math teacher at Peninsula.

Akins, however, never had the pleasure or displeasure of being a student in one his father’s algebra classes.

“By the time, I got to Peninsula I already passed the classes he teaches,” Akins said.

Akins, who is taking advance placement courses in physics, chemistry and English this semester, is also a recipient of the Princeton Book Award, an honor given to students who combine academic excellence with achievement in other areas.

As a sophomore at Rolling Hills High, he was a representative for the Hugh O’Brien Youth Foundation seminar.

“He’s going to get a million dollars in scholarships,” Poe said, jokingly. “I’m going to be his agent.”

Poe might not want to rule out a baseball career.

Peninsula, which reached the Southern Section 5-A Division quarterfinals last season, is 10-3 and 5-1 in Bay League play. Akins is the Panthers’ leadoff batter.

Akins, who has struck out only three times in 47 at-bats, leads the team with 15 walks and nine stolen bases in 10 attempts.

“He’s a magician with a glove and he’s just an absolute leadoff guy to get us going,” Poe said.

Akins was able to do the same as a starting guard on the Peninsula basketball team (20-8), which reached the Division I-AA quarterfinals.

He earned All-Bay League first-team honors after averaging 10 points. He set a school record with five three-point baskets and scored 23 points against Beverly Hills.

“There’s a lot less pressure in academics than athletics,” Akins said. “I’m doing the best I can.”

Last week, Atkins was two for three in 7-3 and 9-5 victories over Hawthorne. Akins also had a sacrifice and drove in a run against Hawthorne to help the Panthers remain a game ahead of Santa Monica (3-1) in the league standings.

Pat Hubbard was three for three and drove in five runs and Arin McCarthy (5-1) earned the victory against Hawthorne.

Brett Campbell (.447), a senior right fielder, leads the Panthers with 14 runs batted in and senior third baseman Chris Blandford is batting .370.

Peninsula, which has outscored its opponents, 99-51, will play Arroyo Grande in the first round of the San Luis Obispo tournament on Thursday. The tournament, which runs through Saturday, also includes Hawthorne, San Luis Obispo, San Ramon, Hueneme and Alemany.

The Panthers will return to Bay League play April 20 against Leuzinger before playing Santa Monica in a crucial two-game series the next week.

Santa Monica and Peninsula shared the Bay League title in 1992. The Vikings defeated the Panthers, 9-5, to give Peninsula its only loss during the first half of league play.

No time to lose: The overlap between the soccer and softball seasons did not give John and Karen Jackson, a husband-and-wife team that coaches both sports at Torrance, much time to prepare for softball.

“Soccer just kills our preseason,” John Jackson said. “We get a few minutes for softball and then it’s off to a soccer match until we end up losing in the playoffs.”

The Tartar soccer team, which has won a Southern Section title in two of the past three seasons, advanced to the Division I quarterfinals this season.

The softball team had played in the Escondido tournament the past four seasons before starting Pioneer League play.

But the Tartars were forced to withdraw after the tournament failed to receive a Southern Section sanction in February. The school was unable to schedule other opponents.

“It was too late,” John Jackson said. “Most schools are already working on schedules for next year. We were hoping everybody else would get rained out so we wouldn’t be so far behind.”

The Tartars defeated South Torrance, 3-0, in 12 innings in a Pioneer League game Friday at South. Torrance is 7-0.

Torrance had only five hits, four coming in the 12th. Sunnie Van Wie singled home Suzanne Radcliffe for the first run and Tami Burchard drove in Kristin White and Van Wie on a single.

South advanced runners to first and third with no outs in the seventh, but White picked off Kati Kenderski at third and center fielder Wendy Yokoyama threw out Holly Bean at first after catching a fly ball to send the game into extra innings.

Schwartz (2-0) pitched 10 innings of relief to earn the victory. Deana Guerrero (5-0), who has not given up a run in 36 innings, pitched the first two innings, but left the game because of a sore arm.

Torrance, which has five shutouts in seven games, has won four 1-0 decisions.

“It’s surprising we haven’t lost, but we knew this was going to be our year if we were going to do anything,” John Jackson said.

Torrance, which reached the 3-A quarterfinals last season, is seeking its third league title since 1989. Guerrero, White, Radliffe, Jenny Yokoyama and Dena Scaffidi return for their fourth season.

Victoria Toth (.444) and Van Wie (.417) are among five players batting above .300, along with Jenny Yokoyama and Tami Burchard, both at .364, and White (.308).

The Tartars will play their first nonleague games in the El Segundo tournament on Saturday. Torrance opens play against defending City Section 3-A champion San Pedro (12-2).

Notes

The San Pedro softball team defeated San Fernando, 10-0, in the championship of the Sylmar tournament Thursday. Shortstop Victoria Brucker was selected as tournament most valuable player. The junior had seven hits in 11 at-bats, including two home runs and a triple. . . . Kim Blankinship of Torrance cleared 5-foot-9 in the high jump in a Pioneer League dual meet against visiting North Thursday, breaking her own school record by an inch.