El Segundo and West Cruise to Victories

Hit or error?

A first-inning ground ball prevented El Segundo High junior David Reed from pitching a no-hitter Wednesday against Torrance.

The play was ruled a hit, but the outcome was never in doubt as the host Eagles cruised to a 8-0 victory in a Pioneer League game at Recreation Park.

Reed (10-1) struck out 10 and walked three for his first shutout and fourth complete game. Reed, a left-hander, has given up only nine runs in 63 innings.

“I just got into a groove,” Reed said. “I had good speed on my curve, but I didn’t have any idea how many hits they had. Nobody said anything.”

El Segundo catcher Ryan McCloskey, in fact, went out of his way not to.

“I didn’t want to tell him until the end,” McCloskey said. “We didn’t want to jinx him or put any pressure on him. I’ve seen things go wrong by people saying things.”

That was never a problem for Reed on Wednesday.

He had a strikeout in all but the second inning. Reed struck out the side in the third inning and had two strikeouts in the first and fourth innings.

Reed struck out Steve Kalty to start the game, then faced Oliver Turner.

Turner hit a high chopper over the mound. Shortstop Paul Bartolluci tried to make a barehanded grab, but the ball deflected off his hand and into the outfield for the Tartars’ only hit.

“I wasn’t sure if it was a hit or not,” McCloskey said. “For David’s sake, I was hoping it was an error.”

McCloskey and Jim Zambarelli each had a double and scored three runs and Mike Poor drove in four runs on two singles for El Segundo.

El Segundo (20-5, 13-1), which clinched its sixth consecutive league title last week, scored three runs in the first inning. The Eagles added two runs in the third and three more in the fourth.

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Home runs by Brian Belliveau and Mike Myro lifted West Torrance to a 6-2 victory over South in the second game of a doubleheader at Recreation Park.

The victory assured West (16-9-1, 9-4-1) of second place in the Pioneer League standings, but forged a tie for the league’s final playoff berth.

Torrance (10-12) and South (12-12) are tied for third at 7-7 with one league game remaining. Torrance will play host to El Segundo, and West will visit South on Friday.

Belliveau gave the Warriors a 3-0 lead with a three-run homer to center field in the first inning.

Myro, who came in relief of starter Jason McMinn in the fourth, added a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning to increase the Warriors’ lead to 4-1.

McMinn (4-2) gave up one run in 3 1/3 innings to earn the victory. Belliveau and Mike Vasquez had two hits each for West.