BASEBALL : Look, Listen and Learn : With Kassis Leading by Example, Kennedy High School’s Baseball Team Makes Its Way to City Section Title Game

In three City Section 4-A playoff games, the top-seeded Kennedy High baseball team has been seriously challenged only once.

Appropriately, George Kassis, the Golden Cougars’ senior first baseman, answered the call.

In the quarterfinals against Sylmar last Thursday, the Cougars quickly fell behind by two runs.

Kassis, one of four team captains, gathered his teammates in a huddle before Kennedy batted in the fourth inning.

“He wanted to remind us which team had the bigger heart,” senior Terrmel Sledge said. “He told us to just play the same way we have been all season.”

By the bottom of the fifth, Kennedy had battled back for a one-run lead and Kassis came to the plate with two runners on base and an opportunity to put the Spartans away.

Which he promptly did.

Kassis smacked Albert Palma’s second pitch deep over the left-field fence. As he rounded the bases, Kassis jabbed his index finger into the air and was mobbed at home plate by jubilant teammates.

On a team of hot hitters, Kassis has been more than the most-consistent player. The cleanup hitter is the motivating force behind Kennedy’s success.

Kennedy (25-4), which defeated Banning, 15-3, in the semifinals, will face second-seeded Carson (23-10) in the 4-A final tonight at Dodger Stadium at 7:30.

Early in the school year, Kennedy Coach Manny Alvarado met with his captains: Kassis, Kevin Serr, Sledge and Aldo Pinto.

“I told them this is their ballclub,” Alvarado said. “I’ll be here next year after George and the other seniors are gone. I wanted to make sure they could depend on each other.”

Kassis took Alvarado’s message to heart.

If a player was slacking in the weight room during the fall, Kassis offered inspiration.

“He would get in a player’s face but he had a really good way about it,” Alvarado said. “I haven’t had to do any motivating this season. He’s done all we needed.”

With a trimmed goatee and a shaved head, Kassis exudes both maturity and intimidation.

When Mike Cervantes became Sylmar’s first baserunner with a third-inning walk, he arrived at first base to find the 6-foot, 185 Kassis squarely on the bag. And he wasn’t moving.

“I just wanted to remind them a little where they were playing,” Kassis said. “It’s not something I do all the time, but considering it was Sylmar. . . .”

Kassis has motivated teammates and infuriated opponents while pushing himself to a monster season. He is batting .436 with 13 doubles, three triples, three home runs, 30 runs scored and 41 runs batted in--tops among City Section players from the region.

All this after a junior season during which he batted .259 with 13 runs batted in.

“I needed to become more mature,” Kassis said. “I came in my sophomore year and I expected to do like I did in Little League. I had to learn not to worry about hitting home runs every time up.”

Kassis is helped by hitting prowess up and down the Golden Cougar lineup. Kennedy, which has seven starters batting above .330, has a team batting average of .355.

In 1993, Kassis, then a sophomore varsity reserve, watched senior standouts Jeff Tagliaferri, Rick Nadeau, David Bourne and John Toven lead Kennedy to a .354 team batting average.

“A lot of people compare us to our ’93 team because of all the hitting,” Kassis said. “But our pitching is deeper this season and really pushed us over the top. I’m confident with any guy that pitches for us. We get a few runs, we’re going to shut them down.”

Indeed, pitching depth is perhaps the biggest difference between this team and the 1993 team, which lost to Taft in the quarterfinals. Kennedy has four pitchers with more than 35 innings and all have earned-run averages under 2.38.

Junior Derek Morse, tonight’s starting pitcher, and sophomore Jon Garland, who improved his record to 7-0 with a complete-game victory over Banning in the semifinal, are two underclassmen Kassis has targeted to lead the Golden Cougars next season.

“There’s a lot of things I learned from the way he handled all of us,” Garland said. “He’s been around. When he’s talking we tend to listen to what he’s saying. He is a man.”