Page 4 March 12, 2020 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Eagles Showing Promise Early in the Season
By Gregg McMullin
The spring schedule for the El Segundo Eagles
is in full swing. The boy’s volleyball team is
playing at a high level, the softball team is
showing their potential and the baseball team
played in the finals of their own tournament.
Volleyball Team
Facing Arduous Schedule
The Eagles are playing one of the South
Bay’s toughest schedules, having already faced
Los Alamitos, Notre Dame and Thousand
Oaks. The Eagles squared off with Redondo
and Loyola both nationally ranked teams and
showed their home crowd fans they could play
with those high-level programs.
El Segundo fell to the Redondo Sea Hawks in
four games 25-23, 18-25, 20-25 and 16-25 but
was essentially in each game. The Eagles fell
behind early in the first game but showed poise
in roaring back to take game one. In game two,
the Eagles blocked well at the net and Casey
Lund’s digs kept the Sea Hawks from scoring
early on. Logan Sharp’s ace kept the game close,
but the Sea Hawks pulled away for the win.
In the third game, the Eagles started the
game by taking a 5-3 lead thanks to Robby
Pedersen’s dominant hit. They kept the lead
with Sharp’s kill to make it 8-5. Redondo
stormed back by taking nine of the next 12
points. The Eagles’ Justin Otterberg’s ace cut
El Segundo’s deficit to 14-13 and Jake Lubs’
kill kept the game close 18-17. The Sea Hawks
would go on to hold off the Eagle’s comeback.
In the fourth game, El Segundo jumped out
to a 10-5 lead and Kainalu Hekekia’s hit made
it 14-9. Any thoughts of extending the match
to a fifth and deciding game were quickly
erased when the Sea Hawks rattled off 16 of
the next 18 points to win 25-16.
The Eagles opened their Ocean League
schedule on Tuesday played nationally ranked
Mira Costa yesterday and host Culver City
today at 3 p.m. They’ll host Santa Monica
next Tuesday and Hawthorne next Thursday;
both matches begin at 3 p.m.
Baseball Team
Loses in Tourney Final
The Eagles hosted the 47th Annual
Stevenson Invitational Baseball Tournament
(formerly called the El Segundo Tournament)
and reached the finals of the Gold Division.
They defeated Peninsula in eight innings,
West Torrance, Narbonne and Paramount to
reach the finals. In the finals, they faced one
of the top teams in the South Bay but fell to
Redondo 10-4.
The Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead in
the first inning against the Paramount Pirates
and won 9-4. Brendan McAndrews reached
on an error, Conrad Bernstein doubled and
both scored on Rafael Smith’s bad bounce
triple. Smith scored on a sacrifice fly by Ken
Chung and to make it 3-0. Julian Rodriquez
doubled and scored on Nick Villa’s double
to give the Eagles their biggest first inning of
the year. Leading 6-4 in the seventh inning
Evan Smith had an RBI single, McAndrews’
sacrifice scored another run and Bernstein’s
RBI single gave the Eagles a 9-4 lead.
Aiden McRoberts tossed a complete game
victory to improve to (1-1) on the season and
help send the Eagles to their first Stevenson
Final since 2006.
The Eagles faced Redondo in the finals and
were stymied by the Sea Hawk’s overpowering
pitching staff and lost 10-4. The Sea Hawks
sent freshman hard-throwing Cole Stokes
to the mound. He limited the Eagles to two
runs on one hit and struck out seven in just
over four innings.
Redondo took a 3-0 first inning lead with
RBIs by Patrick Stark and Liam Critchett.
Stark’s third inning home run extended the
lead to 4-0. The Eagles cut into the deficit in
the fifth inning with a couple of runs when
Evan Smith and Conrad Bernstein both scored
to make it 4-2.
Redondo’s three-run sixth inning didn’t
deter the Eagles. At the bottom of the sixth
inning, Jose Hurtado drew a walk and
Julian Rodriquez singled; both ended up
scoring to make it 7-4. The Sea Hawks put
together a three-run seventh inning and win
the 47th Annual Stevenson Gold Division
Tournament title.
The Eagles open their defense of the
Ocean league title this week with games
against Beverly Hills. Weather permitting the
Eagles were on the road Tuesday and host
the Normans today at 3:15 p.m. Saturday
they travel to South Torrance to take on the
Spartans at 11 a.m. in the opening round of
the Redondo Tournament. Next week they
host Torrance on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Softball Team
Facing Stiff Opposition
The Eagles have been playing an arduous
schedule to start the season. They defeated a
solid Serra team 6-0, and then fell to Orange
County powers Aliso Niguel 3-0 and San
Clemente 4-2 in the Savannah Tournament.
Bailey Gertsch pitched a complete game
four-hit shutout against Serra. The hardthrowing
sophomore struck out 14 and walked
just one to earn her second victory. The Eagles
scored five first inning runs by Katie Croxall,
Laila Phillips, Sophia Marrero, Mya Bennett
and Krista Cleland. In the second inning,
the Eagles extended their lead to 6-0 when
Croxall walked and later scored. It was an
impressive win for the Eagles who had their
most productive inning of the young season.
Gertsch had perhaps her best outing allowing
just three fly balls and four ground balls.
The Eagles were shutout 3-0 against Aliso
Niguel. Their offense consisted of singles by
Mya Bennett and Laila Phillips. Gertsch threw
well enough to win, giving up three runs on
six hits and struck out eight; she just didn’t
get the run support.
Against San Clemente the Eagles took a
2-0 first inning lead but fell 4-2. El Segundo’s
scoring came in the first inning when Katie
Croxall and Bella Gridley each singled and
ended up scoring. That would be the extent
of the scoring for El Segundo, who was shut
down the rest of the way. The Tritons scored
all of their runs in the third inning on four
hits and took advantage of a walk.
Avery Chavez took the loss for the Eagles
going seven innings, striking out two while
scattering nine hits.
The Eagles faced Carson and South Torrance
in the Torrance TNT on Tuesday, weather
permitting.
News and Notes
The Eagles will be represented in the27th
annual South Bay High School Girls All-
Star Basketball Game, which will be played
Friday (March 20) at 5:30 p.m. in El Camino
College’s new gym. Reese Jones and Hannah
Chang have been selected to play in the
game. Jones is on the Blue team coached
by Redondo’s Marcelo Enriquez and North
Torrance’s Lauren Kamakami. Chang will play
for the Red team. Wiseburn Da Vinci ’s Kyla
Prince joins Chang on the Red team, which is
coached by San Pedro’s Kevin Simpson and
St. Mary Academy’s Tramon Steele.
The 30th annual South Bay High School
Boys All-Star Basketball Game follows the
girls at 7:30 p.m. Blake Cabrera, of Wiseburn
Da Vinci, is on the Boys Blue team, coached
by Peninsula’s Ryan Quinlan and North
Torrance’s Charlie Azzam. Vistamar’s Royce
Samaniego is on the Boys Red team coached
by San Pedro’s John Bobich and Mary Star’s
Mike Sestich.
Admission for the doubleheader, which is
sponsored by the South Bay Athletic Club, is
$10 for adults and $5 for students and children.
Additionally, the annual South Bay All-Star
Softball Game will be played Wednesday, June
3 at Recreation Park, and the annual South
Bay All-Star Baseball Game will be played
Friday, June 5, also at Stevenson Field. •
Logan Sharp goes up to make a point against Redondo
Casey Lund digs a powerful hit by Redondo’s Christian Thomas
(Number 8): Justin Otterberg and (number 16) Jake Lubs go up to block Redondo’s Riley Norman’s shot attempt
Robby Pedersen goes up for a kill against Redondo.
Aiden McRoberts threw a complete game against Paramount in
El Segundo’s 10-4 win.
Sports