EL SEGUNDO HERALD May 7, 2015 Page 5 by Gregg McMullin Photos by Gregg McMullin, unless otherwise indicated. One of the most frustrating weeks for El Segundo high school head softball coach Keith Cameron started with an Ocean League showdown with Santa Monica where the Eagles lost a heartbreaker to a team that hasn’t lost a league game in 115 games, going back more than ten years. It ended with wins over two powerhouse teams to claim the 30th annual El Segundo Tournament. What started out with a demoralizing loss to Santa Monica and a frustrating loss to North Torrance three days later ended with the tournament championship. Coach Cameron was confident his team would rebound after the losses to Santa Monica and North Torrance. “This is a resilient team and they know how to work through adversity.” The Eagles traveled to Santa Monica to face a team that has one of the longest league win streaks in the state. The Vikings are the defending CIF Division 4 champions and their success has been built around solid pitching. The Eagles appeared ready to take down the Vikings early. Alyssa Pelegrin had an RBI single in the first inning to give the Eagles some confidence but in the end that poise was devastated with a 4-2 loss. The Eagle outhit the Vikings and stranded eight runners in scoring position including leaving the bases loaded. The Eagles were their own worst enemy by not getting a key hit here or there as well as committing a couple untimely errors. El Segundo had two runners on with two outs in the seventh inning. Pelegrin hammered one that would have clearly been a homerun at home. But with the Vikings’ outfield, playing monster deep, on an endless field the ball was caught to end the game. The Eagles bounced back by defeating Beverly Hills 11-0, pounding out 17 hits in the process. The North Torrance game was an epic showdown against two of the South Bay’s best two teams. El Segundo and North may not be Pioneer League opponents anymore but the rivalry between the two teams remains strong. North, which is the top ranked CIF-SS Division 4 team, won a volatile game 10-6 that featured The Best Day in Sports That Was By Adam Serrao Almost one week ago to the day, May 2nd represented what was supposed to be the best day out of the year for sports goers. Naturally, everyone will have their own opinion about which sports mean the most, but a day that had hockey, horse racing, basketball and one of the biggest boxing matches of all time (to name a few) has to at least be somewhere high up on your list. Certain sports caught us all off guard and certain sports went “The most talked about, hyped and anticipated fight in the history of the sport possibly was a huge letdown.” exactly how we all would have expected. What mattered the most, though, is that for one entire day the sporting world captured our entire and complete attention. What would discussing last Saturday even be if the biggest boxing match in the history of the sport wasn’t the focus of attention. Naturally, everyone has their own opinion of the fight that took place last Saturday night between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, but to me personally, it felt like a scam. Boxing purists are going to tell you that it was Mayweather at his vintage best. Dancing around the ring, using defense to his advantage, Pacquiao threw 429 punches and landed only 81. On the other hand, Mayweather threw 435 and landed 148. The percentage there lies in favor of Mayweather. That being so, he won the fight, remained undefeated, and cashed in on quite a nice payday. If you look at the fight from a non-numerical standpoint, however, it seems very much like Mayweather and Pacquiao had a discussion about how they were going to dance around the right for 12 rounds, be sure not to hurt one another, and walk away from the MGM grand in Las Vegas with all of our money, laughing all the way to the bank. After watching a fight where pretty much nothing of any substance happened, one would be hard pressed not to think such things. The most talked about, hyped and anticipated fight in the history of the sport possibly was a huge letdown. The only thing that I personally took away from it was that should there be a rematch, I’d rather spend my time doing something else rather than give those two fighters who looked as if the fight happened five years too late another cent of my money. “It’s a good fight,” Mayweather said. “I thought I won the fight. He didn’t do anything. He moved outside. I got him many more times with a lot of punches and I thought I won the fight; I was never hurt.” Yes, Floyd. We know. You were not hurt and you did, indeed, win the fight. Congratulations. The fight itself generated a live gate of $74 million and the pay-per-view take-in shattered the previous buy record of 2.48 million and revenue record of $150 million. The event even brought together two rival networks, HBO and Showtime, who were both live at the fight. Mayweather is expected to earn somewhere near $180 million from the fight that allowed him to do calisthenics for about thirty minutes. Pacquiao will make near $120 million. Quite a nice payday for two fighters who clearly knew what they were getting themselves into. Well, how ‘bout them Dodgers? They played last Saturday night, too, and won, mind you. Joc Pederson hit another home run to continue on with what will most likely be his stellar Rookie of the Year season and newcomer Howie Kendrick’s tie-breaking RBI single lifted the “Boys in Blue” to a 6-4 victory of their division rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks. The real Los Angeles story of the day, however, was the Los Angeles Clippers. Chris Paul’s best impersonation of Willis Reed was good enough to lift the Clippers to a Game 7 victory over the San Antonio Spurs and see the team advance to the Western Conference Semifinals for just the fourth time in franchise history. “I thought about the team and all the things we’d been through,” Paul said. “I know that if it was any other guy on our team in a situation like this, they wouldn’t lay down. So I just tried to find a way.” Paul injured his hamstring in the first quarter of the game, left the game briefly in the first quarter, but willed himself back into the competition and hit the game winning shot for his team with one second remaining on the clock. The Clippers will take on the Houston Rockets next. Who could forget about the horse races? American pride was ringing far and wide as Bob Baffert’s horse, American Pharoah edged out Firing Line for the Kentucky Derby win. Dortmund finished third. The most exciting two minutes in sports lived up to the billing and now American Pharoah has entered his name into the running for a Triple Crown. Next, Lady Eagles End Tough Week Successfully Monique Benjamin tossed a three hitter in the finals against Port of L.A. and was named the tournament MVP. See Eagles, page 6 See Best Day, page 8
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