EL SEGUNDO HERALD July 21, 2016 Page 5 Legion Team Continues By Gregg McMullin The El Segundo Babe Ruth League has had plenty of All-Star teams that have had success. After all, a league that can claim eight World Series championship banners has the right to boast. There have plenty of teams that reached the Pacific Southwest Regional tournaments too. But this year it all stopped at the state level. Each of the teams including the 15-year-olds, 14-year-olds and 13-year-old All-Star teams have all been eliminated. The 15’s were first to be eliminated. The 14’s were eliminated in the loser’s bracket final and the 13’s were defeated in the championship elimination game. Head coach Joe Dornblaser, of the 14-year-old All-Star team, sent his ace Cameron Dornblaser to the mound to face Torrance in the elimination game. Cam Dornblaser had thrown a complete game win against Simi Valley and had two days rest before facing Torrance. The hard throwing right-hander’s velocity was down but knowing what was at stake he took the mound in an epic and valiant effort. Torrance capitalized on a couple of El Segundo errors and misplayed balls and went on to win 4-1. All of the scoring came in the third inning. El Segundo took a 1-0 lead when Dornblaser doubled, followed by a sacrifice by Bailey Davis. With Dornblaser on third base Nathan Kehl’s RBI bunt single scored the game’s first run. El Segundo’s 1-0 lead didn’t last long. Torrance took a 2-0 lead on an error. A squeeze bunt scored another run and a fielder’s choice scored their final run that gave Torrance a 4-1 lead they wouldn’t surrender. El Segundo had an opportunity to close the gap in the fifth inning but their rally was cut short. Eric Batty’s first managerial job will go down as a success. The former El Segundo high school baseball and football standout took his baseball knowledge to another level by getting his team to the state finals. With a trip to the Pacific Southwest Regional tournament in Surprise, Arizona, El Segundo would need to come through the loser’s bracket after losing a 7-6 heartbreaker to Westchester in the winner’s bracket final. Against Westchester, the locals looked solid by taking a 3-1 lead in the first inning. Westchester tied the game in the fourth inning before El Segundo took a short-lived 4-3 fifth inning lead. Westchester scored four runs on a grand slam in the bottom half of the fifth inning and held on for the 7-6 win when El Segundo scored once in the sixth and seventh innings. Julian Rodriquez was 2-for-2, walked twice and scored twice to lead his team. The hardhitting catcher was one reason teams in the tournament wouldn’t run on El Segundo. Matt Finders, who played brilliantly, throughout the tournament at second base, was also a threat at the plate going 2-for-3. Charlie Hoffman was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Andre Hernandez started for El Segundo and was effective through four innings before the big inning for Westchester. El Segundo faced Torrance in the elimination game and throttled an obviously under-coached Torrance team 4-1. The score wasn’t indicative of how well El Segundo played against a team that seemed more concerned on bunting. Nick Villa went the distance for El Segundo. The crafty lefthander allowed one unearned run on three hits while walking one and hitting one batter. Torrance’s only run came in the first inning when Joe Tena reached base on a fly ball that was dropped. He would later score on a single. Villa would limit Torrance’s offense to two other runners to reach second base. Finders was a magnet for ground balls and had five assists on tough plays to help thwart Torrance rallies. El Segundo took a 2-1 lead in the first inning that would prove to be the only two runs they’d need to dispatch their opponents. Michael Villarreal led off with a walk and went to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Finders. Julian Rodriquez walked and both Villarreal and Rodriquez advanced on a wild pitch. Danny Kopecky then ripped a two run single giving El Segundo a 2-1 lead. In the second inning, Luke Kerin reached on a bunt single and scored on a bases loaded RBI single by Finders to make it 3-1. In the third inning Kopecky, who was 3-for-3, singled and promptly stole second base. He would later score on a double steal that was set in motion by Villa, which gave El Segundo a 4-1 lead. El Sports Shorts Duncan Retires, but Is He Better Than Kobe? By Adam Serrao Nothing about Tim Duncan was ever flashy. Standing at 6 feet 11 inches tall, Duncan was a quiet, gentle giant who let his play on the basketball court speak for itself. If there was one thing that stood out the most “His career will speak for itself as being perhaps one of the best careers a power forward has ever experienced in the history of the league.” about Duncan, it was the five championship trophies that he collected and brought to San Antonio throughout his 19 year NBA career. Just as silently as Duncan came, he also left. On July 11, Duncan quietly announced his retirement from the NBA. There was no big press conference. No crying at a podium. No bright lights or glitz and glamour. Just one simple announcement that came through the newswire and like that, Duncan was gone and retired. His career will speak for itself as being perhaps one of the best careers a power forward has ever experienced in the history of the league. As good as Duncan was, though, will he be overshadowed by Los Angeles’ very own, Kobe Bryant? Duncan and Bryant happened to retire from the game that they both so loved in the same exact year; Duncan after 19 years of service, Kobe after 20. The conversation about who was the better player can go on and on, as it has, listing stat after stat comparing the two players to one another in every single numerical category. Not only would that be boring, though, but it also wouldn’t work. Duncan and Bryant played two exclusively different positions on the basketball court, so comparing the two players to one another by statistics only would be like comparing the health benefits you receive from a fruit as opposed to a vegetable. They’re both beneficial to your health, so just consume both. That’s what we’ve done with the careers of Bryant and Duncan. We’ve already consumed them. They were both good for us. But is there a way to tell which one was better? Proponents of Bryant will go off saying that he averaged so many points a game, scored so many points in his career and made so many All-Star games. Duncan’s supporters, on the other hand, will list his player efficiency rating, rebounding numbers and total blocked shots. Again, those numbers are all boring and mean nothing because the two players play different positions on the court. Duncan should have more rebounds. Kobe should have more points. What really stands out about a career, however, is how you played with others and the result attained at the end of the regular season. The Spurs have won 71 percent of the games that have been played throughout Duncan’s career. That’s a pretty staggering number that is given even more light once it is realized that in his 19 years in the NBA, Duncan has never been on a team that has won less than 50 games. That’s pretty impressive; especially considering that Kobe and the Lakers are coming off of the final season of his career in which they won a total of 17 games. Duncan had the unique ability to be selfless, take less money to get better players on his team, take the back seat to players like Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard, and continuously put his team in a position to win, year after year. Bryant, meanwhile, had to be the A, number one, alpha dog, man-of-all-men every time he stepped out there on the court. That same drive and ambition is certainly what led to five championships for the Black Mamba, but it’s also what pushed certain players away, decreased the talent on the team, and led to back-to-back franchise-worst seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers. While “The Big Fundamental” - as Duncan was plainly called - experienced continued success with his team, year after year, Bryant See Legion Team, page 7 See Duncan, page 16 Strikers Win Title at Tournament Strikers FC South Bay, an El Segundo based club with the majority of the club players residing in El Segundo, and the remainder living in the South Bay, took 1st place at the 2016 Girl’s Oxnard United Invitational Tournament the weekend of July 9. The Strikers beat Sherman Oaks Extreme in the finals, 2-0, after losing to them the day before. First Row (starting from the left): Sammi Herrera, Sam Neumier, Elena DiCerbo, Sophia Lang and Sam Stahl. Back Row (starting from the left): Allie Stevenson, Jesi Cobian, Cameron Lane, Amy Strait, Ava Adlam and Coach Olly Muggleton. • Douglass M O R T U A R Y “Our Family Serving Yours Since 1954” B U R I A L - C R E M A T I O N - W O R L D W I D E T R A N S F E R P E T M E M O R I A L P R O D U C T S 500 EAST IMPERIAL AVENUE EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 90245 Telephone (310) 640-9325 • Fax (310) 640-0778 • FD658
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