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Page 8 August 24, 2017 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
El Segundo 14U All-Stars Girls Softball Team Makes History
The El Segundo Girls Softball (ESGS)
14U All-Star team made history in August by
getting all the way to the Western National
Championship game in Roseville, California.
Dodgers Adding More Key Eagles from page 7
Pieces for October Playoff Run
and having Jess Caravello and Gunnar Rogers
play both ways. Both Caravello and Rogers are
considered two of the top offensive linemen
By Adam Serrao
in the Ocean League. “I hate to lean on Jess
What’s most amazing about the Los Angeles
and Gunnar to go both ways, but I’m sure
Dodgers may not even be their record, which
they’ll both be counted on to play on defense
is by far the best in baseball and could wind
too,” said Heck.
up being the tops in Major League Baseball
Junior defensive tackle Bailey Greenberg and
history. The team that is dominating the
sophomores Jose Aceves, Ben Rojas and Justin
National League West and all of baseball is
Delgado will see the most time. Though they
doing so without its best pitcher and without
each have inexperience at the varsity level, they
a few key pieces of their lineup. With just
have all worked hard under the watchful eye of
over one month of the regular season left to
defensive coaches Jeff Puffer, Makana McCarthy
play, the deepest lineup to maybe ever play
and Joey Boulder. “The three sophomores are
the game of baseball is poised to get even
really improving and Bailey is working really
deeper and more explosive, if that can even
hard,” said McCarthy.
be fathomed.
What was supposed to be the most glaring
hole in the Dodgers’ lineup is revving up to
get back into action. Barring an unforeseen
setback, Clayton Kershaw should be back in
the starting rotation sooner, rather than later,
for the first time since a lower back strain
sidelined the ace on July 24. Kershaw threw
a 35-pitch simulated game last week and
will presumably throw against live hitters
sometime this week. “Once he passes that
marker right there, then we’ll see where
he goes,” Dodgers manager Dace Roberts
explained. “It’s probably going to be a start
either in Tulsa or OKC.”
Don’t tell the Dodgers or their fans, but
it’s looking like the team doesn’t even need
Kershaw. Since his departure to injury, the
Dodgers had only lost four games in his
absence dating back to last Sunday, while
putting together a 21-4 record in that same
time frame, if you count the game from
which Kershaw was removed.
What has become the scariest part about
Kershaw’s impending return is imagining
the Dodgers rotation once the starters are all
fully healthy. Beginning with Kershaw, the
rotation would also boast a variety of starters
including the recently acquired Yu Darvish
and a mix of Alex Wood, Rich Hill, Kenta
Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu. That combination
is as good as, if not better than any in the
entire league. The numbers prove that fact to
be true as well. With a team ERA hovering
right around 3.10 as of last weekend, the
Dodgers’ overall ERA amongst starting
pitchers was the best in all of baseball.
Pitching isn’t the only thing that the
Dodgers have been bulking up on lately.
Adrian Gonzalez returned to the batting order
for the first time in 57 games last Friday,
adding even more depth to an already elite
lineup. “I feel great,” Gonzalez said after
being activated from the 60-day disabled
list. “Last year was when the whole issue
started with the back. Right now, I feel like
I’m before that, before it all started. So
Heck concedes the inexperience on the line
could be a factor on how he calls the defense.
He says that Head Coach Steve Shevlin has
entrusted him to run the defense and will rely
on his instincts again this season. “Coach Heck
runs the defense and he has my full support.
He and the other defensive assistant coaches
are the reason our defense has been so good,”
Shevlin said.
With that in mind Heck says they’ll run
the same type of defense, but will run more
stunts and blitzes. He says with the experienced
secondary, they may run more one-on-one too.
Look for El Segundo’s defense to be tested
against teams they’ve shut down the past few
seasons. •
Hunter Lynch, one of the top defensive backs as a junior, gets some instruction from defensive coordinator Dan Heck.
hopefully this is the end of the back issue.”
If his play has anything to say about it, it
certainly looks like it is the end. Gonzalez
doubled in his first at-bat since June 11 and
went on to knock in the first run of the game
last Saturday afternoon in what wound up
being a 3-0 Dodger win.
The run that Gonzalez knocked in just so
happened to be his new Dodger teammate,
Curtis Granderson. The Dodgers traded for
Granderson last Friday night and in doing so
immediately upgraded offensively over Joc
Pederson, who was sent to AAA to work
on his swing before his inevitable recall in
September. Granderson, previously of the
New York Mets, learned of the trade just
after midnight Saturday morning on the
East Coast. He was in Detroit to start in
right field for the Dodgers when they took
on the Tigers later that day. Granderson got
to work right away, scoring the first run of
the game for his new team on Saturday in
a 3-0 win. The very next day, he broke up
Justin Verlander’s no-hit bid with a home
run in the sixth inning for the first run of the
game (and the Dodgers’ only run that day).
Granderson’s arrival, combined with the
reemergence of Gonzalez and the looming
reinstatement of Andre Ethier, will give
Roberts a very good problem to have. Those
players, together with the likes of Cody
Bellinger and Chris Taylor (who can play just
about anywhere) will not only give the Dodgers
an extremely deep bench, but also allow the
team the versatility to move players around
on the field. Heading into the playoffs, Los
Angeles will continue to have the strongest
pitching staff in the entire league, combined
with one of the most powerful batting orders
and deepest lineups that baseball has seen
in quite some time.
The Dodgers may not break the record for
most wins in an entire season. They may
even break their trend and go on a mini-slump
heading into the playoffs. What’s important,
though, isn’t how the team finishes the
regular season. The Dodgers and their front
office have done everything that they can to
set their team up for postseason success. A
roster that is only getting healthier by the
day should be primed to perform both down
the stretch in September and well into the
playoff months of October and November.
Now, the machine that is the Dodgers simply
needs to keep on grinding. It’s not the
postseason yet, but this Los Angeles squad
is showing the most promise of any other
Dodgers team in recent history of bringing
home a World Series title.
– Asixlion@earthlink.net •
Their second place finish was the best
result in ESGS’s 50-year history!
The 14U All-Star team finished with a 34-
7-1 record, won four tournaments including
the LA/South Bay District Championship,
and placed second at the State Championships.
The Western Nationals Championship
was a double elimination tournament with 38
teams competing for the title. El Segundo
played nine games over six days and fell just
short in the finals to the defending national
champions, Bonita Valley (Chula Vista, CA).
Former ESGS President Lance Giroux
summed up what it was like to watch the
14U team play: “I have never seen in my
life another team in any sport that worked
harder, was mentally tougher or supported
and pulled for each other so unconditionally
more than this team,” he said. “It was
a team in its truest form. When other teams
and players would shrink under pressure or
when the spotlight was too bright, the 2017
14U Eagles rose up and came through time
and time again. You can’t teach that...you
either have it inside or you don’t. They
definitely had it!”
Many of the members of the 14U team have
been playing for El Segundo Girls Softball
for several years—seven of the girls since
they were five or six years old. For most
of them, this will likely be the end of their
time in ESGS as they enter high school. It
was an incredible journey and finish for the
girls and the coaching staff. •
Front row (L to R): Krista Cleland, Erin Graner, Mya Bennett, Marlee Johnson, Kelly Carignan. Second row (L to R): Grace Bonney,
Taylor Gray, Macey Cochran, Mia Bacura, Alex Hamilton, Haley Hart, Audrey Maloy. Coaches: Rob Graner, Steve Cleland and Rick
Mack. Photo Credit: Chris Mack
Tim Schartz will call the defensive plays.