Page 4 March 23, 2017 Hawthorne Slumping in the Early Going By Adam Serrao The Hawthorne Cougars boys’ baseball team began this year with high hopes after coming off of a season in which the team finished in last place. Typically, another year of experience for a team returning many of its starters from last season might mean success. For Hawthorne, though, success has been hard to come by in a non-league schedule that is sure to lead into extremely difficult matchups across the board against traditionally talented Ocean League rivals. A 3-0 shutout loss at the hands of the North High Saxons last Thursday afternoon at North High was the latest misstep in a season that is slowly going awry for head coach JC Randolph and the Cougars. Junior pitcher for Hawthorne Johnny Pacheco took the mound for the Cougars during the team’s latest attempt to steal a win before the beginning of Ocean League play this season. Pacheco began the game looking smooth, but it wasn’t long before he would run into some trouble. In the bottom of the third inning, it was opposing pitcher Kyle Hatai who would get to Pacheco and the Cougars first. Hatai drove in the first run of the game, giving North High a 1-0 lead while also leaving Pacheco with an early deficit. Things didn’t get much better for Pacheco and it wasn’t long before the Saxons would tack on a few more runs to add to their lead. Two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning would not only give North what looked to be an insurmountable lead, but also chased Pacheco from the game. Relief pitcher Carlos Jacobo would ultimately come in to stop the damage and hold the Saxons scoreless for the rest of the game. Pacheco finished the game with 4.2 innings pitched, allowing five hits and two earned runs while striking out three and walking four. Jacobo pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and recording one strikeout. There wasn’t much to be heard of from the Cougars’ offense on the day. North’s pitcher Hatai didn’t do his opposition any favors by showing up with one of his best all-around games of the young season. Hatai struck out 12 Hawthorne batters and wound up pitching a complete-game shutout, fooling opposing batters for seven innings. Jacobo did find some success on the base pads, though he wasn’t able to score a run. The senior had one hit on three plate appearances, but was also able to steal two bases to put at least a bit of fear into Hatai’s mind. Seniors David Sandoval, Charles Phelps and Victor Valdez each finished the game with one hit as well. The loss marked Hawthorne’s second in a row and fourth in the team’s last five games. The matchup against North High was the last non-league matchup of the regular season for the Cougars. Now, an always difficult Ocean League schedule awaits where Hawthorne will be forced to battle against the likes of the Santa Monica Vikings, the Beverly Hills Normans and the Culver City Centaurs, among others. Despite Hawthorne’s early struggles, only one league victory in 10 games played one season ago shouldn’t be too difficult for the team to improve upon this year. Lawndale High Despite an Opening Day 27-1 victory over Hawthorne Math and Science Academy, the Lawndale Cardinals have had a rough go of things this season. A 3-2 loss to the Leuzinger Olympians last Thursday afternoon was just the latest misstep in a season that is quickly going downhill for head coach Jeff Prihode and company. Now, with six losses in their last seven games, the Cardinals will have to rely on success within a traditionally difficult Ocean League to get their season turned around quickly. The Cardinals scored first in their game against Leuzinger when senior Michael Zambrano got things going for an early 1-0 lead. Junior Julian Diaz extended the team’s lead in the top of the fourth with an RBI hit for a run, while senior Roberto Novela held things down early by keeping the Olympians off the board through four consecutive innings. Unfortunately for Novela and Lawndale, it was in the fifth inning in which they would run into trouble. Novela allowed one earned run in the bottom of the fifth before he was pulled for senior pitcher Leo Cervantes. Cervantes allowed a run himself before finally getting out of the nightmare inning. Leuzinger and Lawndale remained tied heading into the bottom of the seventh inning before the Olympians came through with a walk-off, game-winning run off of Novela. Zambrano finished the game with two hits, one RBI and one run scored. Cervantes and junior Jayce Dempsey each contributed two hits to the offensive effort as well. Lawndale is going to need a lot more offense if it wishes to compete in a traditionally tough Ocean League this season. The Cardinals will take on their rivals from Santa Monica at the end of the month when we will also have a much better idea of how the rest of Lawndale’s season should wind up. Inglewood High The Inglewood Sentinels have set out upon a season in which the team and head coach Kewatta Wade hope to win more than just one game this year. With one victory already under their belts, the Sentinels will take the field this Wednesday against the Centennial Apaches to try to acquire another before beginning league play in early April with a doubleheader against last year’s third place finisher, the Palos Verdes Sea Kings. Bay League baseball is filled with talent that will make an Inglewood squad that has traditionally had a hard time fielding a competitive baseball team struggle to get victories this season. • Beware of Mayweather/ McGregor Fight By Adam Serrao Don’t look now, but a potential fight between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and the UFC’s Conor McGregor seems to be gaining steam and is basically all but finalized. While the potential fight hasn’t gained full approval from the boxing commission or even from McGregor’s camp yet, there is simply too much money on the line for either of the two potential competitors to turn it down. Because of all of the money at stake, buyers should beware of spending their hard-earned cash in order to be duped by Mayweather again. We all remember what happened when he took to the ring to take on Manny Pacquiao in May of 2015. The two combatants danced around each other, hesitant to throw any punch of significance, and both laughed their way to the bank. A fight between Mayweather and McGregor would simply be more of the same with us, the fans, losing in the ring. Mayweather isn’t only arguably one of the best boxers to ever put gloves on and get inside of the ring, but he is also one of the greatest businessmen in professional sports. That being said, he certainly knows what he is doing when it comes to big-ticket fights like the one that Mayweather vs. McGregor is sure to be. It is currently estimated that Floyd “Money” Mayweather is worth approximately $650 million, according to the Forbes rich list. Much of that projected wealth came from the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight when the two fighters listlessly danced around one another for an hour and divvied up a purse of roughly $230 million ($19.1 million per boring round). A fight between Mayweather and McGregor is expected to easily double that figure and is speculated to gross upwards of $500 million. If you were either athlete, why wouldn’t you do it? Receiving almost $40 million per round to dance from rope to rope while we all sit on the couch and stuff our faces with nachos hoping for blood is a no-brainer. But with Mayweather and McGregor, blood will be the last thing to drip on the canvas when the fight does eventually take place. Sure, you’ll hear a lot of bickering leading up to the fight. McGregor will throw things at a press conference, exclaim that he’s the greatest to ever live, and badmouth Mayweather every way that he can. Mayweather will do the same in a more toned-down fashion, insisting that he’s the greatest who ever lived and is simply unbeatable. What really goes on behind the scenes, however, is what the fan fails to see. Behind the scenes is where Mayweather and McGregor shake hands and agree to walk away with tons of money, all while practicing theater in the process. What the general public will see isn’t real. It’s simply a charade put on by two fighters who are both looking to drum up as much publicity as possible so that they can walk away with as much money as they possibly can. Mayweather has already come out of his self-proclaimed retirement with the caveat that doing so was with the simple intent to fight McGregor. McGregor, on the other hand, obtained a boxing license in California last November. While the fight hasn’t been finalized yet, everything is certainly leading to its confirmation sooner, rather than later. McGregor is currently taking some time away from all sports in general to be with his expectant girlfriend, who is said to be looking forward to the couple’s first child this May. While not having committed to the fight entirely just yet, McGregor has said that he’d do it for $100 million, which is what Mayweather and Pacquiao each made for their fight. A Mayweather/McGregor fight is expected to well-exceed those figures. With his first child on the way and a payday like that basically in the books, what athlete in their right mind would turn a “fight” against Mayweather down? The publicity machine hasn’t even begun to start whirring with all of the fake controversy and craziness that the finalization of this fight will formulate. It is, however, bound to happen, and could even happen as early as this summer. The end result, of course, will be Mayweather winning--probably at the end of 12 extremely boring rounds. It will be a boxing match, however, and a boxing match that the UFC star McGregor, has never participated in either professionally or as an amateur. It isn’t the skill level of McGregor that fans are necessarily concerned with, however. It’s the amount of money that is on the line. Money creates magnetism and for that simple fact, hordes of fans will line up and be tempted to watch. An estimated 4.6 million people tuned it to watch the money-grab that was Mayweather vs. Pacquiao. A Mayweather vs. McGregor fight will likely grab even more people’s attentions. Instead of going out and paying some ungodly cover charge to watch it at a bar--or even worse, spending the $100 to watch it at home on pay-per-view--simply fall asleep like you do every night and read the sports headlines in the morning. While Mayweather vs. McGregor may gather tons and tons of publicity, there is no questioning the fact that the only entertainment value to be gained is not for the fans, but for the two extremely wealthy fighters in the center of the ring. • – Asixlion@earthlink.net Every Visit our Website www.heraldpublications.com issue always available online! New Issues/Old Issues • Out-of-town? Read the Herald newspapers online • Interested in an article from a prior date? See it online • Excited about an ad, photo, or article? 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