Page 8 May 22, 2014 TORRANCE TRIBUNE Clippers Are No Kings By Adam Serrao Even the most loyal of Los Angeles Kings fans probably would not have expected this when they were down 0-3 to the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the playoffs. Wanted it to happen? Yes. But wanting something to happen is very different from expecting something to happen. Last Thursday night at Staples Center, however, there weren’t cheers heard coming “Last Thursday night at Staples Center, however, there weren’t cheers heard coming from the inside of the arena, but rather, boos and sentiments of unhappiness.” from the inside of the arena, but rather, boos and sentiments of unhappiness. This wasn’t the Kings going on a remarkable six game winning streak to extend their playoff lives and recapture an entire cities hockey interest. This was the much heralded Los Angeles Clippers losing in the second round of the playoffs, once again, with an All-Star caliber roster. Last Thursday night as the second round of both the NBA and hockey crept toward a close, one thing became clear. The Clippers are the exact opposite of the Kings. The Los Angeles Kings have this weird tendency to finally begin playing to the absolute best of their ability when they are one game away from being eliminated from the playoffs. They did it against the Sharks when they rallied off four straight wins to advance to the second round and they did it against the Anaheim Ducks when they were down in the series 3-2, also coming back to win. It’s something about the pressure: the weight of being on the brink of ‘no more hockey’ makes Jonathan Quick faster and more agile and Marian Gaborik the best sharpshooter in the entire world. Either way, last Friday night at the Honda center the Kings advanced to their third consecutive appearance in the Western Conference Finals by defeating the Ducks by a final score of 6-2. With the win, they became 6-0 in games where they faced elimination. Before just a few years ago, the Kings never had a chance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Like the Clippers, they had never won a championship before and never had much success against the game’s elite teams. In the last three years, however, a dynasty has arisen in Los Angeles hockey. The Kings no longer buckle under pressure, but thrive amidst it. They win games when it matters most and have now built a lasting reputation for success. The Clippers, statistically, enjoyed their best regular season in franchise history this year. With Chris Paul at the helm alongside Blake Griffin and Doc Rivers coaching it up, there was no reason to believe that the Clippers wouldn’t at least make a deep run into the playoffs this year. After almost getting eliminated in the first round against the Golden State Warriors, the Clippers advanced in seven games to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder with the intent of making it to the Western Conference Finals for the first time ever. As we all now know, that didn’t happen. Sure, there were distractions galore and everyone can point to those distractions and Donald Sterling as the reason why the Clippers season became so tumultuous. Or you can look at the game itself, when the Clippers had their collective backs up against the wall and needed to play their best basketball of the season to survive, but, well, they just didn’t. The Clippers led for almost every minute of the first three quarters of Game 6 and looked to be well on their way towards a Game 7 back in Oklahoma City. Instead of showing a championship-like tenacity, however, the Clippers proceeded to allow Kevin Durant and the Thunder to go on a 30-10 run as Blake Griffin eventually fouled out and the Clippers’ dreams of making history dissipated. Even though the Clippers looked prime to have a shot at going to the NBA Finals this year, it turns out that this season was no different than any other. Hopes of finally advancing past the conference semifinals quickly diminished and now, there are a countless number of questions remaining to be answered. What is going to happen with Donald Sterling? Will he still own the team? Will Doc Rivers stay to coach under Sterling’s ownership? Will the players stay to play? This may have been the Clippers’ best shot to win in franchise history and it ended unremarkably. Before you know it you might blink and the Clippers of today will be right back to the Clippers of yesteryear. While the Kings are on a mission to make history down at the Staples Center and hang another banner in the rafters, the Clippers are struggling to find their own identity and their own sense of belonging in Los Angeles. Right when it looks like the team is trending upwards, something awful happens and they fall right back down to the ground. The Kings continue to soar above their potential and put themselves into situations where they will win at all costs. Being behind in a series has never been a big deal for Quick, Gaborik and the rest; they simply dig themselves out with a championship mentality. Unfortunately for the Clippers, that King like; Championship like mentality has yet to exist. With the direction that things seem to be moving in for the Clippers, it may never come into existence at all. • Up and Adam Torrance Gains Piece of Pioneer Crown By Adam Serrao No one even needs to ask the Torrance Tartars if they knew that they had a lot on the line in last week’s final two-game series of the year against the North High Saxons. The answer is obvious. The final score of the team’s final game of the season made the answer even that much more obvious. With a 21-1 victory in the final game of the season at Kendall Field in Torrance, the Tartars closed out their 2014 regular season with a commanding performance against the Saxons and took home a share of the Pioneer League title in the process. The Tartars have scored 11 runs a few times before this season. They’ve even posted a game with 12 runs against Loyola and 13 runs against Centennial a few weeks ago. This, however, was by far the Tartars’ most impressive offensive performance of the season. Eleven different players were able to get a hit, at least nine batters came to the plate in three consecutive innings and at one point, the Tartars even hit three doubles in a row. “We came out with a lot more energy today,” Torrance shortstop Robbie Sylvester explained. “Everyone was in it to win it. We really wanted it and didn’t want to have to wait to see what South does. This is huge for us.” The only innings that the Tartars didn’t score a run in were the second and the seventh, while putting five on the board in the fourth and seven up there in the fifth. By the end of the fifth inning, Torrance had a 17-1 lead over their rivals from North Torrance and didn’t even let up then. Torrance’s star pitcher Kyle Smith benefited greatly from the run support that may have slightly overshadowed another impressive performance from him. Smith, through five innings of play, allowed just one run and three hits while striking out six and walking one on the day. Juniors Paul Moon and Jacob Vanderlinden came in to clean the game up for Smith once it was clearly out of reach. “All those runs helped,” Smith said. “After only scoring two runs the other day, this feels good. Everyone came out swinging. We wanted the league title.” The Tartars also beat the Saxons last Tuesday in the first game of the two-game set by a final score of 2-1 before the 21 run drubbing on Thursday. Manny Olloque was huge on offense for Torrance, going 3-for-4 with three hits, three runs scored and four RBIs. Seven other Tartars had at least two RBI’s, including Sylvester who had three while going 2-for-5 with three runs scored and a double. North High ended their baseball season having lost seven games in a row while winning only two times in league play and dropping down to fifth place in the Pioneer League standings, ahead of only Centennial. Torrance, on the other hand, finished the year hot by winning 11 games in a row. They weren’t able to get any help from El Segundo, however, who dropped two in a row to South High; the team that was tied for first with Torrance in the standings. Despite taking only a share of the title, the Tartars still celebrated their win and take a lot of momentum with them into the playoffs. Follow the Tartars here every week to see if they can capture the CIF title in this year’s 2014 High School baseball playoffs. South High The South High Spartans already knew the situation going into last Thursday night’s game against El Segundo. Already having heard of Torrance’s win over North High, the Spartans knew they would need a victory in order to capture a share of this year’s Pioneer League title in the last game of the season. With everything on the line, head coach Grady Sain turned to his ace pitcher Drake Pingel and got exactly what he wanted. Allowing just four hits on the night, Pingel went the full seven and threw a complete game shutout for South High when they needed it the most. The Spartans 4-0 victory over the Sea Hawks last Thursday night in El Segundo ensure the Spartans a share of the Pioneer League title and a great seed going into this year’s playoffs. “He’s an ace,” Sain said of his young pitcher. “He rarely elevated the ball and his ball moves. It has natural movement.” Together with senior Matt Mogollon, Pingel solidified a scary top of the rotation for South High going into the playoffs. “Coming into this game I had confidence in myself, I had confidence in my team, especially our defense and I knew our offense was coming around,” Pingel said. Kyle Henmi was a big part of instilling that confidence in the offense for Pingel; he went 2-for-4 on the night with a run scored and two RBIs, including a key double in the sixth inning with two outs that gave South its final run. The win allowed the Spartans to finish on top of the Pioneer League for the second time in a row. This year, they tied with Torrance. Last year, South tied with both Torrance and El Segundo. West High The West High Warriors one-upped the Torrance Tartars in their last game of the season this year. Instead of scoring 21 runs like Torrance did, West put up 22 against their division rival, Leuzinger. The Warriors have been red-hot lately, winning their last four games of the season and five out of their last six. Head coach Juan Cueva and company were able to keep that momentum going into their series against the Olympians. West put up 18 hits on the afternoon and came out on fire in the first inning, rallying for six runs before you could even blink an eye. The worst was yet to come for Leuzinger, however, as they suffered through a painful and agonizing fourth inning that saw the Warriors score 14 of their 22 runs. Their sweep over Leuzinger allowed the Warriors to jump on top of the Pioneer League as Palos Verdes Peninsula lost their final two games of the season. With a tough start to the season, the Warriors pulled through, finished strong and captured their first Bay League crown since the 2010-’11 season. That year, West lost in the first round of the playoffs and will certainly be looking to prove that they can get farther than that this time. • 3902 Pacic Coast Hwy, Suite D Since 1988 Auto • Commercial Auto • Business Liability • Workers Comp Watercraft • Motorhome • Health (Individual & Group) Verch Insurance Services Homeowners • Life • Renters • Restaurants / Bars For all your insurance needs, Give Us a Call Today! 310-322-1626 Lic.# 0G13457 www.verchinsurance.com 302 West Grand Ave.,Suite 8 • El Segundo,CA 90245 For more information visit Torrance, Ca 90510 Crosshairs USA Tactical Gear Mon, Wed, urs, Fri, Sat: 11am - 7pm Sunday: 11am - 5pm Closed Wednesday An Authorized Historical Armory Dealer 2014 Historical Armory, Inc. © Los Angeles County Limited Edition Rie
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