TORRANCE TRIBUNE July 16, 2015 Page 3 See South, page 6 15-2536ps_sby-ie-15-014 ©2015 lacmta Metro Rail is Turning 25! Thank you, LA County, for 25 years of Metro Rail! With your support, we’ve expanded Metro Rail from one line to six lines that now span 87 miles across the region… and we’re not done yet. Learn more and >nd out about the festivities and free events at metro.net/25. Gold Line and Expo Line Testing Continues Metro Rail's Gold Line and Expo Line extensions are one step closer to opening as train testing continues. The Expo Line Phase II Project will extend Expo Line service from Culver City to Santa Monica and the Foothill Extension Project will extend Gold Line service from Pasadena to Azusa. Each extension is scheduled to open in 2016. Learn more at metro.net. VetsGo511: Helping You Find the Resources You Need Use VetsGo511, the one-stop source for veterans and others in the military community, to >nd reliable resources for housing, education, healthcare, employment and more. You’ll also >nd a calendar of events to connect you with your community, and a trip planner to get you there. To learn more, visit vetsgo511.com. See something? Say something. Almost one million people are victims of human tra;cking each year. Many of them are right here in LA County. If you have reason to believe someone might be a victim of human tra;cking, don’t be silent – report it. Call 888.950.SAFE. To learn more, visit metro.net/dontbesilent. metro.net @metrolosangeles losangelesmetro KIDS BOWL FREE! 7 Days a Week – 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. KIDS SUMMER MENU $5.50 (plus tax) your choice of: Grilled Cheese Peanut Butter & Jelly Slice of Cheese Pizza Hamburger Hot Dog Apple Juice or Skim Milk Apple Slices or French Fries Register at www.kidsbowlfree.com/palosverdes For more information please call Charlotte at charlotte@pvbowl.com; or 310.326.5120 South Softball Sees Improvement on Horizon By Adam Serrao The South High Spartans, coached by Kacie Yoshida, are the last team that we will take a look at to round out this year’s girls’ softball season. While the season finished as an above average one for Yoshida and her Lady Spartans, the competition in the Pioneer League is always stiff. That being so, South finished in fourth place in the standings this year, above only Leuzinger and Centennial. The Lady Spartans were also the only team from Torrance to narrowly miss out on a playoff berth this season. While all of that may make the year seem like somewhat of a disappointment, there is hope on the horizon. This season served to give the Lady Spartans the experience they needed to not only get better, but also jump right back into contention next season. The past three seasons haven’t necessarily been easy ones to cope with for the ladies of the South High softball team. A rough 2012-’13 season saw the Lady Spartans fall victims to losing records in both regular season and league play. A fourth place finish came soon to follow. An even more difficult 2013-’14 year was next up for South. The team won half as many games as they lost (9-18), broke even in league play, and again finished in fourth place in the standings. Before the team even knew it, they had missed the playoffs in three consecutive seasons. It wasn’t always like this for the softball team, though. Just three seasons ago, during the team’s 2011-’12 campaign, the ladies of South High took a 23-11 record and a fourth place standing in the Pioneer League straight into the playoffs and they went deep. A win in the wild card game set the club off on a five game winning streak that saw them get all the way to the championship game against Chino Hills. Unfortunately, it was there that South’s run came to an end with a 3-0 loss, but that run was not much unlike what the Spartans are expecting to see back at South High very soon. Though their last two seasons have been losing ones, the Lady Spartans drastically turned things around this season under coach Yoshida in her first year at the helm. Yoshida took the team from a 9-18 record the year before to a 14-11 record this past season, finally getting South on the winning side of things. One way that Yoshida and her team did it was with a fast start to the season. An 8-0 Opening Day loss to Redondo Union didn’t dismay the Spartans from keeping focused on their business. Despite the loss, South went on to rally for six straight wins including a 9-2 victory over Bishop Montgomery, a 12-2 win over Palos Verdes and a 17-0 shellacking of Lawndale. All in all, the Lady Spartans outscored their opponents 54-12 in their six-game streak. As with any long sports season, bumps and bruises come along with the journey and South wasn’t immune to them this year themselves. A 7-2 loss against perennial softball power Carson put an end to the Spartans winning streak. Two straight losses against Santa Monica Lakers’ Future Shines Bright By Adam Serrao For three straight years now the summer has been a disappointment for the Los Angeles Lakers. Going into the offseason with money in their pockets and as huge players on the free-agent market, Mitch Kupchak and the rest of the Lakers front office have dangled dollar signs and trophies in front of the best players on the market only to walk back home empty handed at the end of the day. This offseason was no different. As LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, DeAndre Jordan and many other of this year’s best free-agents signed elsewhere, the Lakers stood pat and looked on like a young child on Christmas Day who received nothing but socks and underwear. Christmas Day may not have looked good for the Lakers at first glance, but those socks and underwear are going to pave the way for a toy chest full of surprises in the off-seasons to come. While many Laker fans have been left disappointed and with questions on their minds, Kupchak remains focused and levelheaded. “No, not at all. It wasn’t demoralizing,” the Lakers GM said of his team’s free agency period. “It’s part of doing business. There are 30 very, very competitive NBA teams. All general managers are smart. They’re armed with brilliant supporting staffs, owners that are very successful, and it’s a very, very competitive market. It’s unrealistic to think in this day and age that every time you go into the free-agent market that you’re going to get exactly what you target.” While that may just be an excuse for striking out on Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, and now Aldridge, Kupchak does have a point. There was once a time that the Lakers got everything that they wanted on the free-agent market, but the Lakers aren’t what they used to be and General Managers aren’t the only ones who are smart nowadays. Big name free agents who have already made a name for themselves in this league don’t necessarily want to go to another team that is in the process of rebuilding. Like Kevin Love said this offseason, he, and other free agents like him, want to “go to a place where they can win, make money and be happy.” The Lakers may be a great destination for two out of those three things, but when it comes to winning, players like Love and Aldridge want to win now. While the Lakers look like they may be building a future, that future is still a year or two away at this point. The Lakers have now missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons for only the second time in franchise history. This past season, however, takes the cake as the worst ever. Finishing at 21-61 in the standings, if the Lakers don’t begin to get better now, then there is serious cause for concern in Hollywood. The players that the Lakers acquired in this June’s draft may just be the team’s key to future success, however, and may just bring “Showtime” back to the Staples Center. The most notable acquisition is former Ohio State guard and second overall pick D’Angelo Russell. Russell has already proven at Ohio State and to a certain extent so far in the Lakers Summer League that he can get his teammates the basketball. Over time, he may become a prolific scorer as well, but Russell is already proving that he has what it takes to make players around him better. “It’s going to be fun,” he said smiling. “We can have a pretty scary backcourt.” Russell’s backcourt mate is another youngster, Jordan Clarkson. In his first two summer league games, Clarkson compiled a total of 42 points. At age 23, Clarkson and a 19-year-old Russell will form one of the youngest yet one of the potentially scariest and most explosive backcourts in the league if all plays out how it is supposed to. Throw a healthy Julius Randle and Kobe Bryant into the mix and the Lakers could be on to something. Health, of course, is the key with this team, but with the nucleus that is forming on the court in Los Angeles, you can see the cause for excitement surrounding the Lakers. “I don’t see why we don’t contend for a playoff spot,” Kupchak said. “But our young players have to grow beyond their years, and we have to stay healthy.” Along with Clarkson, Russell, and Randle, there are various other young players to watch on the Lakers as well. Most notably, Robert Upshaw, Larry Nance Jr., and Anthony Brown. Upshaw could really turn out to be something special if he keeps his head on straight, but to add to the youngsters, the Lakers have also brought in Roy Hibbert, the reigning NBA Sixth Man of the year Lou Williams, and Brandon Bass. Those moves aren’t getting the Lakers a championship, but they are great, smaller moves made on short-term contracts that will help to develop the younger players on the team. Next season, Kobe’s contract will come off the books and the Lakers will once again have all of the money in the world to (attempt) to spend on the free-agent market. No one ever said that the Lakers were going to be championship contenders overnight. The process of rebuilding is always a long and drawn-out process, the hope was just that the Lakers could do it in a more timely fashion than other teams. This year is a year for the See Lakers, page 4
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