TORRANCE TRIBUNE October 20, 2016 Page 5 Dodgers Escape Division Series By Adam Serrao There are no two greater words in sports than: “Game Seven”. In the Dodgers case, however, that Game 7 was a Game 5 where the winner still took all and literally the entire season was on the brink. Last Thursday night in Washington, the Dodgers sent their entire team into battle to win one last game. Manager Dave Roberts put everything on the line, got an entire team effort, and when all “The last time Clayton Kershaw recorded a save was in 2006 when he was 18 years old and pitching in the Gulf Coast league.” was said and done, came away with a 4-3 win in what was one of the craziest games of the season to stay alive in the 2016 MLB playoffs. With no shortage of risky moves, a completely unorthodox outline to the game and with everyone who watched holding their collective breaths, the Dodgers completed a comeback from down two-games-to-one to advance to this year’s National League Championship Series. After the Dodgers lost their first home game of the series two Monday night’s ago to the Nationals by a score of 8-3, the excitement surrounding the team certainly lowered a bit as despair quietly rolled into Los Angeles like a black cloud of rain. Thoughts of World Series potential quickly turned into sentiments of, “It’s the same old Dodgers,” with everyone thinking that L.A.’s season was basically over. The Dodgers never gave up, though. They rallied the next day for a 6-5 win to tie the series at 2-2 and force a Game 5 in the best of five series. Though the Dodgers had to go back out on the road and play in an electric Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., there was still hope. Hope is all a gritty Dodgers team would need. “Adversity, and grit, and battling,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said to describe the way his team played in Game 5 and for that matter, all season long. “Down to the last pitch, just fighting for everything. We’re just glad to be covered in alcohol right now. It feels good.” Turner has been feeling good in the playoff division series, leading the Dodgers in just about every offensive category. A .400 batting average with five runs scored and five RBIs, in addition to a 13 pitch at-bat with two outs in the fourth inning to draw a walk and a two-run triple in the seventh inning that proved to win the game are all statistics of Turner, the MVP for the Dodgers after their first playoff series. The 13-pitch at-bat played a huge part in slowing down opposing pitcher, Max Scherzer, who was, to that point, holding the Dodgers scoreless. “That’s probably one of the craziest, if not the craziest, games I’ve ever been a part of in my career,” Scherzer said. “Man, this is a tough one to be on the wrong side of.” Scherzer has the type of stuff that could hold a good offensive team like the Dodgers scoreless throughout an entire nine innings of baseball. Joc Pederson, however, broke Scherzer’s scoreless streak with a home run on the first pitch of the seventh inning to tie the game at 1-1, leading to opposing manager Dusty Baker’s decision to pull the right-hander from the game. “If somebody had told me and Max that the guy was going to hit an opposite-field home run, we’d have taken him out then,” Baker explained. “But how do you take out your A guy in a 1-0 game? And Max is capable of going 100-some-odd pitches.” The home run came on pitch 99 for Scherzer. The Dodgers proceeded to score three more runs after his departure from the game to take a 4-1 lead. That’s when the craziness really started. It wouldn’t be a Dodger game if they didn’t try to give up their lead. Rich Hill started on short rest and despite giving up a run, actually had a successful outing. In just 2.2 innings of work, he struck out six batters. Former starting pitcher and now Dodgers reliever, Joe Blanton, entered in the third inning in relief of Hill and cleaned things up. Julio Urias was next and had an impressive two innings of work to eventually become the winning pitcher and the youngest Dodgers pitcher (age 20) ever in the postseason and youngest playoff pitcher in the MLB since 1970. The Nationals got to Dodgers rookie Grant Dayton in the bottom of the seventh with two runs to pull within one at 4-3. That forced Roberts’ hand. In an unorthodox, but genius move, he brought in closer Kenley Jansen in the highest leverage situation of the game. “Whatever role I ask of these guys, they believe in me and the coaching staff. It’s just so fulfilling,” Roberts said. That’s why when he asked his closer to enter in the seventh inning, Jansen was ready. Jansen got the Dodgers out of their jam in the seventh, holding the Nationals to just the three runs that they already had. He then pitched a scoreless eighth and got one out in the ninth before he visibly lost steam. Jansen threw 51 pitches to maintain the win. He had never thrown more than 42 in a game before. “I will never forget this game,” he explained. “I’m really tired right now. I’m exhausted. We talked about how this wasn’t going to be easy and that to get our goal we just have to keep fighting.” The team kept fighting, and once Jansen’s job was done, Kershaw came in for the save. The last time Clayton Kershaw recorded a save was in 2006 when he was 18 years old and pitching in the Gulf Coast league. His catcher? Kenley Jansen. Their manager? Nationals third-base coach Bob Henley, who controversially sent Jayson Werth around third base and to home plate before he was tagged out by a mile in the sixth inning, keeping the Nationals lead at just 1-0. In walked Kershaw anyways; the ace and starting pitcher who started Game 4 just two days previously and has struggled throughout his postseason career. “It was only fitting for Clayton to get the last couple of outs right there,” said Roberts. “With Kenley sticking his neck out there going out in the seventh, I want to have his back, so I feel like I wanted to get out there at least for a little bit just to give us an option,” Kershaw explained. “Kenley did more than he’s ever done in his career. I just wanted to have his back.” Kershaw had his back, recorded the last two outs of the game, and in an absolutely wild game, stood on the pitcher’s mound getting mobbed by his teammates as dreams became reality. The Dodgers erased a 2-1 series deficit. They advanced to the NLCS. The team won every game that Kershaw pitched in. Nothing was ordinary about the last game of the division series. With Blanton arriving in the third inning, Urias entering in relief, a closer entering in the seventh and an ace shutting the game down, it was truly one for the ages. With a team as gritty as the Dodgers and a manager willing to take smart risks like Dave Roberts, nothing is impossible for L.A. The Washington Nationals now know that fact firsthand as their postseason run has come to an end. • Up and Adam Tartars Fall to Spartans in Rivalry Matchup Story by Adam Serrao Photos by Dirk Dewachter The Torrance Tartars winning streak has turned out to be somewhat short-lived. After attaining their first victory of the year two weeks ago on the road at Centennial in the first game of league play, hope was prevalent for head coach Rock Hollis and the Tartars. South High first-year head coach Matt Mishler and the rest of the South High Spartans rolled into Zamperini Stadium last Friday night and dashed whatever was left of that hope with a 24-20 victory. With only three games remaining in a football season that has sped by this year, the Tartars and the Spartans will be battling it out in the standings for a Sean Sigala (North Torrance No. 7) took over the quarterback position in the second half and added a touchdown pass on their first possession to bring North within 21. playoff spot, with South High now holding a distinct advantage. The rivalry matchup between the two Torrance cross-town rivals certainly lived up to its billing last Friday night. The hundreds of fans in attendance at Torrance’s home field saw two defenses take the field that had absolutely no quit in them. If the South High offense was going to have trouble getting started, then they’d turn to their special teams to get it done. Lawrence Maisonet picked up a blocked field goal attempt by the Tartars and took it back 70-yards for the touchdown and the first points of the game, to give the Spartans a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. It took until the end of the first quarter for the Tartars to respond, but it was eventually junior running back Ethan Meyers who punctuated a 75-yard drive with a 30-yard touchdown run to tie things up at 7-7. A 54-yard field goal eventually gave South the lead to start the second quarter and with it, all of the momentum in the game. A gimmick play saw South running back Carl Richardson take the ball and toss it for an 80-yard touchdown to Brandon Teraishi. The huge play gave the Spartans a 17-7 lead going into the half. “I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” South’s Mishler described of his team. “We’ve had so many guys injured, but the guys have fought so hard.” The Tartars fought back, too. Sophomore running back Eric Suarez, one of Torrance’s brightest up-and-coming stars, took a 10-yard handoff into the end zone to pull the Tartars to within three points at 17-14. Both defenses stood strong until midway through the fourth quarter when South finally broke things open. Anthony Bjazevich, South’s starting quarterback, hit a gap and took off running with nothing but open field in his sights. Fifty five yards later, he hit the end zone and put the Spartans up for good at 24-14, the eventual final score. Richardson would finish with 51 yards rushing and 75 yards passing with a touchdown to lead South. While Torrance’s rushing game was stronger, seeing a combined 254 yards and a touchdown from Suarez and Meyers, it was South that made the bigger plays on the night. The Spartans will look to continue making big plays as league play advances into its most crucial stages. The Spartans (3-4, 1-1) will take on West on the road this Friday night as Torrance (1-6, 1-1) looks to get back on track against Leuzinger. North High The North High Saxons have hit an unfortunate losing streak in their goal for Pioneer League supremacy this season. After winning three of four games heading into league play, the Saxons have now lost consecutive games after a 68-28 drubbing at the hands of their league rivals, the Leuzinger Olympians. It was all Leuzinger early and often in this one. After an early touchdown and an ensuing punt return for another score, the Olympians were up 14-0 before North even know what hit them. Before the first quarter was over, Leuzinger would be up 28-0. “We wanted to be able to contain them,” North Torrance head coach Todd Croce explained, “but we weren’t mentally prepared for what we saw early on.” Starting quarterback for the Saxons, Glenn Searcy, had himself a nice night, trying to keep North involved in the game. Searcy connected on a short touchdown pass in the first quarter and ran the ball in for a score in the second quarter, but the team still trailed See Up and Adam, page 8 Sebastian Mataele (North Torrance No. 81) caught a short pass and turns upfield for a first down as Leuzinger’s Antonio Hunt (Leuzinger No. 8) gives chase.
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