LJ track: Opening salvo

By Ed Piper

With La Jolla High track already in gear, I notice a few things:

--The Jim Cerveny Invite VIII March 21 is a great way to view some excellent high school track and field in a relaxed atmosphere, and near to home (Mission Bay). Jim was a personal friend of my wife and myself years ago. He makes his appearance at each meet in his name.

And--the Cerveny Invite is a good way to check in with Chris Abramson, the Buccaneer runner who is blind and runs with his guide, David Cervantes, in the 100 and 200, and sometimes throws the shot put. Chris is a "people" person more than an athlete, so interacting with him is a friendly experience, and very uplifting, considering all the challenges he has met and overcome--including skiing downhill.

--At the Dick Wilkins Frosh/Soph Championships at Del Norte High April 25 (no one uses the term "frosh" anymore--it never caught on), a track fan can check in on younger athletes who don't get the full spotlight because of their upperclass teammates. I've been to one, and hope to go to another this Spring.

--Thank God for the time change. The day is now long enough to view track (and baseball, and any other outdoor sport), without worrying if darkness is going to descend and force the meet or game to be called. We were in Arizona for Spring Training, and the heat just about did us in. We are very grateful to be back and enjoying cooler temperatures, even though the temp is supposed to go up again here this coming week.

The Santa Ana winds are very unusual in San Diego. I grew up with them in Camarillo (Ventura County), where Santa Ana conditions mean wind blowing. I could chart each three- or four-day stretch with Santa Ana's on my calendar, due to the hot, blowing air around me, causing sinus/allergy problems/sinus headaches.

--Canyon Hills is going to be the full-time track host for the Eastern League Finals May 8, plus the Division 3 Championships May 16. The week before the league finals, the Rattler facility will also host the JV City Conference Championships. More power to them.

The long period of construction, it seems, has been completed, and Coach John "Red" Pisapia and his fellow track colleagues at Canyon Hills can do what they do best: carry out track and field events on the "field below ground level". The giant tower that enables handicapped persons to access the field apparently will be operational, and the fence around the track (I got caught between it and the stands two years ago) is no longer hanging people up (I'm saying that humorously).

--The La Jolla High list of track athletes is always a delight for us "name" people. It includes a lot of student-athletes, because track is a big deal at LJHS, and there are all sorts of patterns in the names:

   

   --multiple Lily's

   --You can't figure out siblings/families easily, because the names are listed in order by first name.

   --A last name we would spell with a "y" often ends in "iy" for Russian/Ukraine names (I've had a bunch of students substitute-teaching in Poway and San Dieguito with this).

   --I can recognize siblings using last names as a guide--then covering all the LJHS teams helps me make such connections.

LJ g beach VB vs. OLP - pool play - BCI 3/7

Photos by Ed Piper

Estella Levine (7) of the LJ fours

sets for her teammate, Gianna Pulli

(not pictured).

Quinn Turner (10)

of the fives serves

for the Vikings.

Nicole Diehl (16, left) slaps hands with

Quinn after a play in the fives match vs. OLP.

A surfer takes a wave in the background

as Beaches Classic Invitational action

goes on at 9:45 Saturday morning.

What a setting.

Estella goes to the sand.

Estella passes.

Quinn Turner goes up for a hit

near the net.

LJ's Leah Wylie (14) goes

sky-borne to spike a ball

over the net in the threes

pairing.

Another surfer takes a wave in the background

while individuals work out and BCI play

progresses.

LJ baseball 3, Calexico 12 - Pirate Baseball Classic 3/8

Junior Reed Turner (14) hits a single to center

in the bottom of the second inning to get on base

as the Vikings scored two runs in the frame.

The infielder went 4-for-4 on the day.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

Junior infielder Reed Turner went four-for-four, including a double, but La Jolla dropped a 12-3 decision to Calexico at home Sat., March 8, before a good-sized crowd for both teams. The game was the third one for Coach Gary Frank's Vikings in the Pirate Baseball Classic (Oceanside High).

The hosts opened up scoring in the bottom of the second inning as sophomore Brady Wilson, batting in the eighth slot, beat out a grounder to Bulldog third baseman Kenneth Calderon for a basehit with one out.

Senior Luke Cripe, starting in left field, drove in Wilson with a sharply-hit single to right to put the Vikings on the scoreboard.

After leadoff batter Carter Strauss--a rarity as a catcher hitting at the top of the order--lined out to Maximo Gonzalez in right field, keeping him busy, Turner lined a single to center, putting runners at first and second.

Then big Charlie Martin, recovered from a troublesome thumb, drilled a groundball to Diego Martinez. The second baseman threw it away, allowing Cripe to continue from his progress at third and score La Jolla's second run.

It was to be the second-to-last run the Vikings scored on the day.

Martin's reaching on error and the additional run scoring knocked Calexico starting righthander Joshua Apodaca out of the game. The senior left the mound, but Coach Luis Briseno's team was able to regroup and score a ton of runs as the game developed.

Turner, who started at shortstop, is hitting a torrid .462, on 6-for-13, in the Vikings' first four games.

It was, undoubtedly, a happy two-hour drive back to the border town after the victory, Calexico's fifth against one loss in the early season. La Jolla falls to 1-3.

LJ g beach VB 2, Mission Bay 3 - 3/6

Photos by Ed Piper

Jori leaps for a spike at the net.

LJ coach Kelly Drobeck talks with her

players during a "tech" (timeout break).

WBC: Early impressions

By Ed Piper

Having watched players destined for the 2026 World Baseball Classic in Spring Training last week (Feb. 25-March 2) and viewing the U.S. team's initial win in pool play over Brazil last night on TV (Fri., March 6), I'm enjoying the baseball and thinking of my roots in first watching and attending WBC games years ago.

When games were played at Petco Park--or was it Qualcomm Stadium?--I attended and was immediately caught up in the noisemakers, loud cheers, and emoting by the Latin American fans over their teams: the Dominican Republic at the top, with Venezuela, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and others (Nicaragua?).

It's something we North Americans lack--the emoting. Plus, in our safety and efficiency, we ban noisemakers from stadiums. I lived and taught English for 14 months in Mexico City as a young adult, and unbelievably to me now, I never went to a Mexico City Reds (Rojos) or other team's baseball games. That seems unthinkable now, as my fervor for beisbol has spiked in the last several years.

Anyway, I'm American, and proud to be a citizen of this country. But the Dominicans, especially, by way of my teaching in Mexico City and resultant gaining of a teaching credential in English and Spanish back here in "Gringolandia" and teaching English as a Second Language in night school at Oxnard High School, fed my baseball mania. Whenever I read a story online or look at posters in classrooms (I substitute-teach now), I'm always drawn to the Latin side of things.

Meanwhile, back at the U.S. ranch, I'm pumped over the U.S. team, which probably has few or no players who speak Spanish. In Arizona last week, we saw shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., second baseman Brice Turang (Brewers) (played a key role last night, with two RBI hits), and missed Cal Raleigh.

They all thumped Brazil, another favorite of mine since we had Frederico, a foreign exchange student from Rio, live with us during my senior year of high school. But to their credit, the Brasilenos played well for their level--populated by several present or former minor leaguers in affiliated baseball. For eight innings, it was a ballgame, 8-5, not bad, fairly close, before walks given up led to the bottom falling out.

 Imagine being a 17-year-old and pitching to Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, stars you have been watching on TV for years? That happened. The bottom of the first was also led off by Manny Ramirez's son, 20 years old whose mother is Brazilian, hitting a home run on veteran Logan Webb's second pitch. The young man also hit his second homer of the night--the Brazilians out-homered the Americans--later in the game.

Tonight (Sat., March 7), the U.S. vs. Great Britain, another hotbed of baseball. I'm kidding. My wife asked me why they're doing this tournament. I said, it's marketing. Like the NBA and NFL, they're spreading their sport across the globe. It worked in China, where millions of NBA fans live. Why not Brazil, whose national team is coached by Japanese-Brazilians?

LJ softball 12, Holtville 18 - Gold & Silver/Jimmy Ross Tourney - 3/5

By Ed Piper

The Vikings, with a whole new crop of players--"a lot of freshmen", Coach Anthony Sarain said with a smile--were moving individuals around the diamond as the game warranted in the early innings Thurs., March 5, at home against Holtville.

As the "other" Vikings--Holtville's green, in contrast to the red LJHS'ers--put on runners, Sarain started senior Savannah Putnam, a likely co-captain, in the pitching circle, then Melanie Smith, then sophomore Ella Pearl.

What was impressive was that the 2026 edition of the red-and-black is versatile enough to play different positions. In the recent pass, you haven't seen that kind of flexibility, or need to position players at different spots throughout the game.

With Pearl returning at shortstop in her 10th-grade season (except for helping out with pitching), freshman Ellie Thomson (no "p") is starting at third base, right next to her.

The only veteran/upperclassman in the infield is lefthanded power-hitter Jacey Taylor, who also did a turn in the pitching circle.

At bat, in the bottom of the second inning, catcher Aviv Laska drilled a line drive to left-center that was flagged at by Holtville's centerfielder, but it went on through.

Thomson dropped a basehit over second into short centerfield, driving in baserunner Maddie Quach, the Designated Runner for Laska. Quach, who went to Masters in wrestling last month, is still recovering from a shoulder injury she suffered in a bout.

Pearl's dad, Matt, is a new assistant coach. Complimented on his daughter's athleticism in softball and field hockey, he responded, "This is her sport."

Besides Charlotte Putnam, Savannah's younger sister, and Charlotte Vargas, an outfielder who was absent from Thursday's game, the others of the six freshmen include Smith, Thomson, and Lily Carnaje and Lily Fernandes, both latter players on the field playing positions at the time.

Spring Training: Hiura, Kim go back-to-back

Second baseman Hyeseong Kim follows through

as he hits a home run, back-to-back, with

Keston Hiura in the bottom of the sixth inning

Thurs., Feb. 27, at Camelback Ranch.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

I kept score of most of the six games we attended at Spring Training in Arizona Feb. 25-March 2, after a year-plus hiatus from scorekeeping.

This focus also helped me take long-distance photos with my tiny camera of player action through the first few games, when we were planted in seats (when I went solo, I would buy the cheapest lawn entry ticket and roam the grounds), and could focus on the game at hand.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, after viewing morning workouts at Camelback Ranch, then attending the 1:10 p.m. afternoon game with the White Sox, Hyseong Kim--nicknamed "The Comet" in his native South Korea for his speed--blasted a home run after teammate Keston Hiura did the same.

Reliever Alex Vesia received a heart-felt

round of applause from fans after finishing

the fifth inning.

A heart-warming moment occurred in the middle of the fifth inning, when Alex Vesia walked off the field after retiring three White Sox. Vesia and his wife lost their newborn baby soon after birth last October, and as a result the reliever was not available for duty in the World Series.

As Vesia stepped over the third-base line and headed toward the Dodgers' dugout on the leftfield side, fans gave him a round of applause in support. In response, the player tapped his heart with his left hand to acknowledge the gesture. Pro athletes are real people, and live daily lives with the ups and downs, just like all of us.