LJ sports: Talking to Steele

Kevin Steele, before the Vikings'

game Sept. 17, 2021

at Mater Dei High

in Chula Vista.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

LJ baseball/FB: Steele the 'man of Steele'

Kevin Steel (far left background) drops back to pass

in the Vikings' 27-22 win over Valley Center

in the D2 CIF Quarterfinals Nov. 12, 2021.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

"He's living the dream," said Kevin Steele Sr. of his son, Kevin Steele Jr., who just finished his freshman year at St. Olaf's College in Minnesota.

"He pitched opening day and closing day of the baseball season," said the elder Steele.

In additional information, La Jolla assistant baseball coach Bob Allen reported that Kevin has grown to 6'7" (he was 6'5" in high school), played backup quarterback for the St. Olaf's football team during his initial year there, and ended up pitching the most innings of anyone on the staff for the baseball team.

That's reminiscent of Steele's senior year at La Jolla High, when he played backup to starting QB Jackson Stratton for Coach Tyler Roach and ended up putting in some pretty meaningful minutes with the starting lineup. Also, he was stellar for Gary Frank's Vikings baseball squad.

Steel (19, far left), backup to starting QB

Jackson Stratton, eyes a receiver

in La Jolla's 35-7 victory over Christian High

Sept. 24, 2021.

Trip to see Shohei

Angel two-way star Shohei Ohtani's home run

swing against the Mariners June 9. It came

in the third inning, scored two runs, and knotted

the score before the Angels won, 5-4,

on Mickey Moniak's homer in the sixth.

Ohtani had three hits on the night.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

I came, I saw, I conquered. (Julius Caesar)

We (my brother and I) saw Shohei Ohtani at the Big A June 9, and we got to see the Japanese two-way star blast a home run for the Angels--he has been on a tear ever since--but struggle on the mound, as he walked five and hit a batter (young Seattle star Julio Rodriguez) in a five-inning no-decision against the Mariners.

In comments to the press after the game, Ohtani, who has won a Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Cy Young already as a 28-year-old, said he wasn't feeling good on the mound. I think it's possible his discomfort or restlessness has to do with pitching many more innings than he has ever thrown to this point in the season.

As a preventative measure, the Angels gave Shohei an extra day of rest prior to his start against Seattle, which kind of fouled up our schedule as I mapped out his start two prior starts before, then counted six days, then counted more days. That landed on Thursday, June 8, against the Cubs at home.

The only problem was that I couldn't count on that date as actually being a start for the 6'5" righthander, what with my brother and I only wanting to drive the 100 miles or so from San Diego to see the Angels if Shohei was starting--sorry, Mike Trout isn't enough to get us to a game at Angel Stadium.

By the way, many other fans were drawn to the game by the two-way star--including many Japanese, who had signs in Japanese, towels with his image, outfits from the culture--the whole shebang.

The homer June 9 was Ohtani's 17th of the young season. Ten days later, he has 24 homers, leading the American League, projecting to 50 or more home runs for the season. He had 34 last year.

Cricket: New ballgame

The batter (toward right) makes contact with the pitch

or bowl, sent down the mat by the bowler (his arm

is showing far left, in yellow shirt). The wicket keeper

plays in the catcher's spot (far right). The batter

can choose to run or not (and wait for another pitch).

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

On a walk in Standley Park, I fell into viewing the start of my first cricket game ever.

A player asked me, "Are you a cricket fan?" I responded, "I've never seen cricket in my life. I've watched two minutes of a game on TV years ago."

A couple of players warned me, looking out for my well-being, "Go outside the boundary to watch." Well, that just isn't like me, holding a camera in my hands--I usually go right to the action, to take a close photo of the batter or bowler.

But I was respectful, and I backed up. The guys way out in right-centerfield (from a baseball perspective) didn't look like they were involved at all, one swinging a bat, others chatting, hanging out.

But as I continued on my walk and came right up to these beyond-outfielders, I saw they were totally involved. Two were keeping up the mini-scoreboard that had runs and wickets listed. At this point, I can't explain how the 19 runs scored during my short time there in the morning were achieved.

But the batter is called the batter, the pitcher is called the bowler, and the catcher is called the wicket keeper. An outfielder, who made two nice barehanded grabs, told me he was called an outfielder.

I learned the batter can make contact with the pitch (or bowl?) and not run. He can choose when he wants to run between the two wickets, about 60 feet apart. One player told me you can wait as long as you want before choosing to run after contact with a pitch--you as the batter choose which hit to run on.

A game can last about three hours. This game started at 8:45 a.m. (June 18, Father's Day).

Nineteen runs got scored in the first 20 minutes

of the to-be three-hour game. How they came

to be scored, I haven't the faintest clue.

LJ softball: Cardenas wins game, named MVP of CIF All-Stars

Emmy Cardenas (6), shown here in pregame

introductions, powered the West squad to a thrilling

come-from-behind 7-6 win over the East

in the CIF Senior All-Star Game

Thurs., June 8, at UCSD.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

La Jolla's Emmy Cardenas, capping a storybook high school softball career, drove in the go-ahead runs with a booming double in the ninth inning, and pitched the West team to an exciting 7-6 come-from-behind win in the CIF Senior All-Star Game Thursday night, June 8, at UCSD.

Disney couldn't have written a better script as the 5'8" senior, headed to Winthrop University in South Carolina, held the East squad to one hit over two innings in the seventh and eighth innings of a special nine-inning exhibition before a packed house at the UCSD softball stadium.

Then, after her sparkling pitching, Emmy--who was simultaneously named the U.S. Marine Corps Distinguished Female on LJHS Awards Night Thursday evening held on the La Jolla High campus 5.8 miles away--stepped to the plate with two outs in the top of the ninth and blasted her two-bagger on one bounce to the fence in centerfield to drive in two runs and break a 5-5 tie.

The West squad had just scored three runs in the frame to come from a 5-2 deficit and knot the score at 5-all.

Emmy was sparkling in her pitching stint

in the seventh and eighth innings,

giving up one hit and no runs.

The West starter, Payton Correia of Clairemont, came back into the game to pitch the bottom of the ninth. With the crowd going crazy, she gave up one run but made the second RBI stand up for the margin of victory in the narrow victory.

Cardenas' West team, coached by 18-year veteran Lori Schmersal of Clairemont High, dug a 5-0 hole for itself earlier in the game, giving up four runs in the fourth and another in the fifth.

But the bespectacled Emmy and company came back to reverse their fortunes and end their high school careers on a winning note. For her pitching and hitting heroics, the Viking 12th-grader, who attended nearby Muirlands Middle School in the seventh and eighth grades, was named the game's MVP.

Cardenas, a 5'8" senior, in her first

plate appearance Thursday night.

LJ track: Wiser a revelation

Janice Wiser, a senior at La Jolla High

in 1974.

By Ed Piper

"She worked in the principal's office" while a student, remembers Chuck Boyer of senior Janice Wiser, the La Jolla High sprinter who holds the number-two 400-meter time in the San Diego Section of 53.53. In 1974, "We asked her to run the 100-yard dash." In the state meet in Bakersfield, Wiser swept the 100 and 220.

"She felt bad she hadn't also run the 440, then La Jolla could have won the Division 2 championship," says Boyer, who was in the spring of his first year of teaching math at La Jolla. He retired 30 years later in 2005.

Running all three events in one day would have been an enormous task at that time. There were no prelims the day before to qualify in. However, Wiser was used to competing in all three events in AAU--non-school--meets.

The rub was that recruited for the league finals, then moving on to sweep her two main events in the section meet a week later, other coaches and athletes complained that she had come out of nowhere and hadn't run in dual meets during the season.

At the time, with Title IX having just been handed down in 1972, the Vikings fielded a boys track team, but no girls team. Janice ran for a private club apart from the school.

Later in the summer of '74, Wiser ran the 400 meters in 53.53, which stands second only to Monique Henderson of Morse in San Diego Section records. Payton Smith of La Jolla, a junior, ranks third in 53.86.