WBC: Fun

By Ed Piper, Jr.

I have been watching much more of the World Baseball Classic this week (see earlier entry), and enjoying moments like Nolan Arenado's jump or dive--not slide--into first base last Fri., March 10, to beat the throw and allow the runner to score from third on a passed-ball third strike. That tied the U.S., 2-2, with Colombia, setting up the Americans to win in the bottom of the 10th on Adam Jones' single.

Jose Quintana, ace right-hander for the Chicago White Sox, had no-hit Team USA for 5 2/3 innings, so the breakthrough involving Arenado was earth-shaking and a spark to the Americans going on to win.

The U.S. is famous for being blase about the WBC. We have never won a tournament that we started in the first place, and Team USA has never done better than the semifinals, which was way back in the first WBC in 2006.

In that time, Japan won the tournament in 2006 and 2009, then the Dominican Republic--one of the two favorites with the U.S. this year--sweeping its games to win in 2013.

I've surprised myself by identifying with the U.S. team. I lived a year in Mexico City right out of college, teaching English and playing basketball there. Since then--ask my wife--I identify, empathize, emote with the Latins, which I have done in the WBC as well: the Dominicans and Puerto Ricans, especially, have been very expressive during the tournament. They're a lot of fun to watch.

I attended Spring Training in Arizona prior to the WBC, so I'm sure that had much to do with getting me warmed up for baseball and able to focus on an event that formerly I didn't pay much attention to.

Another reason I've paid attention to the Americans is their loaded lineup: This is no roster of a bunch of also-rans. I had not heard of Marcus Stroman of the Blue Jays before. The right-handed starter was excellent Saturday in 4 2/3 shutout innings against the powerhouse Dominican Republic team.

The U.S. has big names like Buster Posey, Giancarlo Stanton, Paul Goldsmith, and Eric Hosmer, among others. These are top, top players.

The odd part of the WBC is the pitch limit. Major League clubs, who gave their blessing to the international event when the Olympics dropped baseball in 2005, are still wary and rightfully concerned about their athletes getting injured in the event. Mark Teixeira, a position player, hurt his wrist, then was only able to get 15 at-bats the whole season following his injury. It's stories like that that become MLB's nightmare.

So, Stroman, despite sailing against the power-packed DR lineup, was lifted after 4 2/3 innings, hitting his pitch limit. In the middle of an inning! This would never happen in a Major League playoff game. But such are the allowances to protect pitchers, especially, from overwork and over-extension.

A tricky part of the equation is finding a time of year convenient for each country's top baseball players to participate. With the Major Leagues, pitchers have just reported to Spring Training when the WBC starts in early March. Their arms are not season-ready. Some of the pitchers have been throwing prior to Spring Training to build up their arms to be ready for the classic. The downside of that is that, once the tournament is over, they still have a whole Major League season to pitch.

There are only so many bullets in any pitcher's arm.

LJ baseball 3, Brawley 5

By Ed Piper, Jr.

Junior right-hander Sam Stewart pitched a strong 4 1/3 innings in relief, but La Jolla wasn't able to come back after giving up five runs in the top of the second, losing to Brawley, 5-3, in the Bully's Tournament Tues., March 14.

The 5'10" hurler, in only his second varsity appearance, took over from starter Dane Hansen with two outs in the second and scattered three hits, with one walk, and didn't give up a run during his long-relief stint.

Stewart did hit two batters, but it would be understandable if that was merely nerves at newly playing at the varsity level for Head Coach Gary Frank's squad.

The junior employs a submarine underhand delivery. Asked if La Jolla has had a submariner at any time in recent years, assistant coach Steve Booth replied, "No."

The Vikings scored two runs in the bottom of the second, after the visiting Wildcats batted through the order and scored a five-spot of runs in the top of the inning.

Garrett Brown, batting in the fourth slot in the order, led off the inning by getting aboard on an error. On his grounder to short, Brawley shortstop Jonathan Gonzalez pulled first baseman Blake Zeleny off the bag.

Fellow senior Nick Ferenczy lined a single to right, moving Brown to third. After Brawley starter Robert Brodell struck out Cooper McNally swinging, Alex Monell struck a base hit to right to drive in Brown for La Jolla's first run. Ferenczy advanced to third.

Sebastian Partida hit a sacrifice fly to right fielder Mark Cisneros, scoring Ferenczy. The score was Brawley 5, La Jolla 2. Sola Hope took a called third strike to end the inning.

The Vikings later added another run, while Stewart shut the Wildcats down.

LJ FB: Curious thing

Some of new Head Coach Tyler Roach's

football players. (Photo Ed Piper, Jr.)

By Ed Piper, Jr.

At the parent and player reception for Tyler Roach, the new La Jolla High head football coach, speaker Kamal Assaf made an insightful comment.

(I may have used "curious thing" in the title to lure you to read this.)

The former Viking varsity head basketball coach, whose teams won two CIF titles, said, "An off-campus coach has special challenges" in implementing his program.

Assaf's statement was in the context of one, a recognition of the strengths of the La Jolla community, resource-wise and academically--"it's a special community," he said--and two, a plea for support and involvement on the part of the players' families.

"We had more than a team," said Assaf, who stepped down five years ago to balance family responsibilities with his teaching position at Bishop's and coaching in a less-demanding basketball program, a middle school team at Bishop's. "We had a movement" at La Jolla, he said. It involved families who were heavily involved and willing to share their talents and time to the program.

In describing the special challenges Roach will face as a coach who is not a campus teacher, Assaf was putting his finger on an issue that was discussed when Matt Morrison was named head coach a year ago: How do you build a program (at that time, football was in dire straits) if you are a leader who will not be on campus throughout the day, to have contact with your players, be a highly visible ambassador for La Jolla High football, and take care of and trouble-shoot the million-and-one needs that accompany any program?

Morrison tried to juggle all this while teaching at a parochial elementary school miles away across San Diego. I remember his hoarse voice the first days of Spring practice in May 2016, when it looked like he was carrying an immense load. What he ended up doing in his brief year at La Jolla, he did well.

Falling right into Morrison's lap was the solution to all of this: Francis Parker School offered him not only the head football coaching position for next year, but also a full-time position on campus--at good pay, John McColl said at the reception for Roach--teaching physical education.

What a cherry position, one that would come by once in a lifetime for a young coach ready for a long-term coaching position at his alma mater, following in the footsteps of his father John, who will likely be on Matt's coaching staff as an assistant. He couldn't possibly turn that opportunity down.

Now, it's Roach's chance to keep the dishes spinning in the air. He said to parents and his future players that he spent "23 hours a day" working on offensive schemes at La Jolla (presumably 23 hours a day on defensive schemes in his position as defensive coordinator the past year at Country Day). He said he went to his boss, after talking with his wife, and his boss gave him his blessing to "do what he loves" to do alongside the day job he holds. "It pays the bills, then I do what I love," is basically what Roach told the assembled Vikings.

He'll have to handle the administrative details, the fly in the ointment, in addition to coaching teenagers in football and running a coaching staff. But he's a bright guy, and he seems to have the ability, and the blessing of the Viking family, to figure it all out.

Hopefully, his alma mater won't offer him the Centurion head coaching position too soon.

LJ FB: Roach's intro

Tyler Roach (L), new La Jolla head football coach,

answers questions from John McColl,

Director of Operations. (Photo Ed Piper, Jr.)

By Ed Piper, Jr.

The major revelation that came out of Tyler Roach's formal introduction as the new La Jolla High head football coach Mon., March 13, was probably that John McColl, Director of Operations, got former coach Matt Morrison's message of taking the position at Parker at 3 o'clock and McColl called Roach only an hour and a half later.

"I was a little offended," McColl said to the assembled players and their parents in the private reception, "when he said to give him two days to think about it. But then he said he had to talk to his wife, and the people at Country Day" (where he had been coaching), and McColl thought that was a pretty good reason.

The new coach, returning to La Jolla High's program following a year's hiatus after three years as Viking offensive coordinator from 2013-2016, came off professionally at the intimate gathering: he spoke well, he represented a collegial spirit in calling in other specialists, he revealed something of the personal in talking about his own life, and he appeared to know what he was doing in taking his first head coaching job after assistant-coaching stints at University City (his alma mater), Scripps Ranch, and Country Day, besides La Jolla.

In response to McColl's question in an interview format about inheriting "a few less seniors" than the 18 starters who returned for Morrison last year, said Roach, "That's why we coach. To work with the players. To develop these guys into young men."

He and Kamal Assaf, former Viking varsity basketball coach who exhorted parents in a kind of motivational speech to contribute their efforts to the program, both spoke about the need for commitment on the part of the players and the dedication it requires to build success.

Roach said the right things about pairing his program with the scholastic atmosphere at La Jolla High: "I'm an academic guy. My parents said if I wasn't doing it academically (at UC), I wasn't doing it. I went on to play at Azusa Pacific," implying that his attention to academics continued there.

McColl, who handled the question-answer forum with informed queries, humor, and efficiency--everything he and his wife Anastasia Thomas have done for the football program the past several years has been well-organized--had a wry comment about the status of the football program, especially in light of the three coaches over the past 14 months. He posed this to Roach: "Some people say La Jolla is an academic school that plays with football (or sports), while other schools, like Helix, are football schools that play with academics. What do you say?"

This is when the new coach emphasized the academic with the athletic, bringing up English teacher Jane Medrano, who runs the tutoring program for the football players on Monday and Wednesday afternoons.

McColl began the evening with a humorous touch: "This is our second annual Meet-the-Coach. We hope we're done doing this," in reference to Morrison's one-year stay before accepting the head coaching position at Parker, his alma mater where he was an All-CIF quarterback under his father, following Jason's Carter resignation as head coach in early 2016 after three years at La Jolla.

The late naming of Roach--who seemed to be the only candidate for the newly-opened position two weeks ago, apparently because he had applied for the head coaching job a year ago before Morrison was selected and his having considerable support--means the new coach will be behind the eight-ball as Morrison was in holding Spring practice.

The schedule he made available Monday night shows the Spring team workouts being held May 22-June 9. Usually, Spring practice comes earlier in the semester.

Opening game in the Fall comes August 25, 2017, against Hilltop.

LJ wrestling: Austin in a zone

Elliot Austin, at 128 pounds, dominated his

opponents at the City Conference Championships

last month. The Viking wrestler, whose lightning speed

on the mat surprises opponents, looks to do

even better next year. (Photo by Ed Piper, Jr.)



By Ed Piper, Jr.

"When I go into a match, that's all there is," says Elliot Austin, La Jolla 128-pounder, who dominated his weight class at the City Conference Wrestling Championships a month ago.

The junior placed 11th in the CIF Masters meet at the end of the season, but he's looking higher next year.

He agrees his karate background helps his quickness, and in other facets of his work on the mat.

Austin, as he progresses, seems to be better able to identify where he can improve specific skills as he increases the level of his technique.

"When (Coach) Kellen (Delaney) wrestles me, he picks out every little thing I do for me to work on," says the wrestler, in the British accent from back home he has intentionally maintained after he moved with his family here.

He also notes, "Ever since I started wrestling, I have continued getting better and better."

Having had some time after the season to ponder his progress thus far, his confidence and commitment seem to be brimming.

He finished among the top five in his weight at the Holtville Invitational at the end of January. He then won his weight division in the Western League.

"Next year, I'm going for top five at the Masters," he says, speaking of the CIF San Diego Section finals.

He acknowledges one part of the mental game he is working on: When he faces an opponent seeded higher than him, he lets it get in his head and hinder his ferocious attack. His confidence struggles.

This happened at the Holtville meet. Delaney detected it. "Kellen knows when it affects me," Austin says. "He can tell when I'm not wrestling the same way."

His family hosted the Viking team end-of-year dinner earlier in the month.

LJ b BB: Farley gets recognition

Reed Farley takes to the

air against Serra

in January.

(Photo by Ed Piper, Jr.)

By Ed Piper, Jr.

La Jolla guard Reed Farley was named to the All-CIF First Team, a reward for his four years of dedication and starting role as point guard on the Viking basketball team.

We're told that the 6'4" leaper, headed to Harvard in the fall, will also be named captain in boys basketball  for the All-CIF Academic Team in boys basketball, as well as First Team All-Eastern League.

The sandy-haired senior, presently going through physical therapy to repair his left knee after ACL surgery a month ago, carries an outstanding 4.8 grade-point average, with many Advanced Placement courses on his class schedule.

Farley will receive full Eastern League honors, despite the fact he missed half the league season after going down with the ACL tear, landing awkwardly after a dunk against Scripps Ranch in the first round.

At the time, the Vikings were in the hunt for the Eastern League title. But those hopes evaporated down the stretch as La Jolla struggled without their scoring and assist leader.

Farley was nominated for the prestigious McDonald's All-American game later this year. That alone is a huge honor for a high school player.

Coach Paul Baranowski's team achieved an excellent 10-1 record through the tournament portion of the pre-league season in December, still holding up at 12-3 shortly after the turn of the new year. But weeks later, Farley went down with his injury, and the Viking lineup did the best it could without its captain and floor leader, finally finishing a distance fourth behind Patrick Henry's Eastern League champions under Jason Bryant, former coach at Lincoln High.

*  *  *

 

Among other Viking winter athletes achieving All-CIF were Olivia Riley, a senior defender on the CIF Division 2 champion soccer team, and a quartet of water polo players, three on the All-CIF First Team: Karli Canale, Ciara Franke, and goalie Bennett Bugelli. The fourth, Sydney Boland, was named to the Second Team.

LJ softball 2, Central Union (El Centro) 4

Josie Sinkeldam

(Photos Ed Piper, Jr.)

 

By Ed Piper, Jr.

At the La Jolla girls lacrosse game Friday night, March 10.
Josie Sinkeldam plays shortstop. Vanessa Shaffer is the Vikings' centerfielder.

Josie: Hi, Ed.
Ed: Hi.
Vanessa: We just got back from our game (in El Centro).
Ed: Oh, yeah. How did you do?
Josie and Vanessa: We lost.
Ed: At least you're consistent.
Vanessa: Good joke. (The softball team hasn't won a game yet.)
Ed: How was the drive?
Josie: Long.
Ed: What time did you leave?
Josie: Noon.
Ed: Was their pitcher good?
Josie: Yeah, so-so.
Ed: Vanessa, you made one of your patented leaping catches Wednesday in the outfield (in a home loss against Horizon).
Vanessa: I try.

Vanessa Shaffer (front right),

with Sinkeldam rear left.