1957: Hoover 9 Surprises With Run to CIF Finals

The top four teams in won-loss percentage in the County were San Diego (25-3, .880), Helix (16-5, .762), Mission Bay (17-6, .737), and Hoover (19-9, .679).

It was the latter that battled through four rounds of the CIF Southern Section playoffs to get to the finals.

Hoover was an uninspiring 10-8 heading into the stretch run of the City Prep League race, but the Cardinals won their last five regular-season games to come from behind in the standings and pass Mission Bay, earning the CPL’s second berth in the playoffs.

Rubber-armed (overworked?) Dick Floberg of San Diego and Steve Evans of Hoover were their teams’ bellwethers.  Floberg posted a 16-2 record and struck out 139 batters in 123 innings.

San Diego coach Les Cassie started sophomore Ezell Singleton instead of Floberg in a semifinals playoff game against Ontario Chaffey  and the result was a 13-4 loss as Singleton and Floberg both were hit hard.

Evans (13-4) pitched 43 2/3 innings in five playoff games, finally losing to Chaffey in the finals.

Most teams had one pitcher who took the ball twice a week, with an occasional second starting pitcher in the mix.

City Prep League squads adhered to a seven-inning schedule during the regular season and nine in the playoffs.  Metropolitan League and Avocado loop squads played nine innings.

2/26/57

Lincoln’s Cleven Thomas opened the season with a no-hit, 14-0 win over Mar Vista.

Two other City Prep League teams, also won big, Hoover 16-1 over Chula Vista, and San Diego 21-0 over San Dieguito.

Thomas faced 24 batters in the seven-inning game, walked three, and struck out 11. Bert Swaim aided with three hits.

Jerry Whitworth and Ezell Singleton each had three hits for San Diego and Bob Steel and Bob Jennings homered for Hoover.

2/27/57

Stan Gilliland singled, tripled, and homered, and drove in seven runs as Mission Bay socked Oceanside, 12-2.

Jerry Booth of Point Loma scored on wild pitch by Hoover’s Steve Evans, who awaited low throw (circle) from catcher. Joe Welch of Pointers signaled Booth not to slide.

3/2/57

San Diego’s Ezell Singleton hit a home run for one of two hits by the Cavers in a 10-3 loss to visiting Alhambra Mark Keppel.

3/5/57

Walter (Sandy) Thorpe of Helix won a 1-0 duel from Hoover’s Paul Richter on the Highlanders’ diamond. Ron Palermo singled and scored on Bob Schulz’ double in the first inning.

Mission Bay was 2-0 after Tim Carroll served as battery mate for pitchers Bob Lasoya and Bill Clucas and had three hits in an 8-2 win at Grossmont.

3/7/57

San Diego’s John Harmon moved from the infield to the pitching mound and authored a two-hit, 7-1 win over visiting Grossmont. Ezell Singleton and Jerry Whitworth each had three hits for the Cavemen.

3/8/57

R.W. Earls of Mar Vista surrendered a 400-foot home run to Bob Schulz in the second inning and then stopped visiting Helix, 3-1.

3/12/57

Mission Bay was 4-0 after Bill McCormick’s three-hitter stifled Grossmont, 5-0.   Bob Steel’s three-run home run in the first inning started Hoover to a 9-0 win over El Cajon Valley.

Ron Hillsberry’s two singles and double paved Mar Vista’s 11-1 win over St. Augustine. Bob Jordan singled, doubled, and tripled in Sweetwater’s 6-4 verdict against Lincoln.

3/15/57

Hoover’s trip to Long Beach Jordan was a 4-0 success, stretching to 25 scoreless innings for the Cardinals’ pitching staff. Steve Evans struck out 12 and gave up two hits.

Hoover’s staff had not allowed a run since the third inning of an 8-4 win over Chula Vista a week before.  It also handcuffed El Central Central, 11-0, and El Cajon Valley, 9-0.

San Diego beat visiting Lynwood, 8-3, as Cleveland (Smiley) Jones hit a three-run home run. Point Loma’s John Rebelo allowed two hits and the Pointers rapped Mar Vista, 12-1.

Bud Kudrna lost a no-hitter when Don Rodriguez reached base with a single but the El Cajon Valley pitcher shut out Fallbrook, 15-0.

3/16/57

Jerry Dinsmore’s eighth-inning double knocked in the winning run and Bob Lasoya allowed only five hits as Mission Bay improved to 6-0 with a 3-2 win at Fontana.

3/18/57

La Jolla concluded a two-day run against visiting Avocado League clubs with a 14-5 win over Fallbrook that followed a 5-3 triumph over San Dieguito.

Dick Small pitched a complete game and homered versus Fallbrook as the Vikings won for the sixth time in eight games.

Ezell Singleton (left) was No. 2 and Dick Floberg No. 1 on San Diego pitching staff.

3/22/57

Metropolitan League play opened with Bob Jordan hurling a two-hitter and Sweetwater  surprising preseason favorite Helix, 3-0, on the Highlanders’ diamond.

Jerry Peters hit two home runs and Jim Portlock gave up three hits over nine innings and no hits through six as El Cajon Valley pounded Grossmont, 15-0.

Dick Floberg struck out 17 and San Diego won its sixth in a row at Garden Grove, 8-4.  Iva Tucker hit a home run and Floberg and Cleveland Jones added two hits each.

Point Loma stroked seven consecutive singles, followed by Joe Welch’s grand slam home run, in a seven-run first inning of the Pointers’ 15-4 win over the San Diego State frosh.

3/27/57

Andy Cribbs outdueled Cleven Thomas and Mission Bay moved to 10-0 with a 3-0 win at Lincoln in a City Prep League opener. Bob Moss doubled twice for the Hornets.

Hoover’s string of 25 scoreless innings ended when a throw to first base that would have completed a double play was wild and Point Loma scored.

Steve Evans pitched the Cardinals to an 8-3 victory and collected three of the six doubles that Redbird hitters drilled into the short, right field stands at Hoover.

Paul Runge’s two-run home run, Ezell Singleton’s three-run shot, and John Harmon’s grand slam was more than enough as San Diego bombed La Jolla, 11-2.

Harmon drove in five runs and his pitching held the Vikings to four hits.

3/29/57

San Diego won, 6-4, at Mission Bay, snapping the Buccaneers’ 10-game winning streak in the City Prep League’s first showdown.

Mission Bay coach Ernie Beck was ejected for arguing a play as San Diego scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning.

Jerry Whitworth tripled and Ezell Singleton homered in the seventh to separate the Cavers from their hosts. John Harmon homered and singled.

Ervin Green’s two-run home run and Don Mojado’s three-run clout overcame a couple hits by Bob Moss as Kearny defeated Lincoln, 6-4.

Lincoln’s Bob Moss avoided pickoff attempt by San Diego pitcher. Dick Floberg.  Cavemen’s  first baseman is Paul Runge.

4/2/57

Helix could have sought burglary charges against Chula Vista’s Oscar Agatep, who stole second base five times in the Spartans’ 13-6 victory.

Agatep teammate Bill Cothron’s home run, triple, and two doubles were among the winners’ 15 hits.

Hoover jumped to a 3-1 lead over San Diego when Ralph Mann tripled, Walt Baranski homered, Lynn Rowland tripled, and Jim Kennedy singled in the second inning.

San Diego struck back against Cardinals starter Steve Evans for six hits and two walks in a seven-run bottom of the second, capped by pitcher Dick Floberg’s home run, and routed Hoover, 10-3.

Ralph Myatt struck out 13 and allowed two hits as Kearny beat La Jolla, 13-0.

Fallbrook ventured north of the County for an intersectional and defeated Hemet, 2-0.  The 42-mile jaunt was more convenient for the Warriors than an Avocado League trip of 66 miles to Mar Vista in Imperial Beach.

Hoover’s Walt Baranski was out at first base. San Diego’s Paul Runge took the throw.

4/5/57

Back-to-back home runs by Bob Moss and Ron Slocum were not enough as La Jolla won its first CPL game, 4-3, in 10 innings at Lincoln.

Kearny’s Jerry Stryker led off the seventh inning with a clean single, ending the no-hit bid by Mission Bay’s Bob Lasoya, who stopped the Komets,10-0.

Mel Rizzo had three hits and Tim Carroll and Bill Clucas two hits each to support Lasoya.

John Harmon hit his third home run of the season and San Diego (12-2) won its 11th in a row, over Point Loma, 3-2.

Jerry May collected Chula Vista’s only hit but it was a grand slam home run that sent the Spartans past El Cajon Valley, 6-3.

The Braves’ Dick Kudrna, plagued by walks and errors, loaded the bases for May in the ninth inning.

Bob Lasoya of Mission Bay was one of the top pitchers in the area.

4/9/57

Jim Portlock’s grand slam home run in the first inning positioned El Cajon Valley for an 11-6 victory over Grossmont, with Portlock closing out the Foothillers in a relief pitching stint in the seventh.

4/12/57

Chula Vista scored eight runs in the ninth inning, after two were out, and stunned visiting Grossmont, 12-11.

Dave Peterson hit a bases loaded home run and Dick Eschbach tripled in the tying and winning runs after Eschbach started the rally with a double his first time up in the inning.

4/16/57

LIONS TOURNAMENT

Six of the seven City Prep League entries won opening round games. Only Mission Bay, which entered with a 13-1 record, did not advance, the Buccaneers losing to Sweetwater, 4-3, in 12 innings.

San Diego High, seeking its fifth title in the tournament’s seven years, defeated Yuma, Arizona, 8-4.  Point Loma topped Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, 4-0. Lincoln scored six runs in the top of the seventh inning to whip Hawthorne, 8-4, and Kearny scored 10 runs in the 10th inning to beat Inglewood, 11-1.

The only team from outside the County to move on was Inglewood Morningside, 7-0 winner over St. Augustine. Helix completed a near sweep for the locals with an 11-2 win over Santa Monica.

A bizarre double play, pitcher to catcher to first baseman to catcher to third baseman to second baseman to catcher (scored 1-2-3-2-5-4-2) resulted in two Hawthorne runners being tagged out at home plate.

Grossmont’s Mickey Bruce was safe at home. Umpire Doil Millsap watched as Helix catcher Bob Jones awaited throw. Highlanders won, 4-3, in 10 innings.

4/17/57

La Jolla coach Walt Garey called on Victor Graham to pitch three times in the Vikings’ nine-inning, Limited Division championship, 5-3 victory over El Centro Central.

Garey relieved Victor with brother George in the third inning, put Victor back on the mound in the sixth, and pulled him again in the seventh. Victor came on once more to retire the side in the ninth.

George Graham stole four bases and had three singles and a double for the Vikings.

Point Loma’s John Rebelo did not require assistance.  He pitched a no-hitter as Point Loma gained the finals with a 5-0 win against Hoover.

San Diego’s Dick Floberg, restricted to six innings because of the Lions’ rule prohibiting pitchers from more than 16 innings over three days, hurled six scoreless and San Diego went on to a 5-2 victory.

Floberg won his 11th game of the season and the Cavemen improved to 17-2 with their fifth tournament title. John Harmon hit a 370-foot home run and tripled.

Lions Tournament official made trophy presentations to winning San Diego High team’s John Harmon (left) and Jerry Whitworth.

4/23/57

Jerry Booth shut out La Jolla, 6-0, and came within a “flabby”, broken-bat single by George Griffin of pitching Point Loma’s second no-hitter.

Workhorse Dick Floberg was touched for a home run by Jerry Stryker but kept Kearny in containment and claimed his 12th victory as San Diego rolled, 10-4.

4/24/57

Mission Bay shaded Hoover, 2-1, when Tim Carroll scored from second base in the 10th inning as Hoover botched a double play.

Kearny’s Ralph Myatt shut out El Cajon Valley on three hits, 9-0, and struck out 12.  Art Cunningham homered in a six-run fourth inning.

Jim Gabbard came on in relief in the eighth inning struck out six straight batters and drove in the winning with a double in the bottom of the ninth inning as Escondido nipped Mar Vista, 6-5.

4/26/57

John Wible contributed a triple, single, two runs batted in, and scored a run as Helix won, 6-3, over Chula Vista to assume the Metropolitan League lead.

George Graham of La Jolla bowled into El Centro Central’s Henry Caraway but Graham couldn’t dislodge the ball and was out. La Jolla won, 4-3, and took Lions tournament Limited Division crown.

Sophomore Ezell Singleton struck out 15 and allowed three hits in San Diego’s 6-1 win over La Jolla.

5/1/57

R.W. Earls struck out 15 and Ron Hillsberry singled in the winning run in the last of the ninth inning in Mar Vista’s 3-2 win over Vista.

Henry Meza had two doubles and drove in two runs and Ron Moretti struck out 12 Vista batters in Fallbrook’s 5-3 win.

5/3/57

Sophomore Tom Goddard, making his varsity debut, hurled a no-hitter and struck out 11 as St. Augustine defeated Mar Vista, 6-0, at University Heights playground.

First baseman Paul Runge had two hits and knocked in four runs for San Diego, which made it nine in a row in the CPL with a 6-3 triumph at Hoover.

5/7/57

Dick Eshbach hit two home runs, including the decisive blow in the top of the 10th inning, sending Chula Vista to a 9-8 win over Grossmont.

San Diego High clinched the CPL championship with its 10th consecutive victory, 6-5 at Point Loma.

Mission Bay whipped Kearny, 6-1, behind the one-hit pitching of Bob Lasoya and Dick Shafer.

Dick Salbato allowed one hit and San Dieguito beat Mar Vista, 7-0.

5/10/57

Having clinched the CPL title and facing one-win Lincoln, San Diego coach Les Cassie went to the well again and nominated ace Dick Floberg to face the Hornets on two-days’ rest.

San Diego won, 14-1, as Floberg delivered a steady, six-hit performance. Leading, 2-1, after four innings, the Cavemen exploded in the fifth for eight hits and 12 runs.

Bill Cothron hit two doubles and a single and Chula Vista beat Sweetwater, 7-3, to pull even in first place in the Metropolitan loop with Helix, each with an 8-2 record.

Don Rodriguez hit a grand clam home run and Fallbrook edged San Dieguito, 6-4.

Henry Barkburst scored from second base, advancing on force play by Hoover teammate Carl Oberg. Cardinals defeated Burbank Burroughs, 5-4, in CIF quarterfinals.

5/14/57

Helix won a Metropolitan League showdown at Chula Vista, 7-4, and claimed a tie for the championship.  Mission Bay beat La Jolla, 7-1, and stayed a game ahead of Hoover in the race for the CPL’s second playoff spot.  Hoover continued the chase, whacking Lincoln, 16-6.

5/15/57

Helix pushed across two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning and squeezed past Grossmont, 4-3, to win the Metro championship.

Trailing, 3-2, Gary Calvert led off with a triple and came home on Don Taylor’s single.  Sandy Thorpe doubled Taylor home for the victory. John Wible went the distance for the Highlanders and scattered six hits.

5/17/57

Right-hander Steve Evans (10-3) pitched what long-time observers believed may have been the first no-hitter in the Hoover bandbox, which measures 193 feet in right field and 320 in centerfield, at the point where a ground-rule double becomes a home run.

Mission Bay’s Stan Gilliland drove a pitch into right field for what appeared to be a certain base hit in the sixth inning.  Hoover’s Bob Steel, playing shallow, fielded the ball on a hop and threw out Gilliland.

Evans and Hoover blanked Mission Bay, 11-0, tying the Cardinals and Buccaneers for second place in the final CPL standings. Walt Baranski’s three-run home run in the first inning gave the Cardinals all the runs they needed.

Lincoln vice principal George Parry, president of the league, conducted a postgame telephonic poll with other CPL honchos and Hoover got the vote for the playoffs.

SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS

5/20/57

Chula Vista attacked heralded Ontario Chaffey pitcher Larry Maxie for nine runs in six innings and had 12 runs and 14 hits in the Southern Section playoff opener at Galvin Park in Ontario, spring training home of the San Diego Padres.

Chaffey won, 27-12.

Let’s try that again.

Chaffey won, 27-12.

The Tigers pounded four Spartans pitchers for 20 hits and scored 11 runs in the fourth inning.

A seven-run sixth inning propelled Fallbrook to a 10-6 small schools playoff victory at Laguna Beach.

George Baker slid safely back to first base and avoided double play in San Diego’s 8-7 playoff win versus Inglewood.

5/22/57

Hoover lost, 1-0, and 11-2 to Helix during the season but scored a 6-3 first-round victory at San Diego State, hitting starting pitcher Sandy Thorpe for five runs in the first inning.

Ralph Mann, Lynn Rowland, Steve Evans, and Walt Baranski hit consecutive singles after one out for three runs.  Two more runs scored after Bob Steel walked and Jerry Jangard singled.

5/24/57

Hoover and San Diego advanced to the Southern Section quarterfinals and Fallbrook was eliminated in the small schools’ semifinals.

The Cardinals, home team at San Diego State after winning a coin flip to determine site, defeated Riverside Poly, 8-3.

San Diego topped Inglewood, 8-7, in 10 innings at Beeson Field on the San Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

Visiting Azusa Citrus, capitalizing on six Fallbrook errors, overcame the five-hit pitching of Ron Moretti and defeated the Warriors, 6-3.

CARDINALS SCORE QUICKLY

As in the first playoff, Hoover got started early with three runs in the first inning and headed off a Poly threat with three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Ralph Mann and Steve Evans each drove in three runs and Evans twice moved in from centerfield, briefly in the second inning and for the last 3 2/3 innings in relief of starting and winning pitcher Paul Richter.

CAVERS AVERT DISASTER

San Diego led the Inglewood Sentinels, 4-3, in the eighth inning before a play suggestive of an Alphonse and Gaston  act  (“I got it, no you take it”).

Three runs scored for the Sentinels when outfielders Henry Gardner and Iva Tucker couldn’t decide who should take Jerry Montgomery’s fly ball with two runners on and two out.

Montgomery circled the bases after the ball dropped safely and Cavers pitcher Dick Floberg threw all the way to the outfield fence while trying to retire Montgomery at second base after a  cutoff of the throw from the outfield.

Charity continued.

Inglewood committed three errors in the bottom of the inning, leading to three runs and a 7-6 lead for San Diego.

San Diego botched a double-play which could have ended the game in the ninth inning, allowing an Inglewood run and sending the game into extra innings.

Jerry Whitworth’s single scored George Baker in the bottom of the 10th and San Diego escaped.

Hoover’s Steve Evans pitched no-hitter against Mission Bay and was Cardinals’ ace.

5/28/57

Hoover beat Los Angeles Loyola, 3-2, in 15 innings at Bovard Field on the USC campus as Steve Evans outlasted three Cubs pitchers and struck out 16, advancing the Cardinals to the Southern Section semifinals.

Hoover improved to 19-8 as Lynn Rowland had four hits in seven at bats and accounted for all three runs with singles in the third, fifth, and 15th innings.

Ontario Chaffey exploded for seven runs in the second inning against sophomore starting pitcher Ezell Singleton and reliever Dick Floberg at Galvin Park, eliminating the Cavers, 13-4, and ending an outstanding San Diego season at 25-3.

6/3/57

Hoover trailed Burbank Burroughs, 4-1 after 4 ½ innings but scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth and two in the seventh to win, 5-4, at Lane Field.

Carl Oberg collected two hits including a triple to the right field wall in the seventh that scored Henry Barkhurst and Lynn Rowland.

Steve Evans struck out 10 as the Cardinals won their ninth game in a row and qualified to meet Ontario Chaffey in the finals.

6/6/57

Hoover trailed, 7-0, after seven innings and fell to Chaffey, which won its second consecutive championship, 9-3, at John Galvin Park in Ontario.

Chaffey’s Larry Maxie, a 6-foot, 4-inch, 215-pound right-hander, struck out 15 and ended his season with a 19-3 record, and added a home run which cleared a 30-foot fence at the 350-foot mark.

Hoover’s Steve Evans worked into the seventh inning, bringing his total to 43 2/3 in two weeks and five playoff games, before retiring to first base as Paul Richter came on in the eighth.