Hoover was favored and aiming for what sportswriters euphemistically called a hat trick. The term, more favored in ice hockey and soccer, meant a player had scored three goals.

The Cardinals were shooting for a third title, having won the Lions Tournament and Eastern League (they could have claimed a fourth after being selected No. 1 in the final Evening Tribune poll).

Despite a 24-4 record, best in the seven-year history of the San Diego Section, Hoover came up short.  Crawford  (21-7), three-time loser to the Cardinals in the regular season, defeated the Cardinals,  5-1, for the championship, its fourth in seven years under coach Bill Sandback.

CIF bosses adjusted the playoffs, dumping the 12-team, two-division format for a single, 16-team bracket.

4/30/68

El Capitan and Helix remained in a tie for first place in the Grossmont League.  The Highlanders defeated Monte Vista, 4-0, behind the no-hit pitching of Larry (No) Sweat. El Cap’s Joe Thogmartin shut out Mount Miguel, 2-0, behind run-scoring singles by Greg Mulkey and Denny Rupe.

–Bob Prawdzik’s three-run home run was the difference as Escondido (5-3) picked up a game on first-place San Dieguito (6-2) in the Avocado League, 5-3.

–Don Watson’s struck out 12 and gave up one hit in Carlsbad’s 3-0 win over Vista.  Fallbrook scored nine runs in the first inning, punctuated by Chuck Perkins’ grand slam home run, in a 12-2 rout of Oceanside.

–Chula Vista took the Metropolitan League lead on Nacho Bracamontes’ three-hitter that stopped Mar Vista, 4-2.

–University stayed a half game ahead of Madison in the Western League with a 7-6 win over Kearny and Madison stayed apace with a 2-1 win over Point Loma.

–Ron Monks two-run home run was essential for Uni, while Allan Hunt handcuffed Point Loma on seven singles.

–“We didn’t accomplish much, but we’re still in first place and if we can win four of our last five games we’ll stay there,” said Hoover coach Jerry Bartow after a doubleheader split of 4-3 games with chasing Crawford.

“We had to have a split,” said Crawford’s Bill Sandback.  “We’re still in the thick of things….”

Conclusion of an earlier, nine-inning tie turned in Hoover’s favor when Gary Stock’s long fly ball scored Mike Harrison from third base in the top of the 10^th inning.

The Cardinals scored twice and had the tying run on third base but Colts’ righthander Rod Boone retired Fred Jacobsen and Crawford survived in the second game.

–Dale Davis pitched seven innings in relief and tripled in the winning run in San Diego’s 3-2 win over St. Augustine.

–Morse’s Mike Hawks’ one-hitter blanked Lincoln, 8-0.

5/3/68

Hoover’s Mike Harrison improved his record to 11-2 and kept Hoover in front in the Eastern League, 7-0 over St. Augustine. Harrison scored two runs and drove in another.

–Crawford kept the pressure on Hoover with a 5-0 win over Morse behind Mike Pieratt’s pitching and four unearned runs.

–Jim Erautt, the grandson of Eddie Erautt, who posted 16-12 and 18-10 records for the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres in 1954 and ’55, showed familial moxie for coach Bill White’s Grossmont loop-leading Helix.

Erautt tossed a two-hit, 1-0, eight-inning victory over El Capitan to maintain the Highlanders’ league lead.

–Chula Vista pitcher Frank Enda’s one-hitter was more than enough for the Metropolitan League Spartans’ 4-0 win over the Western’s Point Loma.

“Everybody’s a contender,” said University coach Robert (Bull) Trometter.  “We still have to play La Jolla and Mission Bay and I’m scared to death.”

Uni’s league lead had just been trimmed to a half game with two remaining after Clairemont’s Tom Dodd, idled a month with back problems, stopped the Dons, 3-2, on four hits at Beeson Field on the Marine base.

5/7/68

The Grossmont and Avocado league race were nearing photo finishes.

–Helix and El Capitan shared the lead with 8-2 records after El Cajon Valley (8-3) knocked off Helix, 6-5, in 10 innings. Brian Applegate’s infield single scored Brock McRoberts with the winning run.

El Capitan jumped Monte Vista with four runs in the first inning and defeated the Monarchs, 5-2.  Santana (7-4) lost ground when Mount Miguel’s Alan Hansen blanked the Sultans on two hits, 5-0, and   Bill O’Connor hit a two-run home run.

–Escondido (7-3) caught San Dieguito and tied for first when the Cougars outscored Vista, 12-9, and Oceanside (7-4) moved to within a half game of the leaders with a 12-9, 10-inning victory over the Mustangs (7-3).

–Ben Epstein’s two-hitter and 5-0 win over Lincoln kept Hoover atop the Eastern Lreague with a 10-2 record, while Crawford (9-3) beat St. Augustine, 7-2.

–“If we can’t win two of these next three games we’d better hang it up,” said Chula Vista coach Bob Kennedy after the Spartans took a two-game lead with three to play in the Metropolitan League.

The Spartans won at Castle Park, 5-3, and looked at the possibility of a fourth league title in the same school year, following football, basketball, and wrestling.

Chula Vista’s Nacho Bracamontes retired the first 10 Castle Park batters, including seven by strikeout to improve to 10-2 on the season and 4-1 in league.

5/10/68

El Cajon, 10-5 since losing its first six, took the Grossmont League lead with a 9-3 record after a 3-0 win over Monte Vista.

The Braves’ Bob Wheelington stifled the Monarchs on three hits, while erstwhile leaders Helix and El Capitan were losing, the Highlanders to Santana, 4-3, and the Vaqueros to Grossmont on an unearned run in the seventh inning, 2-1.

–Frank Endo’s one-hitter and Kent Froede’s two-run homerun paced a 10-1 Chula Vista victory over Bonita Vista that moved the Spartans closer to the Metropolitan League title.

–Castle Park kept pace with the Spartans, 5-2 over Coronado as Ron Iapala hit a three-run home run.

–Marv Thompson’s one-hitter and five Hilltop errors geared a 14-1 victory for Nar Vista, which collected only seven hits.

–San Dieguito and Escondido remained atop the Avocado League.  The Mustangs edged Poway, 2-1, and the Cougars overcame Carlsbad, 6-3.

5/14/68

Chula Vista and Marian became the first to clinch league championships, the Spartans claiming a consecutive Metropolitan title, 9-5 over Coronado, and Marian winning the Palomar with a 7-6 edge on Army-Navy.

–University moved back into first place in the Western League when it defeated Mission Bay, 2-0, and Clairemont dropped back a half game when Point Loma blanked the Chieftains, 3-0.

University’s Greg Tomczyk and Point Loma’s Larry Luzenburg were the lockdown pitchers. Tomczyk struck out 10 and allowed two hits.  Luzenburg was touched for four hits.

–El Cajon Valley stayed a half game in front of Helix in the Grossmont circuit, nodding El Capitan, 3-2, behind Brian Applegate’s two home runs.

–Chuck Lind struck out 13 and gave one hit in a 1-0, eight-inning complete game triumph over Vista that kept San Dieguito in a tie in the Avocado League with Escondido, 6-0 winner against Orange Glen.

–Hoover earned a tie for the Eastern League championship but an outright title would come necessitate a win over Crawford three days later in the season’s final regular-season game.

Hoover shut out Morse, 8-0, and Crawford stayed as half-game behind with a 4-2 win over Crawford. Gary Stock’s home run and Ben Epstein’s three-hit pitching was too much for Morse and Rod Boone’s five-hitter and Earl Altschuler’s two runs batted in kept the Cardinals from shaking the Colts.

5/17/68

Hoover wrapped its first outright Eastern League championship since 1961 (it shared with San Diego in 1963) with an in-your-face, 9-0 victory on runner-up Crawford’s diamond.

Hoover collected 15 hits and Mike Harrison, elevating his record to 13-2 gave up hits and hurled his third consecutive shutout.

“He told me not to worry, that he’d shut them out,” said Cardinals coach Jerry Bartow, adding, “This was the first time all year we exploded on somebody.”

Every Hoover starter collected at least one hit. George Cappelletti and John Helfrick had three hits each and Gary Stock homered and drove in two runs.

“We haven’t been beaten this bad in several years,” said Crawford coach Bill Sandback.  “We’re not laying down, though, because we’ve won the playoffs a couple of times after finishing second.”

–University and Madison deadlocked for the Western League championship, each with an 8-4 record and league bosses were to vote on which would be No. 1 and No. 2 for playoff pairings.

Madison scored five runs in the fourth inning to beat Mission Bay, 8-3, and forge the tie with idle Uni.

–Helix annexed its first Grossmont League title since 1961 with a 4-0 victory over Mount Miguel that was the third victory in a week for pitcher John Sturgeon.  Grossmont opened the door for the Highlanders with a 5-4 win over El Cajon Valley.

–The difficulties that face new schools with undeveloped programs:  Bonita Vista took a 19-0 shellacking from Sweetwater, which hit four home runs The Barons finished 1-11 in Metropolitan League play and 3-19 on the season.

FINAL REGULAR-SEASON STANDINGS

EASTERN LEAGUE

TEAM	W-L	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND	ALL GAMES
Hoover	13-2	.867	—	21-3, .875
Crawford	11-4	.733	2	17-7, .808
San Diego	8-7	.533	5	13-9, .591
Lincoln	6-9	.400	7	7-14, .333
St. Augustine	5-10	.333	8	12-12, .500
Morse	2-13	.133	11	5-17, 294

WESTERN LEAGUE

University	8-4	.667	—	13-6, .684
Madison	8-4	.667	—	12-10, .545
Clairemont	7-5	.583	1	18-6, .750
Kearny	7-5	.583	1	12-10, .545
Point Loma	6-6	.500	2	9-13, .409
Mission Bay	5-7	.417	3	11-11, 500
La Jolla	1-11	.083	7	4-17, .190

GROSSMONT LEAGUE

Helix	11-3	.786	—	15-7, .682
El Cajon Valley	10-4	.714	1	11-12, .478
El Capitan	9-5	.643	2	13-8, .619
Santana	9-5	.643	2	13-8, .619
Grossmont	7-7	.500	4	10-11, .476
Mount Miguel	7-7	.500	4	9-11, .450
Monte Vista	2-12	.143	9	8-13, .381
Granite Hills	1-12	.071	10	2-19, .095

METROPOLITAN LEAGUE

Chula Vista	10-2	.833	—	17-4, .810
Castle Park	8-4	.667	2	17-7, .708
Sweetwater	8-4	.667	2	14-9, .609
Mar Vista	7-5	.583	3	13-9, .591
Hilltop	5-7	.417	5	8-14, .364
Coronado	3-9	.250	7	8-14, .364
Bonita Vista	1-11	.083	9	3-19, .136

SOUTHERN LEAGUE

San Miguel School	6-3	.667	—	9-6, .600
San Diego Military	6-3	.667	—	8-8, .500
La Jolla Country Day	4-5	.444	2	8-9, .471
Julian	2-7	.222	4	2-9, .182

PALOMAR LEAGUE

Marian	9-2	.818	—	14-8, .636
San Marcos	7-4	.636	2	8-13, .381
Army-Navy	5-7	.417	4 1/2	6-11, .353
Ramona	2-10	.167	7 ½	5-16, .238

AVOCADO LEAGUE

Escondido	11-3	.786	—	14-7, .636
San Dieguito	9-5	.643	2	16-6, .727
Oceanside	8-6	.571	3	11-11, .500
Carlsbad	7-7	.500	4	12-9, .571
Fallbrook	6-8	.429	5	8-10, .444
Poway	6-8	.429	5	10-11, .476
Orange Glen	5-9	.357	6	8-11, .421
Vista	4-10	.286	7	8-13, .381

 

5/21/68

SAN DIEGO SECTION PLAYOFFS

FIRST ROUND

Castle Park (17-8) 3, @Hoover 4.

Gary Stock’s triple was the impetus for a three-run, Hoover fifth inning that was the difference in the Cardinals’ 4-3 win.

El Capitan (13-9) 4, @Crawford 5.

Crawford scored twice in their last time at bat.  Rod Boone’s two-run home run in the sixth inning put the Colts ahead, 3-2, and they needed two more when the Vaqueros (13-9) scored two in the top of the seventh.

San Diego 13, @Chula Vista (17-5) 5.

“I can’t remember a day this humiliating since (Ontario) Chaffey beat us, 27-13, in 1958,” said Spartans coach Bob Kennedy, who added, “but I’m happy with the year we had. You can’t laugh off 17-5.”

San Dieguito 2, @Marian (13-9) 1, 15 innings.

The Mustangs needed four hours and 15 minutes.  The winning run was unearned and dealt the defeat to Steve Bajo, who went all the way for the Crusaders (14-9).

Sweetwater 3, @Madison (12-11) 0.

Alan Dodson’s two-hit pitching blanked the Warhawks.

Kearny (12-11) 6, @Helix 7.

Keith Baxter’s base hit and two runs batted in was the pivotal shot in the seventh inning as Helix came from behind.

El Cajon Valley 10, @San Miguel School (9-7) 0.

Dan Corder and Bob Wheelington combined on a two-hitter for the Braves.

 University (13-7) 2, @Escondido Escondido 7.

The Cougars scored in every inning but one after Uni took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

5/24/68

QUARTERFINALS

The Avocado League barged into semifinals with two surprising victories.

Escondido 2, San Diego (14-10) 0, @Cal Western University.

The Cougars’ Dan Gabbard executed a game-ending, unassisted triple play to shock the Cavers.

With runners on first and second and none out in the bottom of the seventh inning, San Diego’s Ron Brown hit a low line drive, caught by Gabbard, who touched first base and raced to touch second, ending the game.

“We were standing around holding our hands (sic) and the first thing we know it’s over,” said Cavers coach Charlie Davidson, who claimed that Gabbard trapped the ball.

San Dieguito 4, Helix (16-8) 3, @MiraCosta College.

Mustang Dan Kilpatrick’s sixth-inning double scored Terry Hernandez with the winning run.

-Crawford ,11, Sweetwater (15-10) 7, @Beeson Field. 

Earl Altschuler homered in the first inning off Alan Dodson, considered by many the top professional prospect in the San Diego Section, and the Colts drove the Sweetwater righthander to cover with a four-run third.

“We had heard a lot about him,” said Altschuler.  “We didn’t know what to expect.  He throws hard but he’s not the best pitcher we’ve faced.”

Hoover 7, El Cajon Valley (12-13) 2, @Mesa College.

Mike Harrison upped his record to 14-2 for the defending champion Cardinals.

5/28/68

SEMIFINALS

Hoover 7, Escondido (16-8) 2, @Mesa College.

Hoover coach Jerry Bartow did not employ ace Mike Harrison, instead nominating his second ace, Ben Epstein, who moved to 8-0 on the season by holding the Cougars to three hits.

Relief pitcher Steve Archambault shut out Hoover without a hit after the second inning. The Cardinals scored all seven runs on six base hits in the first inning.

Five Hoover batters were averaging at least .300.  “We’re hitting .280 as a team,” said coach Jerry Bartow.

Crawford 2, San Dieguito (18-7) 1, @Beeson Field.

Crawford earned its sixth trip in seven years to the championship game behind Rod Boone’s four-hit pitching.

5/31/68

CHAMPIONSHIP

Crawford (21-7) 5, Hoover (24-4) 1, @Beeson Field.

Mike Harrison retired the first 10 batters and Hoover led Crawford, 1-0, in the fourth inning, but the Colts struck for four runs when Danny Coronado scored on brother Mike Coronado’s single and Rod Boone hit a three-run home run for a 4-1 lead.

Colts starter Mike Pieratt limited the Cardinals to four singles and worked his way out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning by coaxing a pop-fly out and strikeout to end the game.

“I kept getting more and more nervous until the first pitch,” said Pieratt. “Then the nervousness went away until the seventh inning.

“He did a good job against Hoover in the Lions tournament, so we knew he could do it for us,” said Colts coach Bill Sandback.  “Rod Boone (the Colts’ No. 1 starter) was tired, so we went with Mike.”

“When you play a team that many times the percentages are bound to catch up with you,” Cardinals coach Jerry Bartow told Bill Finley of the Evening Tribune. “I still think we have the better team—I wouldn’t trade, I know that.”

Hoover had won three straight without defeat this season in games with their neighborhood rivals.

San Diego High, one year removed from a San Diego Section championship, posted a 10-12 record. The sub-.500 finish represented the Cavemen’s poorest record since the 1907 squad of coach Lawrence Carr, Sr., was 0-7.

Yes, 1907, according to Don King’s Caver Conquest.

Power had moved East after being seated for most of the last 60 years at the school near downtown.  Crawford had won three championships, Hoover two, and Helix one since 1961, the first season of the San Diego Section.

San Diego, since Clarence (Nibs) Price became coach in 1915, succeeded mostly by John Perry, Dewey (Mike) Morrow, and Les Cassie, had enjoyed unparalleled success through the 1950s.

The competition was ramping up, but first-year coach Jerry Dahms guided the Cavers to the Southern California finals in 1960 and Bernie Flaherty won a championship in 1966.

Flaherty left for San Diego City College and was replaced by Charlie Davidson. The Cavers were 8-7,  fourth in the Eastern League and out of the playoffs, but they were 3-0 against eventual section champion Hoover.

EXPANSION

The CIF board of managers agreed to extend the playoffs this year by increasing the 2-A field from eight to 12 teams. 

5/2/67

Chula Vista clinched its first Metropolitan League championship since 1962, 1-0 over Hilltop.  The Spartans, 10-1 in league, would take a 17-7 record into the playoffs.

—The 11-run mercy rule ended San Miguel’s 12-1 win over Julian in the fifth inning of the first game of their Southern Prep League doubleheader.  The second game went six innings before the Knights made it a mercy sweep of the Eagles, 20-9.

—Dale Davis (8-3) won his third game against Hoover, scattering four singles in San Diego’s 3-2 victory that left the Cavers with an 8-5 Eastern League record, one game behind Crawford and Hoover, and clinching the championship for St. Augustine (11-3), which shut out Morse, 4-0.

—Saints coach Bill Whittaker had a four-man pitching rotation of Mike Valeri, Jim Adesso, Skip Redondo, and Steve Chipp, which had a combined earned-run average of 1.59 in league play and 1.28 for the season.

—The Saints (19-3 overall) also could run out a hard-hitting lineup that included future major leaguer John Wathan (.391), Charles Benitez (.380), Wayne Bradley (.348), Skip Redondo (.340), Steve Ferrari (.333), and Dave Gonzalez (.318).

—Point Loma (11-3), fifth in 1966, clinched the Western League championship with an 8-1 win over La Jolla, while Clairemont was routing Mission Bay (9-5), 11-2.

—El Capitan (11-2) wrapped the Grossmont League gonfalon, 6-4, over Helix, as coach Art Preston’s team opened a 2 ½-game lead on the Highlanders and Santana, each 8-4.

5/5/67

Brien Bickerton pitched a no-hitter and lost.

The Santana lefthander’s career ended with a 1-0 defeat to Helix, which clinched second place in the Grossmont League and a berth in the San Diego Section playoffs.

“He took the challenge,” said Helix coach Bill White of his ace, Larry Sweat.  “I told him he was going against the best lefthander in the County and he would have to match him.  And by golly, he did.”

Helix scored in the first-inning on a pair of errors, one for three bases, and a swinging bunt, and Sweat kept the Sultans at a distance, scattering three hits, striking out 10.  He improved to 10-3 and lowered his earned-run average to 0.52.

Bickerton finished the season with a 9-2 record.  He gave up 46 hits in 92 innings,  struck out 150 and posted a 1.67 E.R.A.  Bickerton also hit six home runs, drove in 33, and batted .384.

–Mission Bay took some pleasure although out of the Western League title race when the Buccaneers scored on a bases-loaded walk in the last half of the ninth inning to defeat champion Point Loma, 3-2.

—Al Forman’s three-run home run and solo shot by Vic Foster wasn’t enough as Morse dropped a regular-season finale, 5-4, at Hoover.

—Brad Cutler lost a no-hitter on a leadoff single by Clairemont’s Dwayne Lawson, but Kearny defeated Clairemont, 5-0.

—Marian was going nowhere in the Palomar League but it traveled in style on the final day, hammering undefeated San Marcos, 14-0.

FINAL LEAGUE STANDINGS

PALOMAR

TEAM	W-L	Pct.	G.B.	ALL GAMES
San Marcos	9-3	.800	—	13-9, .591
Army-Navy	7-4	.667	1/12	9-8, .529
Marian	7-5	.583	2	11-10, .524
Ramona	0-11	.000	8 1/2	2-17, .105

EASTERN

St. Augustine	12-3	.800	—	21-3, .875
Crawford	10-5	.667	2	19-5, .792
Hoover	10-5	.667	2	14-9, .609
San Diego	8-7	.533	4	10-12, .455
Morse	4-11	.267	8	7-15, .318
Lincoln	1-14	.067	11	3-20, .130

WESTERN

Point Loma	11-4	.733	—	16-6-1, .717
Mission Bay	10-5	.667	1	15-9, .625
Kearny	8-7	.533	3	13-11, .542
Madison	8-7	.533	3	13-11, .542
Clairemont	6-9	.400	5	11-11, .500
La Jolla	2-12	.143	9	2-18, .105

SOUTHERN

S.D. Military	8-0-1	.944	—	12-2-1, .833
L.J. Country Day	6-3	.667	2 ½.	9-4, .692
San Miguel	2-5-1	.313	5 1/2	6-6-1, .500
Julian	0-8	.000	8	0-8, .000

METROPOLITAN

Chula Vista	10-2	.833	—	17-7, .708
Sweetwater	8-3-1	.708	1 ½	10-9-2, .524
Hilltop	8-4	.667	2	16-6, .727
Escondido	6-5-1	.542	3 ½	10-10-1, .500
Mar Vista	4-7-1	.375	5 /1/2	6-16-1, .283
Castle Park	3-8-1	.292	6 1/2	4-17-1, .205
Coronado	1-11	0.83	9	3-16, .158

AVOCADO

Poway	12-2	.857	—	18-5, .783
Orange Glen	10-4	.714	2	14-4, .778
University	9-5	.643	3	16-7, .696
Oceanside	7-7	.500	5	11-12, .478
Carlsbad	6-8	.429	6	10-10-1, .500
San Dieguito	6-8	.429	6	11-11, .500
Fallbrook	5-9	.357	7	9-12, .429
Vista	1-13	.071	11	4-18, .182

GROSSMONT

El Capitan	11-3	.786	—	13-8, .619
Helix	10-4	.714	1	14-7, .667
Santana	8-6	.571	3	14-8, .636
Granite Hills	8-6	.571	3	12-6, .667
Mount Miguel	7-7	.500	4	12-11, .522
Monte Vista	5-9	.357	6	8-14, .364
Grossmont	4-10	.286	6	9-13, .409
El Cajon Valley	3-11	.214	8	6-16, .273

5/9/67

2-A PLAYOFFS

FIRST ROUND

Mission Bay 1, Sweetwater (10-10-2) 0, @Southwestern College.

The Buccaneers’ Gary Myron gave up two hits and stretched his scoreless innings streak to 27. 

“We won’t hurt many people with the bat,” said Bucs coach Ken Bailey, after his team scratched four hits against the Red Devils’ Bill O’Quinn and didn’t get a runner past first base until the seventh inning.

Mike Shepherd doubled and eventually came home on Mike Fox’ single.

Hoover 2, Helix (14-8) 1, @Mesa College.

George Cappelletti singled in Pat Roark with the winning run in the ninth inning and offered that luck was involved.

“I think it was a curve,” Cappelletti said of pitcher John Sturgeon’s offering.  “I know he had me faked out.”

Crawford 2, Orange Glen (14-5) 1, @MiraCosta College.

Tim McClure hit a 350-foot home run over the left field fence in the eighth inning, giving Leo Edge the pitching victory over Ernie Oliva.

Hilltop 3, Poway (18-6) 1, @Palomar College.

The Lancers’ Ed Saffer had two hits and Hilltop made the most of three Poway errors, all runs unearned.

5/12/67

QUARTERFINALS

Hoover 4, Point Loma (16-7-1) 2, @Mesa College.

“I didn’t expect to hit it that well, but I’m not complaining,” said Hoover’s Dana Baltzer of his ringing, two-run triple in the fifth inning that overcame a 1-0 Pointers lead.

“I just wanted to hit the ball someplace,” Baltzer told Bill Finley of the Evening Tribune.

Paul Brunner hurled the first five innings for the Cardinals and then was backed up by Ben Epstein and Mike Harrison.

Mission Bay 5, St. Augustine (21-4) 1, @Westgate Park.

Mission Bay’s Rick Phillips socked a three-run home that broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning and stunned the favored Saints.

Phillips’ drive, on an incoming fastball, cleared the centerfield fence, 405 feet away. “That’s the longest ball I’ve ever hit…by far,” said the Buccaneers’ third baseman.

“He seems to be thriving on throwing,” ‘Bay coach Ken Bailey said of the sturdy Myron, of whose 9 strikeout victims included 8 in the last four innings, and scattered six hits.

Crawford 7, El Capitan (13-9) 1, @Grossmont College.

Leo Edge (14-4) gave up a run on two hits in the first inning and then battled through seven bases on balls to shut out the Vaqueros for the remainder of the game.

The Colts broke open the game with five runs in the third inning on four singles, El Capitan errors, and force plays.  Earl Altshuler drove in the first run with a single.  

5/15/67

1-A CHAMPIONSHIP

San Diego Military (13-2-1) 3, San Marcos (12-8), 2, @MiraCosta College.

5/16/67

SEMIFINALS

Hoover 3, Chula Vista (18-8) 1, @Southwestern College.

Jerry Bartow’s comments seemed patronizing. “Chula Vista’s got a good little team,” said the Hoover coach to Bill Weurding of the Evening Tribune.

“They handled several balls that we hit real well,” Bartow added.

The coach declared that his sore-armed pitcher, Paul Brunner, benefitted from the hot, Santa Ana weather: “The heat was just what he needed.  Just as good as having his arm in a whirlpool.”

Pat Roark was 4 for 4 for Hoover and Brunner cuffed the favored Saints on three hits. Of Roark, Bartow said, “He’ll run the count on you, because he knows he’s not going to strike out.  He’s got that much confidence.”

Crawford 3, Mission Bay (17-10) 2, @Mesa College.

The Colts made it five trips to the finals in Bill Sandback’s six years as coach.

“We’ve been lucky, but we’ve had some fine talent here, too,” said Sandback.  “In a single-elimination playoff anything can happen.  Any team in it can win.”

Crawford had a 3-0 lead after three innings, two resulting from Mission Bay errors. The Buccaneers reached Colts ace Leo Edge for two runs in the sixth inning.

CHAMPIONSHIP

5/19/67

Hoover (18-9) 6, Crawford (22-6) 4, 13 innings, @Beeson Field, Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

The game went on and on, the lights of Beeson Field illuminating, some of the 1,200 persons on hand eventually heading home for dinner, before the Hoover Cardinals, after three hours and 45 minutes, finally edged the Crawford Colts.

Dana Baltzer’s two-run home run in the top of the 13th inning, was the difference. Hoover, which won the first San Diego section championship in 1961, went home with a second championship trophy.

Baltzer’s drive over the left field fence saddled Crawford’s ace pitcher, Leo Edge, with his fifth loss against 15 victories.  “It was a low curve, down and away,” said Edge.  “He must have been looking for it.”

Baltzer, rushed after the game by many in a mob of about 500 Hoover students, also had cleared the fence in the ninth inning but his drive drifted foul.

Ross Barnhart, who was on base when Baltzer homered, pitched the last eight innings in relief. “My arm felt good,” said Barnhart, adding, “That’s the longest I’ve pitched in a while.”

Edge, who had pitched 35 innings in the last two weeks and four games, received a standing ovation from the crowd when he came to bat in the 11^th. “I was physically exhausted, but my arm felt all right,” said Edge.

Jerry Bartow, the emotional and somewhat eccentric Hoover coach, was asked what he was going to do with the trophy.   “I’m going to take it home and just look at it, I guess…for a long time.”

 

Coach Les Cassie’s Hoover Cardinals were within nine outs of a berth in the Southern California finals.  San Diego High was San Diego High, reliably formidable.  But Don Clarkson’s Point Loma Pointers may have been the best of all.

The Pointers won the prestigious Pomona 20-30 Rotary Club tournament, split two games with Hoover, and defeated San Diego in Pomona.  The Pointers ran the table in the Metropolitan League and would have been a prime candidate for the Southern California playoffs.

But the Metro loop had a curious history regarding the playoffs.  It usually declined, including this year.

The Pointers had an explainable reason this year.  Its regular season ended on the same day Hoover was bowing in the semifinals to Long Beach Wilson.

In the future the Southern Section would open the door  to more teams by creating major and minor divisions and schedules would be more accommodating to the start of the playoffs.  Point Loma would win a small schools football championship in 1949.

2/28/47

Hoover Alumni, aided by seven errors by the Cardinals varsity, won the season’s opening game, 6-2.

3/2/47

Leonard Ross and Pete Corona teamed on a three-hitter and San Diego, scoring three runs in the eighth inning, defeated its alumni, 5-2.

–Hoover’s six runs in the first inning, highlighted by Gene Launders’ single and LeRoy Darnell’s double, was enough to win the seven-inning contest against visiting Point Loma, 11-7.

3/7/47

Max Minga’s two-run triple in a three-run seventh inning paved Grossmont’s 4-1 win over the Alumni.

–Hoover opened an odd intersectional trip with a 12-7 win at Long Beach Jordan.  Chuck Chagnard’s three-run double on his second at-bat in the first inning was the final shot in a seven-run first inning, in which Bulldogs pitchers issued seven walks.

–Cyril Guthridge’s grand slam home run was the difference in La Jolla’s 6-5 win over visiting Kearny.

3/8/47

Harvey Jones gave up five hits, struck out eight and hit a two-run home run and Hoover outlasted the host Colton Yellowjackets, 9-6.

3/10/47

Bob Miller singled three times in three at-bats to lead Hoover to an 11-6 win over guest Grossmont.

–Andy Stagnaro’s five-hit pitching was enough to lead the San Diego Junior Varsity to a win at Escondido over the Cougars’ varsity.

3/12/47

San Diego’s junior varsity withstood a seven-run inning and edged the Kearny varsity, 9-8.  Grossmont was outhit, 10-9, but outscored Sweetwater, 8-7, in a nonleague game between Metropolitan League teams.

3/15/47

Coach Mike Morrow’s club won a day-night doubleheader in Balboa Stadium from the Tucson Bears, 9-5, and 10-9, collecting 25 hits in the two games.

–Long Beach Poly collected only four hits off Ken Clary but scored a 6-5 victory over Hoover on the Marine Corps Recruit Depot diamond.

–Joe Medina and Paul Kaneyuki combined to pitch Point Loma to a 10-1 victory over St. Augustine on the Pointers field.  John Brown helped with two doubles.

–Bob Press was 2 for 2 and Kearny beat San Diego Vocational, 6-2, at Kearny.

3/16/47

San Diego struck for 19 hits and defeated the Tucson, 17-5, to sweep the three-game series in Balboa Stadium against the defending Arizona champions.

Every member of the Hilltoppers’ lineup collected at least one hit.  John Brown and Pete Corona had four hits each, Ray Mendoza three hits, and Bill Dugan, John Verdusco, Jerry Dahms, and Hank Duffie two each.

3/18/47

Hoover’s Larry Nenna homered with a man aboard in the first inning for the Cardinals’ only hit, but they won, 10-4 over St. Augustine, which committed only two errors but virtually walked the Horace Mann playground ball park.

–Art Preston’s two-run home run in the first inning was the difference as Grossmont defeated Kearny, 3-2, on the Komets’ diamond.

3/20/47

Hoover and San Diego opened the Coast League season with wins at home.

Ken Clary and Harvey Jones hit home runs and Clary, with additional hitting support from Bill McColl, Bill Casey, and Gene Launders, scattered seven hits as the Cardinals won, 15-0, over Pasadena.

San Diego shut out Pasadena Muir, 11-0, as Joe Catlin contributed three hits, including a double and triple, and John Brown and Bill Dugan added two hits apiece in support of Pete Corona’s three-hit pitching.

–San Diego’s Junior Varsity beat La Jolla’s varsity and ace Bud Relyea, 10-6, at La Jolla.  Relyea hit a home run.

3/21/47

Ed Gray and Hank Fitch each had two hits and Pat Kennedy hurled St. Augustine to a two-hit, 9-1 win over Escondido at Golden Hill Playground.

–Point Loma began a two-game swing through Riverside County with a rain-shortened, five-inning, 4-2 victory at San Bernardino.  Joe Medina pitched the victory and added a two-run triple in the second inning.  Medina’s sixth-inning home run was washed out by a downpour.

3/22/47

–Len Ross’s five-hit pitching and Joe Catlin’s two-run triple in a three-run fifth inning was enough for San Diego, 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Coast League, to beat Pasadena, 6-2, in Balboa Stadium.

–Merle Smith’s three-run triple in the fifth inning broken open a game with visiting Pasadena Muir and Hoover romped, 13-2.

Paul Kaneyuki allowed nine hits and went the distance as Point Loma completed a successful weekend foray into the Inland Empire with a 6-4 win at Colton.

3/25/47

San Diego won a nonleague game at Grossmont, 8-4, tagging the Foothillers’ Art Preston for 10 hits.  Pate Corona and Bill Dugan combined with seven-hit pitching for the Hilltoppers.

–Joe Medina pitched six hitless innings and third baseman Joe Correia doubled and tripled and the Pointers topped pitcher Don Larsen and an alumni squad, 6-2, at Golden Hill playground.

–Who’s on first? No, who scheduled the game?  Hoover’s nonleague contest against Escondido was canceled because of a reported misunderstanding as to the game site.

–Bud Relyea struck out 16 St. Augustine batters and contributed two hits to the La Jolla attack and allowed three hits in the Vikings’ 5-1 win at home.

3/28/47

Hoover (8-2) scored seven runs in the first four innings and went on to a 10-6 win over San Diego (8-1) to take the lead in the Coast League with a 3-0 record. Ken Clary had four hits in five times at bat, including two home runs, and pitched the complete-game victory.

Bob Miller also homered and Harvey Jones singled, doubled, and tripled for the Cardinals.

–Grossmont scored at least one run in every inning from the fourth through the eighth inning and Art Preston kept El Centro Central at a distance as Grossmont won, 12-6, in an intersectional game on the Foothillers’ diamond.

–Paul Kaneyuki, Gene Roberts, and John Silveira combined to pitch a one-hitter and Point Loma submerged the Amphibious Base team, 12-0, at Navy Field.

–Eight errors contributed to Kearny’s 10-3 loss at Sweetwater.  La Jolla knocked off St. Augustine for the second time in the week, 10-3, in a seven-inning contest at Golden Hill.

3/29/47

San Diego bounced back from its loss to Hoover with an 8-1 victory over visiting Long Beach Wilson. John Brown stopped the Bruins on six hits. Jerry Dahms singled, tripled, and homered and Hank Duffie doubled and hit three singles.

4/1/47

The 14^th Pomona 2030 Rotary Club tournament drew six San Diego-area teams and they played a combined total of 12 first-round, second-round, and consolation games, starting as early as 8 a.m. and concluding in late afternoon.

San Diego and Point Loma still were alive in the championship bracket, but Hoover and La Jolla fell into the consolation bracket after first-round losses.  Grossmont and Escondido won first-round games but lost and headed home after second-round defeats.

San Diego defeated Fullerton, 3-0, and Santa Monica, 8-2. Point Loma whipped Covina, 11-3 and Santa Barbara, 5-1.

Escondido beat Covina, 9-8, and fell to Whittier, 7-1.  Grossmont measured Huntington Beach, 6-2, and then bowed to Long Beach Poly, 6-4.

La Jolla lost to Whittier, 6-3, in the first round but was in business in the consolation bracket after a 14-5 victory over Chino.  Hoover, one of the tournament favorites, was ousted in the first round, 9-1, by Ontario Chaffey but rallied for an 11-1 win over Santa Ana in the afternoon, second-chance game.

What it all meant was that San Diego was to play Point Loma in the championship quarterfinals and Hoover and La Jolla would meet in the consolation quarterfinals.

4/2/47

Not San Diego and not Hoover.  Point Loma was playing for the championship of the Pomona Rotary 20-30 Club tournament,

The Pointers of coach Don Clarkson emerged as potential champions, defeating San Diego, which was seeking its seventh tournament title, 3-1, in the morning quarterfinals and San Bernardino, 13-0, in the afternoon semifinals.

Defending champion Hoover, knocked out of the championship bracket on the first day, stayed in the hunt for the consolation trophy, beating La Jolla, 12-0, and Bonita, 8-0.

Paul Kaneyuki pitched a three-hitter against San Diego and had two hits.  Yoto Takeshita added a couple hits for the Pointers. Don Blackman was leading the Peninsula team with a .600 average, nine for 15. Joe Medina stuffed San Bernardino on four hits.

Hoover’s Bob Woods stopped La Jolla on two hits.  Harvey Jones allowed Bonita one hit.

4/3/47

Point Loma won a see-saw battle with Whittier, 8-7, for the Pomona 2030 Rotary Club championship.  Hoover took the consolation title, 10-5, over Fullerton.

Ralph Silva’s double with the bases loaded off Whittier pitcher Ed Hookstratten was the difference in the game.  Hookstratten gave up nine hits compared to the 14 allowed by Paul Kaneyuki, who continually worked out of jams.

Larry Nenna paced Hoover’s 11-hit attack with four hits in five times at bat.

4/8/47

Andy Stagnaro, up from the junior varsity, stopped Grossmont in three hits and Joe Catlin hit a three-run home run in an eight-run third inning as San Diego whipped Grossmont, 10-1, in Balboa Stadium.

–Harvey Jones and Larry Nenna each had three hits, with Nenna also adding a two-run homer, in Hoover’s 6-2 win over visiting St. Augustine.

–Joe Medina scattered 12 hits at Sweetwater and Point Loma continued to win, 6-4.

4/11/47

Hoover lost at Compton, 4-1, and San Diego won at Pasadena Muir, 8-2, in Coast League games.

–Grossmont pounded three Escondido hurlers for 16 hits and whipped the Cougars, 16-6, as Metropolitan League play began.

–Guest Oceanside had 13 hits, but Sweetwater made better use of its 15 hits in an 18-8 victory.

–La Jolla won at Kearny, 8-5, and Point Loma used its bye date to win, 8-5, at Naval Training Center.

4/13/47

Compton completed a sweep of visiting San Diego and Hoover and took command in the Coast League when the Tarbabes defeated the Hilltoppers, 6-1, after stopping Hoover, 4-1, the previous day.

Hoover recovered to win, 8-3, at Pasadena Muir. Harvey Jones struck out 12 and Bill McColl drove in four runs with a double and two singles.

4/15/47

Rudy Ortiz, Frank Morey, John Verdusco, Pete Corona, and Bill Dugan hit home runs at Golden Hill Playground and San Diego used the circuit clouts and 10 other hits for a 23-0 rout of St. Augustine.

John Brown, Pete Corona, and Leonard Ross combined to hold the Saints to two hits.

–Merle Smith had three hits and Hoover beat Grossmont, 15-7, and the Hoover JV, behind Bill White’s no-hitter, beat the Grossmont JV, 6-1.

–The San Diego junior varsity (11-0) rapped 14 base hits and clobbered Escondido’s varsity, 17-9.

4/18/47

Bud Relyea struck out 17 batters, hit a home run, and pitched a no-hitter as La Jolla routed Escondido, 18-0.

–Paul Kaneyuki gave up one hit and Point Loma defeated host Oceanside, 7-1. Sweetwater lost at Grossmont, 8-6, and Kearny won a nonleague encounter from visiting St. Augustine, 8-4.

–Gene Launder’s two-run single in the top of the seventh inning tied the score, 6-6, and Launder’s sharp grounder, mishandled by Tommy Martinez, scored Bill McColl in the ninth inning and Hoover edged San Diego, 7-6, at Balboa Stadium.

4/22/47

Point Loma continued to meet and beat all area opposition, taking down Hoover, 6-0, behind Joe Medina’s two-hit pitching on the Convair field.

Medina led off the second inning with a home run and Don Blackman aided the cause with two singles and a double.  Hoover coach Les Cassie used 13 players and three pitchers.

–San Diego State’s junior varsity stook advantage of Kearny hospitality, 11-5, and Grossmont rudely welcomed traveler Calexico, 13-3.

–San Diego junior varsity’s streak of 13 consecutive wins was ended at Sweetwater, 10-2.

Nine St. Augustine errors contributed to San Diego’s 11-2 win in Balboa Stadium.

4/23/47

Jack Konte homered and Bud Relyea homered and pitched La Jolla to a 2-1 win at Kearny.

4/25/47

Hoover moved into a first place tie in the Coast League by winning a rematch with Compton at Hoover, 6-4. Ken Clary was touched for 10 hits but went the distance for the Cardinals.

–San Diego shut out Pasadena, 10-0, in a night game in Balboa Stadium.

–Paul Kaneyuki and Point Loma got the best of Grossmont and Art Preston, 6-5, on the Naval Training Center diamond.

— La Jolla and Bud Relyea gave up unbeaten Metropolitan League status in a 5-3 loss at Sweetwater and Kearny was a road winner at Escondido, 7-0.

4/26/47

San Diego clinched the Coast League championship for Hoover when it crushed Compton with an 18-hit attack, 17-4, ending a disastrous, 0-2 road trip for the Tarbabes.

–Fred Weitzen hit two home runs and Ken Clary homered as Hoover beat Pasadena, 13-0, behind Harvey Jones’ six-hitter on the Horace Mann field in Hillcrest.

The Cardinals soon got word of Compton’s loss four miles away in Balboa Stadium and then awaited word on the Southern Section playoffs.

4/29/47

Grossmont beat La Jolla, 8-3, in the lone Metropolitan League game.  Escondido took out some frustration with a 20-5 nonleague win over Vista.  The Hoover JV blanked the Kearny varsity, 5-0, and Fallbrook topped Julian, 7-0, in a Southern Prep League game.

5/1/47

La Jolla’s Cyril Guthridge gave up three hits and defeated the Camp Elliott Marines, 4-2.

–Don Larsen, who graduated mid-term, doubled home the winning run as the Point Loma alumni beat the varsity, 4-3.

5/3/47

Art Preston hit for the cycle–single, double, triple, and home runstruck out 15 and gave up one hit in Grossmont’s immolation of Oceanside, 21-0.

–Paul Kaneyuki of Point Loma and Bud Relyea of Las Jolla struck out 15 batters each but didn’t do as well with those who made contact.

La Jolla collected 10 hits but committed 10 errors and Point Loma, on the strength of nine safeties, won, 13-6.

–Kearny made six errors and Sweetwater five, but the Red Devils also had more hits, 10 to five, and whacked the Komets, 16-5.  St. Augustine won a nonleague contest with Escondido, 10-8, on Ivan Radovich’s two-out, two-run double in the ninth inning.

5/7/47

John Brown socked two home runs and Bill Dugan and Jerry Dahms one each and San Diego won, 18-8, at Long Beach Wilson.

–Point Loma drove Art Preston to cover in the first inning but relief pitcher Fred Weinbrandt kept Point Loma off the scoreboard and Grossmont took an 11-5 victory.

5/8/47

Shortstop Doug Harvey would be the leadoff man for visiting El Centro Central when the Spartans played Hoover in a first-round CIF Southern Section playoff.

Harvey became a major-league umpire and is in the baseball Hall of Fame.  Harvey’s presence and command was such that Reggie Jackson once declared that Harvey “was the voice of God.”

5/9/47

Merle Smith hit a two-run home run in the first inning that propelled Hoover to a 13-3 victory over visiting El Centro Central in an opening-round Southern Section playoff game.

Bob Miller, Ken Clary, Harvey Jones, and Ralph Carpenter also drove in two runs apiece for the Cardinals.  Clary and Jones held the Spartans to one hit, a single by shortstop Doug Harvey.

–Art Preston struck out 18 batters as Grossmont defeated St. Augustine 3-1.  La Jolla’s Bud Relyea struck out 19 Oceanside Pirates in La Jolla’s 5-0 win.

–Phil Adams was 3 for 3 as Point Loma punished Kearny, 15-1, and Sweetwater bombed Escondido, 12-3, as Ordean Olson had three hits and Al Hooper hit a two-run home run.  Fallbrook won a Southern Prep League game at Vista, 8-2.

5/9/47

San Diego dropped a 3-0 decision at Tucson in the first of its three, season-ending games against the Arizona squad. The Hillers were restricted to singles by Jerry Dahms and John Verdusco.

5/10/47

Ray Mendoza’s two hit pitching evened San Diego’s season-ending, three-game series at Tucson, 4-1, but the Bears prevailed, 2-1, in the nightcap of the doubleheader.

San Diego won the intersectional series, four games to two, and completed the season with a 19-6 record.

5/16/47

Hoover scored two runs in the first inning and two more in the third and single runs in the fourth and fifth to win at Inglewood, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section playoffs.

Harvey Jones scattered eight hits and Gene Launders and Merle Smith contributed two hits each.

–Point Loma clinched a tie for the Metropolitan League title, 11-2, at Escondido.  Paul Kaneyuki spaced 10 hits and the Pointers manufactured 14. Grossmont beat La Jolla, 10-4, and Oceanside took its first league win, 6-3 over Kearny.

5/20/47

Brown Military (4-1) stayed alive in its Southern Prep League pursuit of idle Fallbrook (4-0) as the Cadets smashed Julian, 16-2, in the Cadets’ Garnet Avenue ball bistro in Pacific Beach.  Ramona beat Army-Navy, 11-5, and Vista topped San Dieguito, 7-6.

–Grossmont finished 5-1 in Metro League play with a 9-7 win over Kearny and then began a waiting game, hoping for a Sweetwater win over Point Loma which would give the Foothillers a share of the championship.

5/23/47

Point Loma (6-0) claimed the Metropolitan League title, 5-2, over Sweetwater on the Convair Field diamond.  Paul Kaneyuki limited the Red Devils to five hits.  Fallbrook (5-0) clinched a share of the Southern Prep League title, 10-1, over Army-Navy as Ted Chamness limited the Warriors to one hit.

Host Long Beach Wilson trailed, 1-0, after six innings and then scored two runs each in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings for a 7-2 CIF playoffs, semifinals victory over Hoover.

Wilson, an 18-8 loser to San Diego, won the Southern Section championship the following week, 9-4, over visiting Glendale.

Dewey J. (Mike) Morrow, a University of California at Berkeley graduate from Montana, returned from the war to San Diego High and coached the Hilltoppers to his eighth CIF Southern Section championship in Morrow’s 16 seasons and first since 1939.

Writer Norrie West of the Evening Tribune said of Morrow’s return:

“Not a soul will deny that Mike has baseball ‘know-how’, but fundamentally it’s the never-say-die spirit this lean master infuses into his team that seems to give them that extra something.”

West was fond of repeating one of Morrow’s favorite maxims.  “Every afternoon in Balboa Stadium you can hear Mike bawl in his foghorn voice: “’Run it out—maybe he’ll throw it away!’”

The Hilltoppers always got the message behind the words.

Morrow’s ace lefthanded pitcher Gene Richardson, who posted a 14-1 record, was the Southern Section player of the year.

Catcher Jerry Dahms, who also doubled as a shot putter on Bill Patten’s track team, led the Hillers with a .376 batting average.

3/6/46

The Martinez All-Stars defeated pitcher Gene Richardson and San Diego High, 3-2, in Balboa Stadium.  The win evened the series between the Hillers and former preps from the area at two wins apiece.

3/8/46

Bill Dugan homered and San Diego won a practice game at Point Loma, 10-4.

3/12/46

Ragged was the word for these preseason games.  Point Loma won, 15-11, at La Jolla as the teams combined for 16 errors.  Eight errors were recorded in St. Augustine’s 7-6 loss at Grossmont.

3/14/46

The Point Loma varsity topped the visiting San Diego junior varsity, 11-5, behind the four-hit pitching of Joe Medina.  It was the Hilltopper youngsters’ first game.

3/15/46

La Jolla’s Bud Relyea gave up an unearned run in the second inning and hurled a no-hitter in a 9-1 victory over guest St. Augustine.

3/20/46

San Diego defeated the Vick’s Nationals team, 10-8. Point Loma rapped St. Augustine, 12-3, and Sweetwater knocked off El Centro Central, 14-3.

3/22/46

Joe Medina scattered three hits and survived five errors, and Point Loma won a six-inning, nonleague game, 8-6, against Victory League opponent and host Sweetwater.

3/27/46

La Jolla stopped host Escondido on three hits, 7-5, behind the pitching of Bud Relyea, Cyril Guthridge, and Dan Butcher.

3/28/46

Pitchers John Brown, Jerry Dahms, and Pete Corona combined to limit visiting  Sweetwater to three hits in San Diego’s 8-3 victory.

–Hoover’s Ken Clary struck out 14 and set down visiting Point Loma and Pointers ace Joe Medina, 4-2.

–Grossmont at La Jolla was postponed because of wet grounds.

4/4/46

Hoover collected three hits and Grossmont botched its way to seven errors and dropped a 10-4 decision to the visiting Cardinals.

–San Diego and Hoover remained the Victory’s League’s only undefeated teams, each 2-0, when the Hilltoppers rocked La Jolla, 14-3.

The Hillers piled 14 hits and John Brown cuffed the Vikings on two hits.

–Joe Medina struck out 14 batters and Point Loma, with a four-run eighth inning, edged Sweetwater, 5-4.

4/5/46

Gene Richardson gave up four hits and pitched San Diego High to a 6-2 win at Fullerton. The Hillers’ John Verdusco doubled and singled twice.

–Hoover lost the first of a three-game series at Santa Barbara, 5-3.

4/6/46

Hoover collected 19 hits and restricted Santa Barbara to six as the Cardinals swept a double header, 8-2, and 15-8.

John Hedquist gave up three hits in the opener and contributed with a two-run home run. Ken Clary and Roy

Wayne each added a triple.

Clary allowed only three hits and collected three hits in the nightcap, but did not receive sterling defense. The Cardinals threatened to compromise things with four errors.

4/11/46

Joe Correia’s three-run home run and solo shot by Joe Medina presented Point Loma a 4-0 lead in the first two innings at San Diego.

The Hillers erupted for eight runs in the third inning and rolled, 18-4.

–Hoover slugged 16 hits and drubbed La Jolla, 17-2, at Horace Mann playground.

–Tony Castro homered and pitched Sweetwater to a 7-2 victory over Grossmont’s Art Preston.

4/15/46

San Diego, Hoover, and Point Loma represented the area in the 13^th Pomona 20-30 Club tournament.

Coach Mike Morrow’s top-seed Hilltoppers, winners in six of the nine previous years in which San Diego High teams entered, were in the 32-team field for the first time since 1941.

—San Diego defeated Anaheim, 9-4, in the morning and Pasadena, 7-6, in the afternoon.  Hoover edged Santa Monica, 5-4, and returned with a 4-2 win over Point Loma in a contest that went two extra innings.

(Point Loma had won its first-round game, 10-8, over Azusa Citrus).

—Ken Clary and Jack McColl homered in Hoover’s opener.  Winning relief pitcher Harvey Jones drove in Roy Wayne with the winning run and the Cardinals clinched the second game with a successful squeeze play in the ninth inning.

4/16/46

Hoover got four-hit, shutout pitching from John Hedquist in a 5-0 quarterfinals victory over Covina and earned a trip to the Pomona 20-30 Club finals with a 7-4 triumph over Santa Barbara.

San Diego was eliminated in the morning quarterfinals by El Monte, 3-1. The Lions lost in the semifinals, 4-0, to Orange, which qualified to meet Hoover.

—La Jolla’s Bud Relyea struck out 18 and allowed only a scratch single in a 7-0 home victory over Escondido.

4/17/46

Ken Clary scattered six hits and weathered a three-run, ninth-inning by Orange as Hoover claimed the Pomona 20-30 Club championship, 5-3.

Roy Wayne’s 2-for-5 performance at the plate, led the Cardinals, who took a 2-0 lead in the third inning and scored single runs in the fifth, seventh, and eighth.

4/23/46

They would play for the Victory League championship later in the week, but Hoover and San Diego warmed up, the Cavers winning a nonleague contest in Balboa Stadium, 16-9.

Bobby King’s double with the bases loaded helped the Hillers to a 5-0 lead in the third inning.  Hoover scored six in the eighth inning after reliever Pete Corona walked six batters.  The Hillers recovered with five in the bottom of the eighth.

4/25/46

Anticipation resulted in the Hoover-San Diego Victory League title decider being switched to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot diamond.

–Joe Correia was 3 for 4 and hit a home run in Point Loma’s 11-6 victory against the Hoover junior varsity in a game slowed by 13 combined errors.

4/26/46

Gene Richardson did not allow a runner to reach third base and San Diego clinched a tie for the Victory League championship, 4-0, over Hoover at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

Ken Clary gave up six hits including a two-run double to Chuck San Fillippo in the second inning and John Brown’s run-scoring triple that followed Fred Flores’ single in the eighth.

—Ralph Silva’s triple scored pitcher Don Larsen with the winning run as Point Loma beat Grossmont, 6-5, in 10 innings.

—Visiting La Jolla’s Bud Relyea gave up only three hits, but Sweetwater’s Tony Castro allowed two and the Red Devils earned a 4-0 win.

4/29/46

Paul Kaneyuki’s triple followed Joe Henning’s single and Point Loma outlasted the San Diego junior varsity, 4-3, in 15 innings on the Pointers’ field.

4/30/46                                                                                                                  

Ken Clary pitched and hit Hoover to a 5-3 win over San Diego in Balboa Stadium.   Clary kept the Hilltoppers at a distance for the first five innings, then moved to right field and homered, finishing the day 3 for 4.

San Diego won the three-game series, 2 games to 1, after outscoring the Cardinals, 16-9, and 4-0, with only the shutout counting in Victory League standings.

–Grossmont’s Bobby Lamp tripled in 2 runs in the seventh inning and pitched the Foothillers to a 3-2 win over visiting Calexico.

5/1/46                                                                                                  

San Diego won the Victory League championship on the road, with Gene Richardson outpitching Grossmont’s Art Preston, 5-4.

Richardson’s triple climaxed a five-run fifth inning that overcame the Foothillers’ four-run lead.

Preston gave up only three hits but coach John Hancock’s team committed five errors.

5/2/46

—Hoover, Sweetwater, and Point Loma tied for second behind San Diego in the Victory League final standings, each with a 3-2 record.

—Sweetwater surprised Hoover, 9-7, at Horace Mann Playground, and Point Loma, behind Don Larsen’s two-hit pitching, won at La Jolla, 27-2…yes, 27-2.

VICTORY LEAGUE STANDINGS

TEAM	W-L	PCT.	GAMES BEHIND
San Diego	5-0	1.000	—
Point Loma	3-2	.600	2
Sweetwater	3-2	.600	2
Hoover	3-2	.600	2
Grossmont	1-4	.200	4
La Jolla	0-5	.000	5

5/4/46

John Verdusco hit a grand slam home run and Bobby King a solo shot leading San Diego to a 12-5 win over Long Beach Wilson in Balboa Stadium.

John Brown pitched the first seven innings and Gene Richardson the final two for the Hillers.

5/8/46

Brown Military was not a welcome guest at Julian, where the Cadets hammered the Eagles, 35-6, in a Southern Section Group 12 game mercifully called after seven innings.

Brown’s score almost doubled its hits, 18.  Julian committed five errors and two pitchers walked many, unnumbered amount of batters.

5/9/46

As part of a four-day road soiree  leading to a three-game series in Tucson, the Hillers opened Southern California playoff competition with a 24-3 win at El Centro Central.

5/10/46

An overflow crowd estimated at 3,000 persons saw Tucson High beat John Brown and the San Diego Hilltoppers, 3-0, in the Arizona city.

Brown gave up only four hits but walked seven as the Bears scored single runs in the first, second, and eighth innings.

5/11/46

Gene Richardson walked no one, struck out 13, and gave up four hits as San Diego evened its series in Tucson, 7-1, and then completed a double header sweep in the afternoon, 10-6.

The defeats reportedly were the first for the Bears in three years.

Charles Norman was the winning pitcher and catcher Jerry Dahms and first baseman John Brown each was 3 for 5.

5/16/46

San Diego’s second-round CIF playoff with Orange was moved to Lane Field so that a Reserve Officer Training Corps review could be conducted in Balboa Stadium.

5/17/46

Gene Richardson struck out 19 and Richardson and eight of his teammates contributed at least one hit in a 12-hit attack as San Diego blanked the Orange Panthers, 6-0, in a second-round playoff.

Richardson, John Brown, and John Verdusco each had two hits.

5/24/46

The Hillers moved on to the CIF finals with a 9-2 win over Pasadena at Lane Field.  The Bullpups entered the game with a 16-2 record and were led by future major league outfielder and San Diego Padres manager Dick Williams.

Gene Richardson struck out 16 and added two hits and scored two runs as San Diego overcame a 2-0 Pasadena lead with three runs in the fifth inning and followed with two each in the sixth, seventh, and eighth.

5/29/46

Inglewood, 20-8 coming in, was no match for San Diego’s 17-hit attack in an 18-0 rout of the Sentinels in the championship game at Lane Field.

The Hilltoppers scored 4 runs in the third inning and seven in the fourth.

An infield single by Teruto Kaneka in the seventh inning was the only base hit allowed by Gene Richardson, who struck out 19.

The Hillers rapped 15 singles and two doubles (John Verdusco, Charles Norman) and concluded their season with a 24-7 record.

Fred Pierce was 4 for 5 and Charlie Coffee 3 for 3 to lead the San Diego attack.

San Diego batsmen, when the game was out of hand, switched.  Righthanded hitters became lefthanded hitters and vice versa.

San Diego’s surprising, late-season ride on the left arm of pitcher Brent Strom resulted in the Cavers’ first major championship since they won the Southern Section title in 1952.

And it was to be the Cavers’ last, ending a run that began with a state championship in 1918.

Changing demographics, new schools, new neighborhoods, revised enrollment borders, and a continually growing population, finally caught up with the Cavers in the early ‘sixties.

There were more teams and more players to challenge  a program that became legendary after the arrival of coach Dewey (Mike) Morrow in 1927, during the Roaring ’20s, before prohibition.

Morrow was 281-49 (.852) against high school teams and 86-48 with four ties (.638) against collegiate, semi-pro, and professional squads from 1927-50.

Morrow’s overall record was 367-97-4 (.788) with 10 Southern Section championships and many league and tournament titles when he left the Hilltoppers and moved to San Diego Junior College in 1951.

Les Cassie, who switched positions with Morrow, was the Hillers’ coach from 1951-59 and won one Southern California crown.

Cassie went into administration after a decade in which his teams were 217-33 (.868) against all opponents.

Jerry Dahms was 70-26 from 1960-63 and Bernie Flaherty 51-22 from 1964 through this season, Flaherty’s last as he  was moving to San Diego City College.

Coaching records courtesy Don King’s Caver Conquest.

COLTS CORRAL TITLES

Crawford, the team San Diego defeated this year, was one example of  the city’s growth and movement, having opened on 55^th Street in East San Diego in 1958, less than two miles from Hoover’s 44th Street campus.

The Colts had become the premier franchise, winning 10 section titles since 1960 in basketball (1), baseball (3), football (1), golf (1), and gymnastics (4).

Baseball coach Bill Sandback, who came to Crawford in 1961, was 88-32 (.733) with 3 wins in 4 title games.

5/7/66

Final regular-season standings in the seven San Diego Section leagues, including 42 teams.  GB=Games Behind:

EASTERN

TEAM	W-L	PCT.	GB	OVERALL
Crawford	10-4	.714	—	16-5
San Diego	10-5	.667	½	14-8
Lincoln	9-6	.600	1 ½	15-8
St. Augustine	8-6	.571	2	11-10
Hoover	4-10	.286	6	8-13
Morse	2-12	.143	8	4-17

WESTERN

TEAM	W-L	PCT.	GB	OVERALL
Kearny	10-5	.667	—	16-8
Clairemont	10-5	.667	—	14-8
Madison	10-5	.667	—	13-10
Mission Bay	8-7	.533	2	12-11
Point Loma	7-8	.467	3	10-12
La Jolla	0-15	.000	10	0-22

METROPOLITAN

TEAM	W-L	PCT.	GB	OVERALL
Hilltop	8-3	.727	—	14-9
Escondido	7-4	.636	1/2	14-6
Chula Vista	6-6	.500	2 ½	13-11
Sweetwater	6-6	.500	2 ½	9-12
Coronado	5-7	.417	3 ½	9-11
Castle Park	4-8	.333	4 ½	12-12
Mar Vista	4-8	.333	4 ½	8-12

GROSSMONT

TEAM	W-L	PCT.	GB	OVERALL
Grossmont	12-2	.857	—	15-5
Helix	10-4	.714	2	16-8
El Capitan	7-6	.538	4 ½	9-10
Monte Vista	7-7	.500	5	11-11
Mount Miguel	5-9	.357	7	11-12
Santana	5-9	.357	7	9-13
Granite Hills	5-9	.357	7	9-14
El Cajon Valley	4-9	.308	7 ½	7-17

AVOCADO

TEAM	W-L	PCT.	GB	OVERALL
Oceanside	11-4	.733	—	12-10
Orange Glen	8-7	.533	3	10-9
University	7-8	.456	4	13-9
Fallbrook	7-8	.456	4	9-12
San Dieguito	6-9	.400	5	8-14
Vista	6-9	.400	5	8-12

PALOMAR

TEAM	W-L	PCT.	GB	OVERALL
Poway	11-4	.733	—	16-5
Marian	10-5	.667	1	14-8
Carlsbad	9-6	.600	2	12-8
San Marcos	7-8	.467	4	11-12
Ramona	6-9	.400	5	7-15
Army-Navy	2-13	.133	9	2-16

 SOUTHERN PREP

TEAM	WL	PCT.	GB	OVERALL
San Miguel	5-1	.833	—	13-7
La Jolla Country Day	3-3	.500	2	7-7
San Diego Military	1-5	.167	4	2-10

5/10/66

Western League bosses, faced with choosing between 3 teams,  Kearny, Clairemont, and Madison, each with a 10-5 record, for two postseason invitations, opted for a playoff, or “play-in” game, at Mesa College following a  contentious meeting and vote.

The bosses picked coach Ernie Beck’s Clairemont Chieftains as the Western’s No. 1 squad and forced Madison to play another game with Kearny, although the Warhawks held a 2-1 advantage in regular-season games with the Komets.

LIONS TOURNAMENT ROUT

A Western League insider told Harlon Bartlett of the Evening Tribune that the thinking of the bosses probably was influenced by Kearny’s 10-0 win over Madison in the Lions Tournament.

“I feel we earned the playoffs,” Madison coach Bob Bacon offered after the 2-0 victory over Jack Taylor’s Komets.

“We honored the league ruling even though many in the Madison baseball community questioned the ruling,” said Bacon. “We played it with no questions asked.”

A Kearny error on Bob Nunley’s slicing double in the first inning resulted in Greg Gunter’s scoring and a 405-foot triple to the base of the centerfield fence by Greg McElroy in the fourth inning turned into a faux home run when the Komets juggled the relay.

5/13/66

2-A PLAYOFFS

The Metropolitan League, considered by many of the local cognoscenti as being inferior to the two city leagues, wanted some respect.

Especially after Chula Vista had won the Lions Tournament but was third in regular-season standings to Hilltop and Escondido.

Hilltop knocked out Madison, 2-1, and Escondido topped Clairemont, 10-5, in first-round (quarterfinals) games.

Clinging to a one-run lead, Hilltop weathered a Madison threat in the seventh inning, when the Warhawks (13-11) loaded the bases with two outs.

Terry Davis hit a line drive between third base and shortstop that was speared by a diving Ed Saffer to end the game.

Hilltop scored twice in the bottom of the first inning on singles by Ward Lannom and Ray Sorenson, a sacrifice, and an outfield error. Jerry Peik’s single in the fourth  put Madison on the scoreboard.

The Lancers’ Jeff Klibbe allowed four hits in outdueling the Warhawks’ Mike Raney, who gave up three hits.

—“Our big test is San Diego and I think we have a real good chance,” said Grossmont coach Jerry Lewis. “If we beat San Diego we’ll go all the way.”

San Diego eliminated The Foothillers (15-6), 8-4, as Brent Strom made his ninth consecutive start, bettering the presumed record for a city league pitcher. San Diego’s Dick Floberg made eight straight starts in 1957.

Strom gave up early home runs to Cal Meier and Bernard Linn. The Cavers won by scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning.

—Dan Gabbard hit two doubles and drove in three runs and Gil Pumar added three singles and a run batted in as visiting Escondido rapped three Clairemont (14-9) pitchers for 15 hits.

—Paul Kaufman homered and Ed Ramage (13-2) kept Helix (16-9) at bay, allowing two hits as Crawford advanced, 2-1, at Wells Park in El Cajon.

1-A PLAYOFFS SEMIFINALS

The Palomar League’s Poway defeated the Southern Prep League’s San Miguel School (13-8), 9-5, after falling behind the National City club, 5-0, at Palomar College.

Jerry Carpenter, who gave up 4 runs in the first inning, struck out 12, including 5 of the Knights’ last six hitters.  Jack Ashby and Mike Ward each had three hits for the Titans.

Poway advanced to the championship against Avocado League winner Oceanside, which was byed into the finals.

5/17/66

2-A SEMIFINALS

“If he can brush his teeth (and floss) he’ll be in there Friday (in the championship game against Crawford),” said San Diego coach Bernie Flaherty.

Strong-armed lefthander Brent Strom (14-3), making his 10^th consecutive start for the Cavers, won a 14-inning duel with Escondido’s Tom Johnson (10-3), 1-0, at Beeson Field on the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

“I’ll be pitching, don’t worry,” said Strom of the upcoming championship game . “There’s nothing to save yourself for now.”

Strom,  7-3 over the 10-game stretch, fought off the 15-7 Cougars, who threatened in the third, fourth, fifth, 10^th, and 14th innings.

Strom got out of trouble by striking out 20 and walking two while allowing 11 hits.

The Cavers, who loaded the bases in the ninth and 10^th innings, finally won when Johnny Williams doubled home Dale Davis in the bottom of the 14^th.

“On paper these kids have no right to win,” a grinning Flaherty said of his team, “but they don’t read so well.”

—Crawford gained the finals for the third consecutive year as Ed Ramage (14-2) set down Hilltop, 5-1, at Beeson Field and dealt the loss to Don Klibbe (9-5).

Ramage retired 13 of the last 14 Lancers, allowing only a walk to Don Chew in the sixth.  Tim McClure’s two-run homer in the third inning followed a shaky Hilltop defense that contributed to three Colts runs in the first two innings.

2-A CHAMPIONSHIP

5/20/66

Brent Strom was working on a no-hitter and 4-0 lead entering the sixth inning, when Crawford scored three runs on four hits.

The Colts had momentum and recent history on their side, but Strom recovered to complete a 4-3 victory and earn San Diego’s first championship since a Southern Section title in 1952.

The loss was Crawford’s first in the finals after three consecutive championships and a 12-0 post-season record.

Ed Ramage (14-3) was the losing pitcher to the 15-3 Strom.  Third baseman John Meiers supported Strom with a two-run home run and single.  Johnny Williams also had two hits.

San Diego finished the season with a 17-8 record, Crawford with 18-6.

1-A FINALS

Oceanside (13-10), coached by football legend-to-be Herb Meyer, defeated Poway (16-6), 3-1, after losing twice to the Titans in previous finals.

The 1-A division playoffs were between Avocado, Palomar, and Southern Prep League champions.

See additional narrative, 1966 Baseball I, by searching “Recent Posts”.>

On March 21 the Hoover student body announced a fund-raising drive for a new baseball facility, Ted Williams Field, in honor of the January, 1937,  graduate and major league baseball Hall of Fame inductee.

For years the Cardinals played home games in the school’s football stadium, with a rightfield fence, beyond the track,  a Little League-dimensioned 185 feet from home plate.

Hoover coach Jerry Bartow  sometimes was  accused of tailoring the distance of a faux left field, where it was said a cab ride was necessary to the distant fence facing Monroe Avenue.

Low hurdles borrowed from the practicing track team served as the left field “fence”, the distance from home plate adjusted to the offensive prowess of an opponent by moving the hurdles back and forward, according to some observers.

Home runs in right field had to be north of a tall wooden post  overlooking the press box and stadium seating.

Leftfield at the proposed Ted Williams will be 300 feet from home plate, 409 to center, and 323 to right.

A goal of $25,000 to build the facility next to the boys’ gymnasium and facing 46th Street was announced by vice principal Les Cassie, a teammate of Williams’ at Hoover; Williams’ close friend and Hoover alum Bob Breitbard of the Breitbard Athletic Foundation, and student Bill Finley, the school’s commissioner general.

3/2/66

Writer Harlon Bartlett described the weather as “better suited for the Central New England dog sled races” and that Grossmont coach Jerry Lewis was “bundled up to the size of Yogi Bear and huddled beside a heater in the dugout.”

Plus, Lewis’ centerfielder had a broken jaw from a motor scooter accident, pitcher Bernard Linn was temporarily ineligible, and the flu had visited Lewis and two starters.

The coach shook off the chilly, cloudy weather, but the Foothillers (1-0-1) couldn’t shake St. Augustine (0-1-1) as the teams battled to a nine-inning, 2-2 tie.

—Andy Morgan’s grand slam home run in the first inning propelled Hoover, playing its last season on the football field, to a 13-2 win over El Capitan.

—Luther Espy allowed four hits and Al Salvatierra hit a grand slam home run in the first inning of Lincoln’s 9-0 shutout of Chula Vista.

—Steve Bell drove in seven runs with two home runs, including a grand slam as Kearny beat Hilltop, 10-2.

—Steve Wyer clubbed a grand slam as La Jolla Country Day routed the Santana freshmen, 15-1.

3/9/66

“We don’t have any big stars and that’s the best thing that could happen to us,” said coach Robert (Bull) Trometter of University, which improved to 5-0 with a 5-1 win over Monte Vista.

—Crawford also was 5-0 after Larry Forest’s three-hitter and second shutout of the season stopped Helix, 3-0.

—Brien Bickerton homered and doubled, driving in three runs, and gave up two hits in five innings before Larry Falls mopped up Santana’s 7-0 win over Oceanside.

—Lincoln (4-0) beat host Clairemont, 4-1, behind Luther Espy’s 10-strikeout, four-hit pitching.

Hornets coach Bob Ganger did not want to hear that his team, often touted but never finishing higher than third, would be favored in the Eastern League.

“Don’t mention it,” Ganger said, frowning at Harlon Bartlett’s suggestion.

3/11/66

San Diego (4-2) won its Eastern League opener at home, 1-0, over 5-1 Crawford as Brent Strom struck out eight, doubled for one of the Cavers’ three hits, and was credited with four assists and two putouts in the field.

—Craig Brewer’s home run in the bottom of the ninth inning gave Hilltop a 2-1 win over Mount Miguel.

—University, now with a County-leading 6-0 record, struggled 10 innings before edging Vista, 5-4.

3/15/66

Santana’s first-year Sultans (4-3) rode with 6-foot, 3-inch, 170-pound sophomore lefthander Brian Bickerton to a one-hit, 3-0 win over Helix (2-4) in a Grossmont League opener.

—Mount Miguel’s Bill Lockhart also hurled a one-hitter in a 3-0 win over Granite Hills.

—Rick Dixon’s three-run home run in the top of the eighth inning was the difference in Clairemont’s 9-6 victory over La Jolla in the Western League lid-lifter.

–University bumped its record to 7-0 with an Avocado League-opening-game, 4-2 decision over Orange Glen.

3/18/66

“We don’t have a bonehead on the club; we’re going to have a lot of fun this year,” said St. Augustine coach Bill Whittaker.

The Saints’ 2-1 victory over Hoover, behind Jim Addesso’s three-hit pitching, marked the first time in five years they had beaten the Cardinals and San Diego in the same week.

—After winning four Grossmont League championships from 1960-64, El Capitan was 5-16 in ’65 after the arrival of neighboring Santana.

“We would have had (Brian) Bickerton and (Dennis) Forrester,” Vaqueros coach Art Preston noted of the two Santana stars.

El Cap survived a two-hour, 45-minute, 17-hit, 23-walk (by both teams) struggle with Mount Miguel, winning, 12-9, and improved to 3-4.

An infield throwing error broke an 8-8 tie in the sixth inning and the Vaqueros scored three more in the seventh.

3/25/66

George Zorn gave up three hits and University won its 10^th in a row without defeat, 6-2 over Fallbrook.

—Madison (6-4) moved into a tie with Kearny for first place at 4-1 in the Western League after a 7-4 win over the Komets.

Bob Nunley had a three-run triple and sophomore Greg McElroy three hits for the Warhawks.

—Brent Strom pitched a six-hitter and hit a two-run home run and San Diego beat Hoover, 5-2.  Steve Shepherd added a two-run homer for the Cavers.

—Frank Alfano, Bob Petretta, and Danny Coronado hit home runs and Crawford beat Lincoln, 9-4.

3/29/66

George Gregoroff fought off several University threats and pitched Vista to a 2-0 victory over the 10-1 Dons, who still led the Avocado League with a 5-1 record, ahead of four others’ 3-3.

—Don Bair struck out 12 and limited Point Loma to two hits and Mission Bay edged Point Loma, 1-0.

3/30/66

In announcing pairings for the 32-team, 16^th annual Lions, tournament bosses said first-round games will be played at Navy Field No’s. 1 and 2, Clairemont, Mount Miguel, Kearny, and San Diego High.

Six teams, plus San Bernardino San Gorgonio, will compete in the second North County Lions tournament with games at Oceanside Recreation Park and MiraCosta College.

4/1/66

Point Loma scored two runs in the last of the seventh inning to edge Madison, 6-5.

The Pointers were 4-3 and in a three-way tie for first with Madison and Kearny in the Western League.

“Every time I tell the kids we’ve got to win this one, we win it,” said Pointers coach Kermeen (Punky) Fristrom.  We do a good job when we have to win.”

Except on Tuesdays.  The peninsula squad is 1-4 on that date and 6-1 on others.

—Craig Tepel hit two home runs and drove in five and Jake Molina hit a three-run homer in Clairemont’s 12-6 win over La Jolla.

—Crawford and Hoover were deadlocked, 7-7, after nine innings.  The game would be replayed only if a playoff berth were at stake.

—Oceanside won its fourth in a row, 4-3 over Vista behind William Rodriguez’ three-hitter, which followed a no-hitter in Rodriguez’ last start versus San Dieguito.

—Marian took over the Palomar League lead, 9-7 against San Marcos. Poway and Carlsbad battled through 11 scoreless innings and then called it a day.

4/4/66

Ed Ramage scattered six hits and top-seeded Crawford took advantage of four Madison errors and defeated the Warhawks, 7-1, in the opening round of the Lions Tournament.

—Defending champion San Diego rode a grand slam home run by Steve Shepherd to knock off El Cajon Valley, 8-5.

—Chula Vista moved to an Unlimited Division quarterfinals contest against Crawford on Gordy Mitchell’s one-hitter, which shut out Grossmont, 1-0.

—Eight games produced 75 runs in the Limited Division, highlighted by an 18-hit attack and 13-2 win for Monte Vista over San Miguel School.

—Scott Martensen’s home run in the ninth inning gave Vista a 2-1victory over Fallbrook.

—San Marcos beat Poway, 6-1; San Gorgonio nipped Oceanside, 2-0, and San Dieguito’s three runs in the seventh inning were the difference in a 5-4 triumph over Poway.

4/5/66

San Dieguito did not lift a glove and gained finals of the North County Lions event.

San Marcos forfeited, 9-0, to the Mustangs, who will meet San Bernardino San Gorgonio, which advanced with an 8-7, eight-inning win over Vista.

–Oceanside edged Fallbrook, 2-1, and Poway beat Carlsbad, 5-4, in consolation games.

–The city’s two big ones, Crawford and San Diego met their matches.

Helix defeated Crawford, 1-0, and Chula Vista ousted San Diego, 5-2, in Unlimited Lions play, but St. Augustine upheld urban pride with a 1-0 win over Monte Vista in the Limited Division.

–Mike Odom’s three-hitter gave Chula Vista their morning quarterfinals victory and Bob Kennedy’s Spartans came back in the afternoon to beat Lincoln, 5-3, in eight innings and gain the finals of the 16th annual Lions Tournament.

–Helix defeated Mount Miguel, 9-5, in the semifinals to assure a Grossmont-Metropolitan League final.

4/7/66

Bob Kennedy, who had brought Chula Vista teams to the Lions Tournament since 1957, earned his first Unlimited Division championship, 2-1, over Helix at Navy Field.

Dave Gregg singled, Ken Ohlendorf sacrificed Gregg to second, then walks to John Pickrel and Roger Gregg loaded the bases in the sixth inning.

What followed was typical considering the Spartans’ reputation of good field, good pitch, no hit. Bill Cherico and Doug Craig executed consecutive squeeze bunts, scoring two runs.

“I had a pretty good idea that would be the only way we’d score,” Kennedy told the Evening Tribune’s Harlon Bartlett.

–Castle Park had a 3-0 lead but bowed to El Centro Central, 4-3, in the Limited Division championship.  Kearny won the Unlimited consolation crown, its first since 1954, 5-1, over Escondido. It was Hilltop 3, Coronado 1 in the Limited consolation final.

–San Bernardino San Gorgonio shut out San Marcos, 8-0, for the North County Lions title.  Poway nudged Oceanside, 5-2, for the consolation trophy.

4/12/66

Crawford was 5-2 and San Diego, Lincoln, and St. Augustine 5-3 after Eastern League teams returned to action following the Lions Tournament.

San Diego tightened the race when it beat Lincoln, 4-1, on Paul Dunn’s three-run home run.  Brent Strom stopped the Hornets on four hits.

—Crawford bombed Morse, 9-3, and St. Augustine beat Hoover, 5-1 on Skip Redondo’s three-hitter.

—Another three-hitter, by Kearny’s Mike Sigman, checked Point Loma, 8-2.  Mission Bay continued La Jolla’s misery, 5-2, for the winless Vikings’ 15^th loss in a row.

—Grossmont, 6-1 in the Grossmont League, let leads of 4-0 and 7-4 disappear before nosing out El Cajon Valley, 8-7.

—Mike Westphalin faced 22 hitters, one over the maximum, allowed one hit, struck out 11 and didn’t issue a walk in Granite Hills’ 3-0 win over Santana.

4/15/66

Crawford coach Bill Sandback was not a happy camper.

On what could have been a double play, St. Augustine’s Tom Spence slid into second base with arms high.

Second baseman Danny Coronado’s throw to first was deflected by Spence’s  extended limb, allowing Steve Ferrari to score in the bottom of the sixth inning of a 3-2 victory.

Sandback claimed interference.

“The base umpire said he didn’t see the play,” Sandback said.  “The plate umpire said it wasn’t  his play to call.  I hate to get beat on a call like that.”

“We got a break today and we’ll take it,” said Saints coach Bill Whittaker.

—Oceanside’s sixth straight win, 7-3 over Orange Glen, combined with University’s fourth straight loss, 2-1 to San Dieguito, put the Pirates in first place in the Avocado League with a 6-3 record.

4/19/66

“I like our chances with five (games) to go and two (games) ahead,” said Kearny coach Jack Taylor after a 4-1, Western League win over Madison.

“We play our last four games at home,” said Madison coach Bob Bacon. “If they lose one between now and when they come to our school, look out.”

Kearny is 14-5 overall and 8-2 in league, Madison 9-9 and 6-4.

The teams were to meet in the regular-season finale May 6.

4/22/66

on-Dan Gabbard’s two run home run in the top of the seventh inning was the difference in Escondido’s 5-3 win over Chula Vista and tightened the Metropolitan League race.

Chula Vista is 5-3 and Escondido and Hilltop are each 5-3-1.

—Fundamental orifices were flexing in the Western League, where Kearny’s lead was cut to one game when Kent Shearer singled in the winning run in a three-run sixth inning to give Clairemont a 5-4 win over the Komets.

—Marian sophomore Steve Bajo’s one-hitter stopped Poway, 1-0, and kept the Crusaders in a first place tie in the Palomar League with Carlsbad, which rolled with Louie Montanez’ one-hitter over Army-Navy, 8-0.

–Lincoln moved into a tie for first place in the Eastern with St. Augustine after a 6-1 win over the Saints and a Crawford loss, 4-3, to lefthander Brent Strom and San Diego.

4/26/66

Brent Strom’s fifth start in five games kept San Diego alive in the Eastern League, 5-0 over leading St. Augustine.

—Crawford kept pace, 1-0 against Hoover, and Lincoln hammered Morse, 9-2.

—Kearny, with home runs by Craig Wittler and Mike Dugan, beat Mission Bay and Madison stayed alive in the Western with a 10-inning, 3-2 win over Point Loma behind Greg Gunter’s walk-off single and Mike Raney’s six-hit pitching.

Raney struck out 10 and helped his cause with a double, single, and two runs scored.

—Chula Vista stayed percentage points ahead of Hilltop and Escondido in the Metropolitan as Gordy Mitchell’s four-hitter stopped Coronado, 3-0.

—Don Brunham’s three hitter beat San Diego Military, 1-0, and moved San Miguel School closer to the Southern Prep League title.

4/29/66

Bernard Linn’s season 10^th victory, 5-2 over Mount Miguel, allowed Grossmont to keep pace with Helix each with a 10-2 record in the Grossmont League.

—Ed Ramage won his 10^th game against two losses as Crawford (8-4) took over first in the Eastern with a 9-0 shutout of Morse.

See additional narrative,1966 Baseball II, by searching “Recent Posts”.