Bill Sandback had just coached Crawford to its second San Diego Section baseball championship in three seasons and he was hesitant when Harlon Bartlett of the Evening Tribune asked for a comparison of the team and the winning 1962 club.

“This year’s team had a better attitude,” Sandback finally allowed after the taut, eight-inning victory over Point Loma.  “These kids hustled from start to finish. They never gave up all year.”

Sandback pointed to the team’s battery, a core strength of leadership and experience.

Starting pitcher, Bob Boone, went on to play 19 seasons as a catcher and several more as a manager in the major leagues. Usual catcher and sometime pitcher Eddie Hermann played nine seasons behind the plate in the majors.

Catcher whisperer perhaps was Sandback.  Five of his eventually would make the big leagues.

2/28/64

Sophomore Bob Forrester of Monte Vista and Crawford’s Eddie Herrmann hurled no-hitters on the first full day of action.

Forrester struck out eight and blanked Morse, 7-0.

Herrmann collected three hits including a home run and drove in four runs in the 10-0 win over visiting Alhambra Mark Keppel.

3/4/64

Tom Lean of Helix came within one out of a no-hitter.  An infield roller and single to right field after two were out in the seventh inning were the only hits off Lean in the Scots’ 5-0, Grossmont League-opening win over Escondido.

Ray Homesley hit a two-run home run and pitched El Capitan to a 7-4 win over the San Diego State freshmen.

3/5/64

–Larry Bradford accounted for 6 runs with two homers and a single in Kearny’s 16-3, Western League-opening victory over La Jolla.

Charles Wilker and pitcher John Fletcher each added three-run homers for the Komets.

–“Thirteen of the last 18 runs scored against us have been unearned,” Madison coach Bob Bacon complained about his defense after a 5-4 loss to Mission Bay.

“I don’t understand it,” Bacon told Joe Hughes of the Evening Tribune.  “With the same kids last year we had no trouble in the field.”

Two errors led to two unearned runs and made future major leaguer Al Fitzmorris a losing pitcher, 5-4.

3/10/64

Jake Lovejoy and Bob Heathman combined to pitch a no-hitter in Clairemont’s 2-1 victory over Vista.

–Seven errors behind him didn’t stop Escondido’s Jerry Montiel, who struck out 11 and stopped Point Loma on four hits, 3-2.

3/13/64

“We won the game on luck,” El Capitan coach Art Preston told the Evening Tribune’s Joe Hughes. “We didn’t deserve to win because of our defense, but Homesley, luckily, got hold of a good pitch.”

Ray Homesley’s seventh-inning, two-run, 314-foot home run, an inch or two beyond John Quiggle’s outstretched glove gave the Vaqueros a 4-3 win over Helix.

Errors had led to Helix’ taking a 3-1 lead on winning pitcher Dave Duncan, who beat out an infield roller that preceded Homesley’s home run.

—Second baseman Jerry Watson tripled, doubled, and added two singles as San Diego defeated Hoover, 11-4. Jim Perkins and Loren Dantzler also homered for the Cavers.

The win left the Bernie Flaherty-coached Cavers 2-0 in the Eastern League and 5-2 overall.  Hoover fell to 1-1 and 1-2-1.

–Darkness called a halt to Oceanside and University, which battled through 11 scoreless innings.  The Pirates’ Mark Oddy held the Dons to two hits.  Uni’s Dave Timms gave up seven.

3/17/64

Escondido’s Jerry Montiel struck out 10 and permitted two balls hit to the outfield, but the second was a single in the bottom of the eighth inning by Gene Guerra that scored pinch runner Greg Burton and gave Chula Vista a 1-0 victory.

—El Cajon Valley’s Dwight Stanley singled home two runs in the last of the seventh inning to beat Granite Hills, 3-1, and move the Braves a half game in front of El Capitan in the Grossmont League.

—Crawford took first place in the Eastern League, 4-2 over San Diego, which couldn’t capitalize on 11 hits and Doug Hunt’s home run.

—Lloyd Hutchinson tripled with the bases loaded and Pat Harrison homered in Hoover’s 6-1 win over Morse.

3/20/64

“Let’s face it, our pitching isn’t that good,” said Hoover’s Jerry Bartow.  “Buddy (Schraeder) is an outfielder, but I’ve got to pitch him.  We’ll probably end up playing .500 ball.”

Despite the coach’s protestations, Hoover gained a share of first place in the Eastern League after a 6-3 win over Crawford.

“We gave it to them,” said Colts boss Bill Sandback.  “I counted seven errors.”

Hoover finished 10-5 and third in the league and 11-7 overall.

3/23-25/64

Fierce Winter storms that led to rain and wet grounds postponed the first day of the 14th annual Lions Tournament.  The delay because of weather was the first since 1958.

The postponement was repeated the next day and the event finally was canceled the third  day.

It wasn’t practical, said tournament boss Carroll Wilson, citing “the weather forecast for the rest of the week isn’t very good and we would be tying up players, coaches, and umpires, and the coaches didn’t want to play (as late into the week) on Saturday.”

3/31/64

Hilltop romped to a 12-0, first-inning lead, got a break when rain did not wash out the game, and beat Chula Vista, 18-7.

Bob Childers hit a grand slam home run, followed by Rudy Castro’s three-run shot, and a two-run home run by Bob Litchfield off Chula Vista starter Bart Miller.

Hilltop even scored two runs in the second inning on three punch singles after coach Vic Long issued a mandate to make outs and get on with the game because of the weather.

—Six of 17 games in the County were rained out or called before the required five innings.

4/3/64

Mike Adamson, backed by a 6-1 lead and contributing a home run, held on and Point Loma defeated Kearny, 7-5.

Singles by Pat Harrison and Buddy Schraeder, two errors, and Lance Richard Shaw’s sacrifice fly paved the way for Hoover’s 5-0, 10-inning win over St. Augustine

Al Layton, one of the few seniors for Granite Hills, struck out 14 and gave up only a fourth-inning single to Gary Mattinson as the Eagles downed Grossmont, 2-0.

Al Salmon’s single in the 10^th inning gave Helix a 1-0 win over Hilltop.

4/7/64

Sweetwater, 0-10, won its first game, 8-0, over Castle Park on a two-hitter by Ted Williams.  No, not that Ted Williams.

4/10/64

With Al Layton running with the pitch, Jim McKenna ripped a pitch  to right field at Granite Hills, where there is no wall, according to Harlon Bartlett of the Evening Tribune.

The ball rolled toward downtown El Cajon and McKenna won the race after the outfielder’s recovery and throw to home for an apparent home run, but…

…El Capitan first baseman Mike Arnke alertly told pitcher Dave Duncan that McKenna had not touched second base.

Duncan stepped on the pitching rubber, stepped off again, and threw to second base for an out, then struck out the next batter.

Ball game. The Vaqueros won, 3-2, for their fifth victory in a row.

–University defeated San Dieguito, 1-0, on a forfeit in the 14^th inning, when Mustangs coach Larry Hampshire argued that it was too dark for his team to hit in the bottom of the inning.

Dave Timms went all the way for Uni, striking out 19.

—Eddie Herrmann hit 2 home runs, including a grand slam, and Crawford beat Lincoln, 7-5.

4/17/64

“This is the greatest comeback we’ve had here in six years,” said El Cajon Valley sixth-year coach Harry Elliott after the Braves overcame a 1-0 deficit in the sixth inning and won with two runs in the last of the eighth against Helix.

Al Hamilton’s home run tied the game in the sixth inning and run-scoring singles by Tom Thompson and Ralph Hays were the difference.

The 3-2 victory improved Elliott’s club to 6-1 in the Grossmont League.

Elliott played the 1955 season with the St. Louis Cardinals after leading the Pacific Coast League with 224 hits and a .350 average as the San Diego Padres won the pennant in 1954.

–Charlie Duke’s home run with two on in the seventh inning meant a 3-0 victory for University and the reported end of a string of 43 1/3 scoreless innings by Vista pitcher Matt Taylor.

4/21/64

Dennis Webb’s one-hit pitching stopped San Diego, 3-1, dropping the Cavers (7-3) two games behind Eastern League-leading Crawford (9-1), which rode catcher-sometimes-pitcher Eddie Herrmann’s three-hit pitching for a 2-0 win over Morse.

—Kenny Henderson doubled home two runs, tripled, and stole home for another in Clairemont’s 4-2 win over Madison.

4/25/64

Bob Boone pitched a two-hitter and Greg Werdick hit a third-inning home run for a 1-0 Crawford victory over St. Augustine.

–Sophomore Jake Molina led off the last of the first inning with a home run and Clairemont proceeded to a 6-1 win over Point Loma.

–Hilltop clinched its first Metropolitan League championship in the school’s five years, on the road, at Chula Vista, 3-2, behind Dirk Van Dyke’s two-hitter.

4/28/64

Hilltop (9-0) stayed unbeaten in the Metropolitan League with a disputed, 3-2 win over Castle Park.

Disputed play: The plate umpire ruled foul.  The base umpire said fair.

After several minutes of shouts and arm-waving by representatives of both teams, the arbiters came to agreement that Frank Fernandez was safe with a single. Fernandez eventually scored the decisive run.

—Ray Homesley retired 16 of the last 17 batters including the final 12 in a row and El Capitan won at El Cajon Valley, 4-2, and led the Grossmont League with a 7-2 record. El Cajon Valley and Helix were next at 7-3 each.

5/1/64

Dave Duncan pitched a no-hitter and his two-run home run in the first inning was enough as El Capitan turned back Mount Miguel, 4-0.

Duncan struck out 14 and walked four and got an assist from Ray Homesley, who homered with one on.

—San Dieguito’s Tom Fleming gave up one hit and the Mustangs stifled Oceanside, 2-0.

–Mike Hill of El Cajon Valley, Jerry Montiel of Escondido, and Al Layton of Granite Hills each pitched two-hit shutouts.

—Dirk Van Dyke and Tom Segren combined for a one-hitter as Hilltop topped Helix, 8-0.

—Kearny erred six times behind pitcher John Fletcher, but fueled by Steve Jones’ three-run home run and Larry Bradford’s two run triple in the first inning, beat Clairemont, 7-5.

—Three walks forced in the tying and winning runs and San Diego came away with a 5-4, Eastern League victory over Crawford.

Dennis Maley, Doug Hunt, and Michael Marrs each had two hits for the Cavers.  Ron Layton tripled in two runs for Crawford.

—Tom Fleming allowed one hit and San Dieguito blanked Oceanside, 2-0.

5/5/64

Kearny won the Western League and Marian won the Southern Prep.

The Komets backed in after a 11-5 loss to Mission Bay was mitigated by Point Loma’s 9-1 loss to Madison.

Marian won its 31^st consecutive league game, compliments of a Julian forfeit which gave the Crusaders, who lost their first four games, a 12-4 overall record and 7-0 league standing.

—Ray Homesley’s one-hitter stopped Granite Hills, 4-1, and kept the Vaqueros a half game ahead of El Cajon Valley with one to play in the Grossmont circuit.

–Dave Braswell and Carl Ramsey homered and Hilltop won its 11^th in a row in the Metropolitan League, 6-2 over Coronado.  Carlsbad’s 9-0 win over Army-Navy was its ninth in a row in the Palomar League.

A two-hit shutout by Tony Pisciotta and 6-0 win over Lincoln (7-13 overall) allowed San Diego to catch Crawford and tie for the Eastern League championship.

The Cavers and Colts, each 12-3, would meet at Beeson Field at the Marine Corps Depot to determine playoff seeding.

Point Loma and Madison will play for the Western League’s No. 2 seed at Mission Bay and Escondido and Sweetwater will meet at Morse with the Metro’s No. 2 at stake.

5/12/64

Field for the San Diego Section AA playoffs was complete.

Crawford topped San Diego, 5-2. Point Loma beat Clairemont (10-9), 2-1, and Sweetwater edged Escondido (12-6), 5-4.

—Walks scored two runs and Bob Boone’s two-run single gave Crawford four runs in the fourth inning.

—Mike Adamson outdueled Jake Lovejoy in Point Loma’s victory, clinched on a triple by Glenn Holmes and a sacrifice fly.

5/15/64

Almost the entire Marian (13-6) student body was in the crowd of about 400, but visiting Carlsbad, behind the one-hit pitching of Arne Larsen scored a 4-2, eight-inning victory in a Class A playoff.

—“You can’t say we wasted our hits,” said San Diego coach Bernie Flaherty.

The Cavers got to Hilltop pitcher Dirk Van Dyke for only three safeties but one was a three-run triple by Tony Pisciotta, enough for a 4-1, Class AA playoff victory.

Hilltop finished with a 16-5 record, best in the school’s five-year history.

—Point Loma scored three runs in the seventh inning to eliminate El Capitan (15-4), 3-2.

The Vaqueros’ Ray Homesley was working on a one-hitter with a 1-0 lead when John Gelb led off the inning with a home run.

Homesley was relieved later in the seventh by Dave Duncan, who wild-pitched in one run and balked in another.

—Bob Boone allowed one hit, a three-run home run by Kile Morgan, but Crawford topped Sweetwater (9-12), 12-3, as Dennis Isom, Greg Werdick, and Eddie Herrmann homered.

–Charles Wilker’s three-run triple and two-run double were  essential for Kearny in its 8-5 win over El Cajon Valley (14-7).

5/19/64

Paul Ehrich, with relief in the seventh inning from Mike Adamson and aided by five San Diego (16-7) errors, pitched Point Loma to a 3-2, semifinals victory.

—Crawford advanced to a championship game against Point Loma with a 9-4 win over Kearny (15-7).  Wayne Morgan improved his record to 5-0 and drove in three runs with a triple and single.

5/22/64

There were seventeen strikeouts and 17 bases on balls, plus seven errors by both teams. And not a one of the 600 or so fans, often on the edge of their seats, left early according to Harlon Bartlett of the Evening Tribune.

Crawford persevered to win the CIF championship, 4-3, over Point Loma in eight innings at Beeson Field on the Marine Corps Recruit Depot base.

Trailing, 2-1, in the top of the seventh, the Colts took a 3-2 lead on Charlie Tate’s sacrifice fly and single by Ken Henderson.

John Gelb tied the score with a 330-foot home run over the leftfield wall in the bottom of the seventh but the Colts’ Greg Werdick, playing with a broken nose sustained in the semifinals, walked, stole second and scored on an error.

Crawford’s Bob Boone (7-1) had no-hitter through six innings but trailed, 2-1.  The Colts’ managed only three hits off Mike Adamson (9-5), singles by Eddie Hermann, Dennis Isom, and Ken Henderson.

Crawford, winning its second title in three years, concluded the season with an 18-4 record.  Point Loma was 13-10.

5/25/64

San Dieguito (14-4) made best use of two hits with walks, bunts and Carlsbad (17-4) errors to win the CIF Class A championship, 3-1, at Palomar College.

The Mustangs also received run-producing hits from Tom Hernandez and Jim Bryant.

Hoover was 1-7 in football but then the seasons changed.   The Cardinals won the first San Diego Section championship with a 24-3 record in winter basketball and repeated the 24-3 with another title in spring baseball.

There were seven no-hitters pitched in the San Diego Section this year but none by Hoover’s Dave Morehead, who posted a 15-0 record.

Morehead instead pitched a no-hitter in 1965 for the Boston Red Sox, whose scout Ray Boone, himself a Hoover star of the 1942 Southern California championship team, signed Morehead after Dave’s high school graduation.

2/24/61

Crawford managed only six hits off Dave Varvel, but El Capitan committed seven errors and the host Colts won the season opener, 18-7.

–Hoover won, 9-8, at Point Loma, where the Pointers aided the Cardinals with 10 errors and Helix won at Mission Bay, 4-3.

3/1/61

Hoover’s Joe Verdon and Dick Armstrong combined to stop Escondido on three hits, 4-0, and George Sherrod allowed San Diego five hits as Helix pushed across a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to win, 2-1.

3/3/61

Bill Casey homered for Clairemont and Phil Boland for Lincoln, which edged the Chieftains, 4-3.

–Dave Bruen relieved John Allison in a Chula Vista three-run first inning and allowed one hit thereafter as the Colts rallied, 9-4.

–Dave Armstrong pitched Hoover to a two-hit, 7-1 win at San Gabriel and Ron Rutherford gave up two hits and San Diego won, 9-2, at Alhambra Mt. Keppel.

3/4/61

Robert Ruiz and Joe Verdon were the winning pitchers as San Diego and Hoover respectively concluded their northern invasion 6-2 and 5-1 over Alhambra Mark Keppel and San Gabriel.

Keppel earlier had visited San Diego and came away with a 5-0 win.

3/7/61

Froebel Brigham’s three-run home run elevated San Diego past El Cajon Valley, 6-2.  Helix won at Point Loma, 3-0, behind George Sherrod’s three-hit pitching.

3/10/61

Arnold Powers walked no one, struck out 14, and set down Kearny, 6-0, to give Western League defending co-champion Clairemont a 3-0 loop record

–Mike Huse and Lee Waske combined with a two-hitter as Helix improved to 4-0 with a 3-0 win over Hoover.

3/14/61

Mike Hill hit two home runs, including a grand slam, and Dave Varvel gave up two hits as El Capitan hammered Hilltop, 14-0.

–Home runs by Jimmy Bob Mosley and Dennis Wilson propelled Kearny to a 6-5 win over Hoover and Don Sada, three for three with a triple, pitched Point Loma to a 4-1 win against San Diego.

3/18/61

San Diego’s Ron Rutherford walked St. Augustine’s Bob
Ahern leading off the second inning and then retired the next 18 batters to complete a near-perfect game in the Cavers’ 4-0, Eastern League win at Golden Hill Playground.

Rutherford (3-0) faced 22 batters. “I was hit on the wrist by a ball last week against Crawford and it’s pretty sore, so I didn’t think I’d be able to throw too well today,” declared the tall right-hander.

–Dave Morehead, fresh from Hoover’s CIF championship basketball season, spaced three hits and the Cardinals won their Eastern League opener, 6-0.

–Mike Hill stopped Helix on two hits and contributed to his cause with a triple in El Capitan’s 2-0 win over Highlanders ace George Sherrod.

–Ron (Flame) Tompkins of Chula Vista blanked Sweetwater, 8-0, and Bill Crayton of Kearny closed Mission Bay, 4-0.

3/21/61

Kearny jumped on Point Loma in a 30-minute first inning for seven runs and six hits for an 8-4 victory. Phil Ewert relieved starter Mike Parker and pitched the final 6 2/3 innings for the Komets.

–Doug Wardell pitched and Mount Miguel’s 4-1 win over Sweetwater gave the Matadors a 7-0 record and the Metropolitan League Southern Division lead.

3/24/61

Mount Miguel improved to 8-0 behind left hander Bob Curley, who hit a two-run home run in a six-run third inning and went the distance in a 7-5 win over El Capitan.

–Joe Verdon hit a two-run home run and relieved starter Dave Morehead in Lincoln’s four-run fifth inning, and preserved Hoover’s 11-4 win.

3/25/61

Thirty-one reams, including 16 in the Unlimited Division, were entered in the 11th Lions Tournament with Helix the defending Unlimited champion and El Centro Central the returning Limited winner.

3/27/61

Helix’ Lee Waske gave up one hit but Mission Bay’s Dennis Bissmeyer also allowed only one hit and Mission Bay knocked the defending Lions champion into the consolation bracket, 1-0.

Chula Vista’s Ron Tompkins gave up one hit and shut out San Diego, 1-0, and Mount Miguel, undefeated and 8-0, was beaten by Hoover, 2-0.

Coronado took a 2-1 lead on El Centro Central in the top of the seventh inning, but the Spartans rallied in the bottom half to advance, 3-2.

San Dieguito’s Rich Long had a no-hitter for five innings when the game was stopped with the Mustangs routing Ramona, 12-0, and the so-called 12-run rule was applied.

3/28/61

Rain postponed action for a day, resuming today with quarterfinals and semifinals.

3/31/61

Point Loma, 2-5 to open the season, won its fifth game in a row and the 11^th Lions tournament Unlimited Division title, 5-4 over Hoover.

La Jolla made it a Western League sweep by defeating Vista, 6-5.

Helix beat Crawford, 9-1, for the Unlimited Division consolation title and Oceanside won the Limited, 4-0, over Carlsbad.

“We’ve beaten every team in the Eastern League now,” said Point Loma coach Kermeen Fristrom.  “The Western League has really proved itself, hasn’t it?”

Jerry Jeli relieved Pointers starter Ron Holmes in the sixth inning as Hoover twice battled back from two-run deficits.

4/4/61

Hoover’s Joe Verdon hit a two-out, two-run home run that followed Johnny Peterson’s double in the top of the sixth inning and was the difference in Hoover’s 2-0 win over San Diego.

Dave Morehead struck out 16 and allowed one hit in outdueling the Cavers’ Ron Rutherford, who gave up five hits.

–Mike Hollister, with relief from Ron (Flame) Tompkins rode Dave Truelock’s run-scoring, first-inning triple to a 1-0 victory over St. Augustine.

–Army-Navy committed nine errors but beat San Miguel School, 18-9.

4/7/61

Arnold Powers struck out 13 and gave up six hits but dropped an eight-inning, 3-2 decision to Kearny, which scored two unearned runs.

Dennis Wilson and Jimmy Bob Mosley crossed the plate after Billy Cesena’s hot grounder went through the legs of Clairemont’s second baseman.

–Dave Varvel hit a run-scoring double and restricted El Cajon Valley to four hits in El Capitan’s 4-1 victory.

Jim (Corky) McCorquodale homered and Ron Dargo struck out 11 in Crawford’s 7-1 victory over San Diego.

4/10/61

Dave Morehead hit a home run and gave up three hits, one a three-run homer by John Allison, as Hoover improved to 5-0 in the Eastern League with a 5-3 win over Crawford.

–El Cajon Valley (1-5) won its first Metro Northern Division contest, as Owen Rinner stopped Grossmont, 4-0, on three hits.

4/14/61

Graig Nettles hit two home runs and Fred Shuey and Jimmy Martin gave San Diego a total of four in a 13-1 win over Lincoln.

4/18/61

Five singles, by Jon Clark, Bruce Kehrli, Don Sada, Tom Ferrara, and Tim Faris, generated four runs in the fourth inning and Point Loma went on to a 7-2 triumph over Clairemont for its 10^th straight victory.

–Carlsbad’s line score was 0 runs, 1 hit, 7 errors in a 12-0, Avocado League loss to Vista.

–Two-run home runs by Gene Crise and Vern Elliott paved the way for Dick Armstrong, who hurled Hoover to a 7-1 win at Lincoln.

–Ewert of Kearny held La Jolla to one hit as the Komets scored a 3-1 win.

—Mar Vista and San Dieguito went scoreless for 10 innings before the Avocado League game was called because of darkness on the Mustangs’ Encinitas diamond.

4/21/61

Hoover, which lost to Point Loma in the Lions Tournament final, won its eighth straight Eastern League game, 8-2 over San Diego and opened a three-game lead on the Cavemen with five to play.

The Cardinals’ Dave Morehead allowed only four hits, including a two-run home run by Graig Nettles in the sixth inning.

–Jim Pignatelli doubled for El Capitan’s only hit but it came with the bases loaded and was enough for the Vaqueros to improve their Northern Division record to 7-1 with a 3-2 triumph against Grossmont.

4/24/61

Point Loma’s 12^th win in a row, 2-1 over Mission Bay, kept the Pointers one game ahead of Clairemont in the Western League.

–Grossmont’s Neil MacClellan stopped Mount Miguel, 5-4, and aided his cause with a three-run home run.

–Chula Vista profited from three Sweetwater errors in the 10th inning and scored a 3-2 victory to take over first place in the Southern Division after Mount Miguel lost.

–Mike Hill, with help from Dave Varvel in the seventh inning, pitched El Capitan past Escondido, 1-0.

4/27/61

Joe Verdon hit a home run over the short, right field porch at Hoover that had observers calling for a tape measure.

Verdon’s drive had begun to descend when it hit a light standard behind the right field stands.

The 11-3 win over Crawford was Hoover’s 10^th in a row since a loss to Point Loma in the Lions Tournament final and clinched the Eastern League title.

Unbeaten Cardinals pitcher Dave Morehead scattered four hits and won his 10^th in a row.

4/28/61

“Weak-Sticking El Capitan” began the headline after the Vaqueros, inspiring historians to recall the Chicago White Sox’ “hitless wonders” of the early 20^th century, defeated Chula Vista, 1-0.

Dave Varvel singled in the first inning, stole second, advanced to third on an error, and scored the game’s only run when Spartans’ pitcher Ron Tompkins issued a pair of bases on balls.

5/1/61

San Diego’s Larry Murillo no-hit Lincoln and hit a home run in the Cavers’ 13-0 victory and Brown of Chula Vista blanked Granite Hills, 1-0.

The season’s seventh no-hitter came on a day when three were pitched, including Helix junior George Sherrod’s in an 8-0 win over Grossmont.

HIT OR ERROR?

Sherrod was unaware of his gem as he continued to quiet Grossmont bats.

Grossmont shortstop Mike Ekanbrack reached first base safely after he hit a ball down the third base line in the fourth inning.

Helix’ Chris Hansen got his glove Ekanbrack’s bouncer but couldn’t make a play.  The Helix scorer assumed that the play resulted in a base hit.

Grossmont viewed the play as an error, since Hansen momentarily juggled the ball.  The Foothillers’ scorebook was official, Grossmont being the home team.

5/4/61

Point Loma won its 15^th consecutive game and clinched the Western League championship, 5-2 over Clairemont.

–El Capitan won the Metropolitan League’s Northern Division title, 2-0 over Granite Hills.

–Hoover earlier clinched the Eastern League, bringing to   three the number of titlists in the San Diego Section’s five leagues.

5/10/61

George Sherrod (12-2) tripled and drove in the winning run with a fourth-inning double and Helix (17-5) earned the Metro South title, 3-2 over Mount Miguel.

Sherrod gave up a two-run home run to the Matadors’ Duane Freeman after two were out in the seventh inning, ending a string of 22 scoreless innings by the Highlanders’ pitcher.

5/16/61

Catcher Randy Simpson hit a pair of two-run home runs and Pat Bauman’s solo homerun was all pitcher Rich Long needed as he scattered four hits in San Dieguito’s  5-3 victory over Mar Vista.

San Dieguito (7-2) claimed the Avocado League championship in a quasi-postseason contest, which was played after the teams earlier deadlocked in a 10-inniing tie.

5/18/61

PLAYOFFS

Dave Morehead socked two home runs, struck out 10 batters, and gave up two hits as Hoover (21-3) defeated El Capitan (14-5), 9-2, at Grossmont in the first round.

Morehead’s home runs measured 330 and 375 feet, respectively, and his complete game ended on his 106^th pitch.

–George Sherrod outdueled Larry Murillo and Helix (18-5) edged 14-9 San Diego, 2-1, on the Marine Corps Recruit Depot’s Beeson Field.

Randy Schwartz tripled in Chris Hansen with the Highlanders’ first run and Ken Nasife scored the winning run in the top of the seventh inning on Gary Johnson’s infield roller.

One of the Cavers’ five hits was an inside-the-park home run by Henry Peavy.

–Ron Dixon allowed only an infield hit to Pat Bauman in the bottom of the seventh inning and University advanced with a 3-0 win over San Dieguito.

–Point Loma’s Jerry Jeli won a 2-0 struggle with Ron Tomkins of Chula Vista.

Don Sada’s double, Tom Lutes’ triple, and Tom Ferrara’s single were what Jeli needed as he set down the Spartans (15-8) on one hit, a bunt single.

SEMIFINALS

George Sherrod (13-3) checked Point Loma (20-7) and Helix (19-5) scored four runs in the sixth inning to eliminate the Pointers, 7-1.

Sherrod also hit a home run and gave up six hits, including Don Sada’s home run that narrowed the Scots’ lead to 3-1 in the sixth.

–University (13-7) scored first and led, 2-1, after two innings but Hoover (22-3) scored an 8-3 victory.

CHAMPIONSHIP

“Now I’ll just relax and be a fan,” said Fulton Vickery, who was retiring as coach at Hoover after taking over for Bill Matthie in 1956.

The Cardinals (24-3) sent Vickery out with a 2-0 victory over Helix (19-6), Dave Morehead (15-0) besting George Sherrod (13-4) at Beeson Field.

Morehead’s scratch single, Sherrod’s throwing error, and Bill Daw’s single gave the Cardinals the run they needed in the fourth inning.

Joe Verdon’s double, Gene Crise’s ground ball out, and Morehead’s sacrifice fly scored another run in the fifth.

Only a team more than 400 hundred miles away and in another state could stop coach Dewey (Mike) Morrow’s powerful San Diego Hillers.

The also named Cavemen dropped three of four games in a home-and-home series with Arizona’s Tucson Badgers but bludgeoned 29 teams from Southern California and won Morrow’s 10th Southern Section championship.

According to Don King’s “Caver Conquest”, Morrow had seven hitters in his lineup who batted at least .400 in a 10-0 Coast League season.

The Hillers averaged 15 runs a game and scored at least 10 runs in 24.

Morrow had coached 10 of San Diego’s Southern California championships since the Montana native came to the Hilltop from the University of California at Berkeley in 1926.

3/1/49

Hoover scored nine runs in the fourth inning and defeated the team from the destroyer tender USS Piedmont, 10-7, at Navy Field.

–Kearny won at La Jolla, 12-11, in a nonleague game between Metropolitan League rivals.  Tom Eggert hit a three-run home run for the Komets.

3/4/49

Bill Atkisson gave up two hits and Don Bonatus and Jack MacKay each had two and Hoover defeated Point Loma, 3-1, on the Pointers’ diamond.

–John Doughty and Dick Geraci, limited host Brown Military to two hits in a 10-4 Sweetwater victory.

3/8/49

Bill Guevarra struck out 17 and pitched Oceanside to a 6-3 win at Escondido.  Erwin Heald drove in three runs with a double and two singles.

–Don Lenardi and Jack Wilburn each hit grand slam home runs in Grossmont’s 10-8 win over visiting La Jolla.

3/10/49

After opening with wins of 12-2 and 20-5 over La Jolla, San Diego High hooked up with interstate power Tucson, Arizona, for a two-game series in Balboa Stadium.

The Hillers won the opener, 9-6, as Frank Sanfillipo and Tommy Martinez each delivered two-run doubles.

–Terry Shaw had three hits and Luis Bruun clouted a three-run home run in Chula Vista’s 6-3 win at Hoover.

3/11/49

Tucson got a split in the two-game series at San Diego, 2-1.

–Sophomore John Doughty struck out 17 batters and Sweetwater defeated El Centro Central, 10-4, in the desert.

3/16/49

Vern Couts was touched for only two hits and San Diego scored a 7-1 win at Chula Vista.

–Jerry Meyers’ two-run home run in the second inning was the difference in St. Augustine’s 3-1 win at La Jolla.

3/17/49

San Diego High opened the Coast League campaign with an 11-1 victory at Hoover, advancing the Hillers to a 5-1 record.

Jack Smith had four hits and limited the Cardinals to six, with a ninth-inning single by Joe Duke scoring Ed Thile when the ball got past outfielder Chuck Powell (to become better known as Charlie).

3/20/57

The first annual Prep Baseball Carnival at Lane Field was announced to the media, which received a mimeographed, 13-page document.

“The publication, evidently designed to serve the dual role of military field order and publicity booklet, seems to cover everything from the color of pom poms to the size of the leftfielder’s belt buckle,” wrote Jerry Brucker of The Tribune-Sun.

The evernt would start at 6:55 p.m. with bands and pageantry from the seven participating Metropolitan League schools and former member Grossmont from the Coast League.

Pregame activity would conclude with the Star Spangled Banner by the massed bands at 7:50. First pitch was at 8 p.m. Teams would play three innings or to a 25-minute time limit.

3/24/49

Carnival-participating Grossmont and Coach John Hancock faced a busy weekend.

The Foothillers defeated visiting Compton, 9-0, the day before the tournament and also had a 10 a.m. appointment the day of to play Pasadena Muir.

–San Diego blanked Pasadena, 15-0, and Hoover topped Muir, 12-6, in other games with Coast League visitors.

3/25/49

Carnival chairman/Chula Vista principal Joe Rindone and vice-chairman Dick Barber of Kearny weren’t concerned with geography.

La Jolla, Oceanside, Point Loma, and Sweetwater, the “South”, defeated the “North”, Escondido, Kearny, Grossmont and Chula Vista, 8-0.

Kearny’s Jim McMinn singled off La Jolla’s Bud Hemmerly for the North’s only base hit.

The 12-inning program was reduced to a more manageable eight innings but was declared a success with announced attendance of 5,000 persons.

3/28/49

San Diego ran its record to 9-1 with a fourth straight Coast League victory, 12-3, over Grossmont.

Frank Sanfillipo hit a grandslam home run in a five-run sixth inning.  Eddie Simpson had four hits and a home run and Jack Smith gave up two hits.

–Jerry Newton was 2 for 3 and Hoover made a run in the fifth inning stand up in a 6-5 win at Chula Vista.

3/31/49

–Kearny was out hit, 8-3, but beat St. Augustine, 9-3, with Dick Bartz earning the victory.

–Metropolitan League play opened with Sweetwater’s John Doughty stopping Oceanside on five hits, 8-3.

–Escondido’s Bob Linares gave up 11 hits, including a double and triple to Bob Schertzer, but defeated Chula Vista, 4-1.

4/1/49

San Diego walked Hoover into submission, 21-3.  Three Cardinals pitchers allowed 18 bases on balls, an average of two an inning.

The Hillers, who amassed 11 hits, scored eight runs in the bottom of the first inning.

4/6/49

Neale Henderson tripled and Frank Sanfilippo homered and San Diego beat St. Augustine, 13-4.

4/7/49

Sweetwater’s John Doughty, aided by catcher Dave Brennan, who had four hits in six times at bat—single, two doubles, and triple—kept Escondido in check, 10-4.

–Three ninth-inning errors paved the way for Oceanside to come from behind and win at Point Loma, 4-3.

4/8/49

Nineteen base hits echoed in Balboa Stadium. San Diego scored 13 runs in the fourth inning and went on to a 15-5 win over Compton.

Curt Everett was 4 for 4 at the plate for the Hillers.  Neale Henderson had three hits and Bobby Jordan started the fourth-inning avalanche with a three-run triple.

–Bob Fuller was three-for-four but Grossmont sustained a 9-3 loss at Pasadena.

–Kearny, a 1-0 loser to La Jolla in the teams’ two-inning joust in the Metropolitan loop carnival, reversed the score, 14-5.

Jim McMinn, Joe Spano, and pitcher Dick Bartz all had two hits. The Komets scored four runs in each of the second and third innings.

–Hoover defeated visitor St. Augustine, 5-4, with two runs in the bottom of the ninth.

4/9/49

San Diego sluggers’ 14 hits punched out Pasadena Muir, 11-4. Curt Everett had three hits in four at-bats, giving Everett a 7 for 8 week in Coast League play.

–Don Bonatus hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning and singled to start a five-run ninth as Hoover won at Compton, 9-4.

–Chula Vista won a morning-afternoon double header in the desert that started with Larry Blocker’s no-hitter and 7-0 whitewash of Calexico.

The Spartans came back after lunch and Don Jack yielded six hits and hung on for a 7-6 win over El Centro Central.

4/10/49

Seven San Diego teams traveling North at an early hour were scheduled to open play in the 14^th annual Pomona 20-30 Club tournament.

Area squads, including San Diego, Point Loma, Coronado, Hoover, Grossmont, La Jolla, and Escondido, were scheduled for first pitches at 11 a.m. Other first-round games started at 9.

4/11/49

San Diego and Point Loma rolled into the quarterfinals.

Point Loma opened with an 18-3 victory over Corona and followed by defeating Santa Barbara, 9-5.  San Diego topped Covina, 7-4, and Santa Ana, 16-1.

–La Jolla, beaten by Compton, 5-4, remained alive in the consolation bracket with a 4-2 win over Colton.

4/12/49

San Diego rampaged through the quarterfinals, 21-2 over Huntington Beach.  Point Loma made a sixth-inning run hold up and nudged Compton, 5-4.  Corona ousted La Jolla, 4-2, in the consolation quarterfinals.

Things became more difficult as the two survivors moved into the semifinals in the afternoon.

Coach Mike Morrow’s Hillers pushed over a run in the ninth to edge Inglewood, 3-2.  Frank SanFilippo’s single scored the winning run and Ray McCoy’s four-hit pitching kept the Sentinels at bay.

Coach Hilbert Crosthwaite’s Pointers got past Compton in the quarterfinals and then fell behind after one inning, 5-0, to Pomona

Ed Serrano relieved starter Jim Poole in the first inning and kept the Red Devils from crossing the plate again.

The Pointers swung  away at Pomona’s Marty Keogh, tying the game in the third inning and going ahead with a three-run sixth, highlighted by Izzy Lang’s two run homerun.

The 8-5 victory meant Point Loma and San Diego would meet in a City Prep League-versus-Metropolitan loop final.

4/13/49

Curt Everett hit a grand slam home run in a nine-run first inning and added a three-run shot in the second inning as San Diego continued a scorched earth policy in a 19-3 rout of Point Loma for the title.

The Hillers had 20 hits and took advantage of 11 Pointers errors, four in the first inning.

San Diego had scored at least 10 runs in 11 of 16 games and were heading into the second half of the season with a 15-1 record.

4/20/49

Dick Murphy hit two home runs and drove in five in St. Augustine’s 9-5 win over Hoover, whose Ralph Buckingham gave up only three hits but was the victim of seven errors.

4/21/49

Dick Day had three hits and five runs batted in and Larry Blocker hit a three-run home run, and Chula Vista was a 12-5 winner at Oceanside.

4/22/49

Don Bonatus and Ralph Buckingham had three hits and each hit two-run homers as host Hoover defeated Pasadena, 7-3, behind Bert Grigsby’s six-hit pitching and 11 strikeouts.

–Muir’s Mustangs, the Pasadena Bullpups’ neighbors, topped Grossmont, 2-1, and La Jolla knocked Sweetwater from the Metropolitan League’s unbeaten ranks, 8-2.

4/26/49

Jay Harris’ three-run homer in the eighth inning sent Grossmont to a 12-8 victory over Hoover.  Ralph Fuller also homered with two on for the Foothillers.

4/29/49

Dick Day’s single scored Frank Castro with the winning run in an 11-inning, 4-3 win over La Jolla.
–Point Loma won in 10 innings at Escondido, 3-2, Frank Leinmeister scoring when the Cougars made two errors.

5/6/49

Eight Sweetwater errors and a four-hit day by Tony Roe were more than enough for Kearny to win, 14-3.

–Ed Serrano struck out 15 and Point Loma edged Chula Vista, 4-2.

5/8/49

Jack Lutz gave up four hits while his San Diego teammates manufactured 19 and mowed down Pasadena, 12-1, for the Hillers’ ninth straight CPL victory.

5/10/49

Curt Everett hit two home runs and a double and San Diego topped Point Loma, 12-3.

5/13/49

Point Loma stunned the Metro loop’s undefeated Kearny and ace pitcher Dick Bartz, 13-4. The Pointers erupted for eight runs in the eighth inning.

Manny Vargas had four hits and a three-run home run off Bartz in the big inning.  Calvin Burns and Izzy Lang also homered.

–The Southern Prep League opener at Julian was called in the fifth inning because of fog.  The Eagles and Army-Navy were deadlocked 8-8.

5/19/49

Hal Conrad and Joe Haas were the hitting stars in Brown Military’s 14-9 win at San Dieguito.  Conrad had a home run and Haas three hits.

5/20/49

Jerry Rees and Dick Bartz took their places in Kearny High history, leading the Komets to a 2-1 victory at Chula Vista for the Metropolitan League championship.

The win marked Kearny’s first varsity title in any sport since the school began playing upper level competition with its first senior class in 1944 after opening as a junior high in 1941.

Jerry Rees singled in what proved the winning run in the fifth inning and Bartz set down the Spartans on two hits.

Kearny completed the one-round pennant race with a 5-1 record.  Point Loma was 4-2.  Oceanside, La Jolla, and Chula Vista were 3-3, Sweetwater 1-4, and Escondido 1-5.

–Eddie Serrano struck out 15 in Point Loma’s 7-2 win over Sweetwater and Oceanside beat La Jolla, 4-3, in 15 innings on Jack Troupe’s single that scored Erwin Heald.

5/21/49

Paul Lockridge, with brother Frank catching, and two other Fallbrook pitchers allowed two hits as the Warriors made it three out of four in the Southern Prep with an 11-2 win at Ramona.

5/22/49

Charlie Powell’s three-run home run in the 12th inning ended a San Diego warmup for its Southern California playoff against Orange, 10-8 at Naval Training Center.

5/24/49

Don Hartridge struck out 20 batters and pitched Vista to a 7-4 victory at Brown Military.

–Future NFL game referee Fred Swearingen homered in Fallbrook’s 8-3 win over San Dieguito.

5/25/49

Idle from prep play for almost two weeks, guest San Diego continued to batter the opposition, routing Orange, 15-1, in a Southern Section quarterfinals round playoff.

Tommy Martinez, Curt Everett, and Neale Henderson sprayed nine of the Hillers’ 20 hits around the Panthers’ ball park.

Martinez had four singles in five times at bat, Henderson two singles, and Everett doubled and added two singles.

5/27/49

A crowd of 3,000 in Pomona came to watch the high-powered team from the border town and they witnessed another explosive San Diego attack.

Coach Mike Morrow’s Hillers struck for 15 hits in a 13-5 win over the Red Devils, sending San Diego into the Southern California finals against Santa Barbara, 11-2 winner over Long Beach Wilson.

Frank SanFilippo, Tommy Martinez, and Curt Everett had three hits each and Clyde Thomas tripled twice.

6/3/49

Vista added the Southern Prep League championship to titles won in football, basketball, and tennis by defeating Fallbrook, 8-4, behind Don Hartridge’s five-hit pitching.

6/4/49

With a championship on the line, some teams appeared intimidated or struck with a case of jitters facing San Diego.

As Point Loma felt in the Pomona Tournament, Santa Barbara, beaten only by the Pointers in Pomona, was similarly affected.

The Golden Tornado, 14-1, coming into the Southern Section final, committed 10 errors and San Diego won its 15^th championship, 8-2.

The San Diego Padres gifted the teams with the use of Lane Field and 1,000 persons were on hand.

Jack Smith limited the visitors to seven hits, including a home run by future major league slugger Eddie Mathews, who drove a ball over the 358-foot sign in right field onto Pacific Highway.

Mathews also almost got into a dustup with the Hillers’ Neale Henderson after Henderson’s hard tag at second base.  Cooler heads prevailed.

Tommy Martinez led the Hillers with two hits, two runs batted in and two runs scored.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 11^th 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.

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 10^th 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.

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 11^th 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.

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 12^th 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 10^th 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.

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 10^th inning, sending Chula Vista to a 9-8 win over Grossmont.

San Diego High clinched the CPL championship with its 10^th 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.

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.

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 10^th and San Diego escaped.

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 15^th 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.

The Cavers were out of sorts.

San Diego High finished with an 18-8 record, its poorest since the 17-10 of 1950, and the Cavers lost four games in a row down the stretch to fall out of City Prep League and playoff contention.

According to Don King’s Caver Conquest, the athletic history of the school, the streak was the longest since the 1928  team lost six in a row.

The ’28 squad, the second of legendary coach Dewey (Mike) Morrow’s career, rebounded to post a 22-8-1 record and win the CIF Southern Section championship, 3-0, over El Monte.

The Hoover era of basketball, baseball, and track and field domination continued as the Cardinals dethroned San Diego in the City Prep League baseball race and advanced to the Southern California playoff quarterfinals.

3/2/56

After dropping its opener, 5-3 to a Sweetwater team it defeated, 30-2, in 1955, the San Diego High Cavers struck for 23 hits and beat Helix, 19-5.

Jim Gilchrist had four hits and Willie West three hits, including a home run.

3/7/56

Lefthander Allan Raitt, righthander Victor Graham, and righthander Joe Barca combined to pitch a no-hitter in La Jolla’s 8-1 win over Fallbrook.

The Warriors run came when a stratagem reversed on Vikings coach Ed Sanclemente.

Sanclemente removed Raitt and positioned Raitt at first base and had first baseman Victor Graham pitch to Jim Gooch, who walked, forcing in a run.

Graham got Pete Andrews on strikes to end the inning, with Raitt returning to pitch and Graham to first.  Barca pitched the last inning.

Larry Elliot wasn’t sure but Fulton Vickery, his Hoover coach, knew Elliot could play anywhere.3/14/56

Hoover, still waiting for basketballers Larry Elliot, Walt Baranski, and Steve Evans to get their baseball legs, was drilled by Helix, 10-2.

—Ron Palermo had three hits for the Highlanders and Duane (Rudy) Rudzinski and Ron Svalstad two each.

—John Asakawa and George Hook each hit home runs and Lincoln won at Mar Vista, 14-3.

3/16/56

Lefthander Bob Imlay gave up one hit and Point Loma silenced St. Augustine, 8-1.  Brad Griffith and Ron Miller combined on a seven-hitter and Lincoln beat Chula Vista, 7-1.

3/17/56

Plans were announced for the sixth annual Lions Club tournament, 16 teams in the Unlimited Division and 8 in Limited.

Games would be played at Kearny, Point Loma, San Diego High, Golden Hill and University Heights playgrounds, and Navy Field, on which championships would be contested.

Outsiders included Santa Monica, Inglewood Morningside, Inglewood, and Hawthorne from the Bay League in Los Angeles.

3/19/56

Clyde Crockett gave up 10 runs and 10 hits but teammate George Graham had four hits including a triple and home run and Crockett survived and won,19-10, at Vista.

3/21/56

Deron Johnson’s one-hit pitching and John Harmon’s home run and five runs batted in propelled San Diego to a 13-0 win over Chula Vista.

Johnson did not walk anyone, struck out nine, and faced 28 batters, one over the minimum for nine innings.

—Hoover broke a four-game losing streak as Larry Elliot had three hits in a 9-1 win over Sweetwater.

—Benny Corrales tripled in two runs and pitched San Dieguito past La Jolla, 9-6.

3/23/56

San Diego, leading, 13-8, scored 12 runs in the seventh inning for a 25-9 victory at Oceanside.

—Nine days after a 10-2 loss, Hoover reversed the defeat with a 4-3 win over Helix behind the pitching of Larry Elliot and Paul Richter.

—Ralph Myatt hurled a one-hitter and Kearny won at Escondido, 6-1.

3/27/56

UNLIMITED DIVISION

San Diego teams were 2-2 against teams from the Los Angeles-area Bay League on opening day of the Lions Tournament.

Inglewood’s Sentinels rode two home runs by John Horn and outlasted Sweetwater, 6-5.  A 360-foot, three-run home run by Mike Lillard was instrumental in Santa Monica’s 8-4 win over Mission Bay.

La Jolla improved to an 11-2 record with a 7-1 win over Inglewood Morningside, and Kearny topped Hawthorne, 6-3. Point Loma scored a mild upset over Helix, 3-2.

Defending champion Hoover improved to 8-5 but was extended by first-year El Cajon Valley.  The Cardinals’ Steve Evans gave up three hits and outdueled Jim Portlock, 2-0.

Phil (Moon) Rico of San Diego set down Grossmont, 9-0, on three hits.

3/28/56

Defending Unlimited Division champion Hoover was knocked out in the morning quarterfinals by Santa Monica, 4-2, but the Vikings fell in the semifinals to Kearny, which scored a run in the fifth inning and two in the sixth to win, 3-2.

—Deron Johnson outpitched Victor Graham and San Diego advanced over La Jolla, 6-4, in the morning and rubber-armed Phil Rico, on no rest, pitched another shutout, allowing three hits in a 5-0, semifinal win over Inglewood.

—Kearny’s John Nunez did not allow a hit for 4 1/3 innings and had a one-hitter into the sixth, but San Diego, behind Deron Johnson, who allowed four hits, capitalized on six Komets errors and won its fourth title in six years, 8-1.

Johnson had two of the Cavers’ four hits and was 2-0 in the tournament.  Same as Phil Rico, who was declared the event’s most-valuable player.

—Helix defeated big brother Grossmont, 4-3, for the consolation championship.

LIMITED DIVISION

Defending champion San Dieguito bombed Ramona, 15-4, in the first game of the three-round bracket. Escondido also moved on, defeating Thermal Coachella, 5-0.

—Escondido dethroned San Dieguito with a 3-2 victory the following afternoon, which followed a 2-0 win over El Centro Central in the morning semifinals.

—San Dieguito had outscored St. Augustine, 7-3, in the morning to gain a shot at another championship.

—Thermal Coachella won the consolation title, 11-0 over Oceanside.

4/2/56

City Prep and Metropolitan teams opened league play.

Catcher Duane (Rudy) Rudzinski made four putouts at home plate, stopping Sweetwater runners from scoring in Helix’ 11-inning, 4-2 victory.

—El Cajon  Valley’s Bobby Contreras, all of 130 pounds in full gear, put on the heavy tools and played catcher with starter Al Hall idled by the flu.

Contreras homered and was behind the plate 11 innings as Jim Portlock stopped Grossmont on five hits, 2-1.

—Three walks, a Kearny error, and singles by Jim Gilchrist, Deron Johnson, John Harmon, Pete Gumina, and Jerry Whitworth resulted in eight runs in the sixth inning to give San Diego a come-from-behind, 8-4 victory.

4/6/56

A first-inning single by Eddie Sada was all that Point Loma could manage as lefthander Larry Elliot struck out 12 and pitched Hoover to a 5-0 CPL victory.

—La Jolla committed seven errors for the second game in a row and San Diego took advantage and won, 7-3, behind sophomore Dick Floberg, relieved by Deron Johnson in the seventh inning.

—Bill Collins’ three-hit pitching and Bob Perrin’s three runs batted in was enough for Chula Vista to top Grossmont, 5-1.

4/10/56

La Jolla cut errors to one and Victor Graham held Hoover to three hits but the Cardinals scratched out a 1-0 victory.

Larry Elliot’s triple scored Alex Cremidan with the game’s only run in the fourth inning.

—Brad Griffith’s seven-hit pitching was enough as Lincoln defeated Kearny, 5-2.

–Mar Vista, cruising and needing only three outs, saw visiting St. Augustine erupt for eight runs in the seventh inning for a 10-8 Saints win.

4/11/56

Ernie Miller and Ron Svalstad hit back-to-back homers in the first inning, and Bob Schulz added another in the fourth, and Bill Westphal pitched a three-hitter as Helix whipped Grossmont, 10-1.

—Deron Johnson homered and struck out six and San Diego beat Mission Bay, 7-2.

4/16/56

Larry Elliot hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning and relieved Steve Evans in the seventh to close out a 3-0 Hoover victory over El Cajon Valley.

4/18/56

Sophomore Bobby Jordan’s one-hit pitching stymied Grossmont in a 6-1 Sweetwater victory and Lincoln (3-0) was knocked from the unbeaten ranks in the CPL after the battery of Victor and George Graham propelled La Jolla to a 2-1 win.

4/19/56

San Diego struck for 17 runs and 23 hits and bombed visiting Lincoln, 17-0.  St. Augustine jumped on Chula Vista, 10-0.

4/27/56

A six-run ninth inning brought El Cajon Valley a 10-9 triumph over Helix and knocked the loser out of a tie for the Metropolitan League lead with Sweetwater.

The Red Devils were idle in league play but stepped out and struggled to a 5-5, 11-inning deadlock with St, Augustine, the game called by a time limitation.

5/1/56

Bob Lasoya of Mission Bay authored the season’s first no-hitter, blanking host Lincoln, 3-0, striking out seven and allowing two runners on walks.

—Bob Imlay stifled Hoover, giving up one-hit in an 11-0      victory for Point Loma.  Another 11-0 game favored San Diego and winning pitcher Phil Rico over La Jolla.

5/4/56

Mission Bay’s Leroy Brandt outdueled Deron Johnson and the Buccaneers (3-6) defeated San Diego (7-1), 5-4 in 10 innings.

The loss ended a 14-game winning streak for the Cavers and set up a City Prep League showdown the following week with 7-1 Hoover.

—The Cardinals caught the Cavers in the standings as Steve Evans held La Jolla to two hits in a 12-0 victory.

—Grossmont’s defending champion turned spoilers and damaged visiting Sweetwater’s Metropolitan League hopes with an 8-1 victory.

The Red Devils fell a game behind league-leading Helix as the Foothillers’ Earl Carlton set down the Red Devils on six hits.

5/8/56

Hoover collected all its runs and seven hits in the final three innings to beat San Diego, 6-2.

Deron Johnson’s home run in the first inning staked Phil Rico to a 2-0 lead and Rico had a perfect game until Larry Elliot led off the fifth inning with a ground-rule double over the Cavers’ right field fence.

Elliot struck out 13 and permitted only one hit after Johnson’s home run.

—Mission Bay’s Bob Lasoya missed a second consecutive no-hitter in a 5-2 win over St. Augustine.  The Saints’ Ed Downey had a first-inning single.

—A ground ball which bounced off a third baseman’s leg and through the gate on a fence at Sweetwater helped the Red Devils beat Helix, 4-1, and tie for the Metro lead.

5/11/56

Bob Imlay pitched Point Loma into second place in the CPL, giving up four hits and shutting out San Diego, 8-0.

The Cavers were shut out for the first time at home.

Lennie Serrano homered, singled and tripled, and stole home with the final run in the seventh inning.

—Ron Palermo and Dave Olson each had three hits and Helix defeated El Cajon Valley, 7-2, and climbed back into a first-place tie with idle Sweetwater in the Metropolitan League.

5/15/56

Lefthander Larry Elliot’s no-hitter earned Hoover at least a tie for the CPL championship, 8-1, over Kearny, but that was just part of the story.

Elliott struck out the side in the first four innings and had fanned 13 in a row before the Komets’ Hugh McMillan made contact in the fifth inning.

The only other Kearny batter in the seven-inning game to hit the ball was Chuck Cartmill, who popped out in the sixth.

Elliott struck out 19 and walked 10, including four in the third inning to force in the Komets’ run.

—Bob Lasoya got the nod Point Loma’s Bob Imlay, 4-3, in 11 innings for the Bucs’ fourth CPL win in a row and fifth overall.

Fred Matteson singled home Larry Brindley for the winning run.

—San Diego continued to stumble, losing its fourth in a row at Lincoln, 6-1.  George Hook’s three-run home run in the second inning led the way for the Hornets.

—Helix outlasted last-place Grossmont, 7-6, in 10 innings to take first place in the Metro League.  Ron Palermo’s sacrifice fly scored Ernie Miller with the winning run.

—San Dieguito clinched the Avocado League championship, 9-0 over Vista and Ramona won a Southern Prep League game with visiting San Miguel School, 23-6.

5/18/56

Hoover and Helix claimed league championships, the Cardinals 7-1 over Lincoln behind Steve Evans’ two-hitter, and the Highlanders 8-4 over Chula Vista.

—Kearny prevented Point Loma from clinching second in the CPL, 2-1 in 12 innings.

John Nunez replaced Ralph Myatt in the first inning and went the rest of the way for the Komets.

—Escondido snapped San Dieguito’s eight-game winning streak in the Avocado League, 4-3.

5/19/56

Willie West slammed a bases-loaded home run in the sixth inning and San Diego ended its losing streak with a 5-4 win at Hoover.

Phil Rico, with relief from Deron Johnson in the seventh inning, got the win over the Cardinals’ Larry Elliot.

5/21/56

Sweetwater won a Metropolitan League playoff, 4-2 over Chula Vista after the teams had tied with 7-5 records and second place behind Helix’ 9-3.

—Sweetwater’s opponent in the playoffs became Point Loma, which tied at 8-4 with San Diego behind Hoover’s 10-2 in the CPL.

Hilbert Crosthwaite, Point Loma athletic director and president of the CPL, conducted a poll in which league bosses chose the Pointers over the Cavers for the postseason berth.

5/22/56

Sophomore Bobby Jordan lined a pinch hit single in the ninth inning to deprive Point Loma’s Bob Imlay of a perfect game after the lefthander set down the first 26 batters.

Imlay told Jerry Magee of The San Diego Union that the pitch Jordan hit, on a 2-2 count, was the only curve ball Imlay threw during the game.

Imlay had two hits including a single that drove in the Pointers’ first run.

Point Loma won, 2-0, to advance to the second-round against Newport Beach Newport Harbor.

—Helix beat visiting Anaheim, 6-3, to earn a second-round game against Hoover, which had a first-round bye.

—San Dieguito won a wild game at home, 8-7, against El Centro Central, which hit five home runs off Mustangs pitcher Richie Salbato, two of them when the Spartans scored three times to take a 7-4 lead in the top of the 11^th inning.

Greg Arnett’s bases-loaded single scored two runs in the bottom of the 11^th.  Chuck Salbato followed with a double to tie the score and George Seckington’s bunt scored the winning run.

Richie Salbato struck out 18 batters but was relieved by Chuck Salbato in the 11th.

5/25/56

Hoover, having to move from its home diamond to San Diego State, beat the Highlanders, 8-6.

Larry Elliot doubled in one run, Alex Cremidan two, and Lynn Rowland pinch hit a triple for 3 more in a six-run Hoover fourth inning.

Elliot walked nine batters, threw 31 pitches in one inning and 151 for eight innings before coach Fulton Vickery brought in Steve Evans after Elliot walked the first two batters in the eighth.

Elliot’s 13 strikeouts gave him 60 in the last 28 innings.   The CIF had deemed the Hoover field not suitable for a playoff game because of the short, 197-foot distance to the right field fence.

—Point Loma was informed by the CIF that its win at Sweetwater was within 15 miles of the Pointers’ campus and thus a home game when considering the site for its second-round game.

The peninsula squad hit the road north and host Newport Beach Newport Harbor claimed a 3-2 victory

—San Dieguito, on the strength of two double steals, which resulted in an eighth-inning run and the winning run in the tenth, moved on after a 5-4 victory at Tustin.

5/28/56

Host Ontario Chaffey struck for a run in the second inning and three in the third, enough for Harold (Hal) Reniff’s 18^th victory in his last 20 decisions.

Reniff, who struck out five of the six last batters he faced, stopped Hoover, 4-3.

6/1/56

Puente atoned for its loss to Grossmont in the 1955 championship with a 13-1 rout of San Dieguito in the small schools’ final at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot’s Beeson Field.

Right-hander Jerry Dawson allowed the Mustangs four hits and accounted for five runs, two on home runs from opposite sides of the plate, and another on an infield out.

Dawson’s homers each cleared the wall at the 353-foot sign in left centerfield.

 

Another outstanding San Diego High team (27-4) was unexpectedly bounced from the playoffs but Grossmont won a Southern Section championship, joining the similarly successful 1951 squad.

Only one team from each league was invited to the playoffs, so Hoover was a non-participant despite a record that was a reported 24-4.

San Diego junior Deron Johnson was Southern California player of the year.  Johnson batted .466 in 118 at-bats and compiled a 14-2 pitching record.

Johnson was the fourth Cavers player to win the honor, preceded by Floyd Robinson (1953), Andy Stagnaro (1948), and Gene Richardson (1946).

San Diego second baseman Jim Gilchrist also made the all-CIF team and pitcher Kent Haws was 4-0 in City Prep League play with an 0.21 earned-run average.

3/2/55

Chula Vista pushed over a run in the top of the ninth to edge Point Loma, 4-3. Bob Franklin relieved Raymond (Teeny) Gurule after the Pointers tied the score with three runs in the eighth.

3/4/55

Staffed with several members of the 1954 Post 492 national champion American Legion squad, Hoover still had to scrap to a 2-1 victory at Chula Vista.

Joel Mogy, with relief from Joe Cottrell in the eighth inning, out-pitched the Spartans’ Bob Franklin. Mogy and Cottrell allowed two hits.

Ron Miller, Vince Kilpela, and Brad Griffith teamed to pitch Lincoln to a no-hit, 8-0 win at Mar Vista.

3/5/55

Dick Daugherty and Tim Carroll were the Mission Bay battery in the first game of a double header at San Dieguito and Bob Lasoya and Mel Rizzo in the second game.

The Buccaneers won both ends, 4-3, and 10-6.

3/8/55

Home team Point Loma probably could live with a 12-11 loss to Escondido, but Mission Bay, a double winner three days before, couldn’t sustain, taking a 21-1 licking from Grossmont.

3/11/55

Deron Johnson and Joe Banks each drove in four runs and hit three-run homers and Johnson and Phil Rico held visiting Alhambra Mark Keppel to three hits in a 12-4 San Diego win.

3/12/55

Hoover scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to win a Saturday morning game with El Centro Central, 3-2, and blanked Alhambra Mark Keppel, 3-0, in a nine-inning afternoon contest.

Meanwhile, Ontario Chaffey topped San Diego in the morning in eight innings, 4-3, but lost to La Jolla in the p.m. nightcap, 8-2.

3/15/55

Hoover improved to 6-0 in a rematch, 14-2 victory over Chula Vista. The Cardinals’ Ron Wilkins homered and pitched through the eighth inning, when all involved agreed to call it a day, citing cold weather.

John Bates hit a home run and scattered six hits and Helix socked Lincoln’s ace, Vince Kilpela, 8-3, with a six-run fourth inning.

3/17/55

Hoover stood at 9-0 before a weekend trip to Long Beach after a 10-0 win over Sweetwater, propelled by Jim Galasso’s three hits and the two-hit pitching of Larry Elliot and Dick Meza.

San Diego’s Kent Haws shut out guest Helix, 10-0, on two hits, and Lincoln lost at Grossmont, 8-5.

3/18/55

Intersectionals had become popular. Hoover dropped the first of a three-game swing in the North to Long Beach Wilson, 7-5, on the Long Beach City College diamond.

Lefthander Joel Mogy was hit with a pair of three-run homers in the seven-inning loss.

Jim Gilchrist homered and was 4 for 4, sophomore John Harmon was 3 for 4, and centerfielder Pete Gumina doubled and was singled out for nifty defensive play as San Diego topped visiting Lynwood, 4-0.

LIONS ROAR

A press luncheon at the San Diego Club was hosted by the San Diego Lions Club, which announced a 24-team field for the fifth annual event April 4-6.

Sixteen teams, with San Diego as defending champion, will take part in the Unlimited Division, minus defending CIF champion Fullerton, whose Spring Vacation is one week later than San Diego area schools’.

Mar Vista will defend the Limited Division championship in an eight-team bracket, after Ramona and Fallbrook compete in a “play-in” contest.

Hawthorne, Santa Monica, Trona, Inglewood, Inglewood Morningside, and Banning, teams traveling more than 75 miles, will be housed at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot.

3/19/55

Hoover defeated Long Beach Poly, 10-5, in the morning and Long Beach Jordan, 7-6, in the afternoon in seven-inning games to run its record to 11-1.

—Kearny won at San Bernardino, 3-0, in the morning and lost in the afternoon, 8-1, at Colton in a pair of nine-inning jousts.

3/21/55

Joe Banks’ three-run home run started a San Diego onslaught in a 13-0 win over Sweetwater, as part of a South Bay invasion by the Cavers.  San Diego had beaten Sweetwater in February, 30-2.  That’s not a misprint.

3/22/55

Joe Banks doubled home Jim Gilchrist and Deron Johnson in a three-run 10^th inning as San Diego  edged Chula Vista, 5-2 and upped its record to 9-1.

3/23/55

Lincoln’s Brad Griffith hurled a two-hit shutout and the Hornets blanked host Sweetwater, 3-0.

3/29/55

Hoover, with many of the 1954 Post 492 squad, which won the national American Legion championship, fired the first shot in the City Prep League opener.

The Cardinals’ Billy Capps homered and Joel Mogy out- pitched Deron Johnson as Hoover capitalized on four San Diego errors and won, 7-1.

—Grossmont erupted for 12 runs in the first inning and beat its historically most important rival, Sweetwater, 15-5.

—Helix rolled Mar Vista, 21-0; the Highlanders’ Jim Bates stopped the Mariners on one hit.

—Lincoln’s Vince Kilpela won a 2-1 duel from Point Loma’s Bob Imlay.

4/2/55

Point Loma evened its CPL record at 1-1, edging La Jolla in a tension-filled 11 innings, 5-4.

After three hours and 35 minutes, Point Loma catcher Jim Lunsford, taking advantage of what an Evening Tribune reporter said was “relief hurler Dave Jordan’s (slow) windup and the encroaching darkness to swipe home like the proverbial thief in the night.”

Lunsford’s theft came after starter Jack Cravens walked Lunsford, who was replaced by Jordan. Lunsford advanced on a wild pitch and to third on Joe Welch’s sacrifice.

Cravens battled his way out of a jam in the eighth inning when the Pointers loaded the bases with no outs. Vikings coach Jim Bass brought in an outfielder as an extra infielder to successfully thwart a potential squeeze play.

—Joe Banks had three hits and Jim Gilchrist and Joe Dini homered in San Diego’s 11-1 win over Kearny.

Bob Mendoza tripled in two runs and scored the deciding run on a botched relay in Lincoln’s 11-10, seven-inning win over visiting Grossmont.

4/4/55

San Diego was the three-time defending champion, but Hoover was the Unlimited Division favorite in the fifth annual Lions Tournament.

The Cavers blanked Escondido in their opening game and Hoover slugged Sweetwater, 9-1. Second-year Lincoln, lying in the weeds, surprised Inglewood Morningside, 2-1.

San Diego’s Kent Haws gagged Escondido on one hit and Hoover’s Dick Meza struck out 13.

The most compelling game was Lincoln-Morningside, which went eight innings and almost into darkness at Navy Field.

Lincoln lefthander Vince Kilpela allowed four singles and struck out 18.

Morningside led, 1-0, when the Hornets’ Bob Mendoza singled and came all the way home when the ball got past the rightfielder.

Lincoln broke the deadlock when pinch hitter George Hook opened the eighth with a walk, gave way to pinch runner Ron Miller, who was sacrificed to second base by Doyle Seely.                                                          Miller scored when Mendoza drove a pitch to deep right centerfield.

Kearny won a marathon, three-hour, 25-minute, 9-8 decision over Inglewood after leading, 8-2.

El Centro Central’s Matt Haughan allowed one hit and beat Ramona, 4-2, in a Limited Division contrast.

4/5/5

San Diego nipped Kearny, 4-3, but lost to Lincoln, 4-3, and Hoover slammed Santa Monica, 14-1 and Hawthorne, 7-2.

Kent Haws gave up a two-run single to Jerry Stryker, but the San Diego pitcher, who relieved Phil Rico in the top of the seventh with the bases loaded, got Tommy Gonzalez on a short fly-out and Butch Flaming and Bud Romero to end the game.

San Diego coach Les Cassie saved his ace, Deron Johnson for the afternoon semifinal at Navy Field against Lincoln, 8-5 quarterfinals winner over Point Loma.

Lincoln’s victory over the Cavers, by far its most significant in the school’s two-year history, came with a knotty problem for coach George Pearson.

San Diego rallied for three runs in the sixth inning, chasing starter Brad Griffith and forcing Pearson to call on his ace lefthander, Vince Kilpela.

Kilpela put out the fire and got through a difficult seventh that landed the Hornets in the Unlimited final against Hoover.

Lions pitchers, by rule, could work a maximum of 16 innings in the tournament.

That meant Kilpela was eligible for only three more innings in the finale at Lane Field.

Pearson had a decision to make: Start Kilpela and hope the cavalry can hold the fort beginning in the fourth inning, or start Griffith or Ron Miller, and bring on Kilpela to protect a possible lead.

4/6/55

Lincoln coach Pearson started right hander Miller, who gave up five runs in two innings. Griffith allowed four more, although two were unearned.

Hoover won, 9-3, and Kilpela pitched only one inning.

The game was shortened from seven to five innings so the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Seals could start their Pacific Coast League contest with minimal delay of the scheduled 8:15 p.m. first pitch.

Hoover coach Bill Matthie had a rested starter, Larry Elliot, a lefthander who struck out nine and walked six. The Cardinals’ Gene Leek hit a three-run home run over the 360-foot sign in right field in the top of the second.

Kilpela was named the tournament’s most-valuable player.

4/15/55

Grossmont pounded Helix, 11-1, behind Earl Carlton’s home run and six-hit pitching and battery mate Al Hall’s five hits—three singles, double, and home run.

—Lincoln was surprisingly leading the CPL with a 3-0 record (Hoover and Sn Diego were 3-1) after Brad Griffith’s four-hitter set down Kearny, 6-2.

Leroy Dotson’s single scored Percy Campbell for a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning and George Hook’s two-run homer in the sixth was enough for the win.

—Deron Johnson was 3 for 4 with four runs batted in and Jim Gilchrist was 3 for 6 as San Diego beat Mission Bay. 21-2.

4/19/55

Gene Leek hit two home runs and Tommy Rinks and Parker Olsen hit back-to-back home runs as Hoover slugged Lincoln and lefthander Vince Kilpela, 9-0, on the Hoover field.

—Grossmont took a two-game lead in the Metropolitan League with an 18-0 win over Mar Vista, while Helix beat Chula Vista, 6-4, to tie the Spartans for second place.

4/22/55

Art Thomson gave up one hit and struck out 15, and the Ramona offense did the rest in a 27-0 win over San Miguel School.

—Grossmont moved to 6-0 and clinched a tie for the Metropolitan League title with two games remaining.

—The Foothillers beat Sweetwater, 7-1, behind Skip Fenn’s three-hit pitching.

—Rudy Rudzinski tripled to drive in three runs in Helix’ four-run eighth inning that was the difference in a 5-4 win over Mar Vista.

4/29/55

Chula Vista pitcher Bill Collins outlasted Chester Carlton and Skip Fenn and the Spartans stayed alive in the Metropolitan circuit with a 7-6 victory over Grossmont.

The Foothillers were 6-1 and Chula Vista was 5-2, tied with Helix after the day’s action.

—John Poplis scattered five hits and Mar Vista won its first league game, 8-5, over Sweetwater.

—Deron Johnson hit an opposite field home run beyond the press box that looks down on the Hoover grandstand and baseball field as the Cavers topped the Cardinals and moved into first place in the CPL, each with a 5-0 record.

Kent Haws, the Cavers’ No. 3 pitcher at the start of the season, blanked the Redbirds on four hits.

5/2/55

Hoover recovered from its loss to San Diego by punishing neophyte Mission Bay, 26-6, after opening with a 13-run salvo in the first inning and firing another of eight runs in the eighth.

Gene Leek hit a grand slam home run in the first inning, big blow of the Cardinals’ 21 hits. Larry Elliot allowed three hits and struck out 18 and held the Buccaneers scoreless until they scored three each in the eighth and ninth innings.

5/5/55

Mel Bratley homered and Dick Williams allowed two hits in Grossmont’s 14-0 win over Mar Vista.

—George Van Es hit a three-run homer and pitched San Dieguito to an 11-3, Avocado League win over Oceanside.

—Deron Johnson gave up two hits, struck out 15, did not walk a batter, and won a 1-0 duel against La Jolla’s Jack Cravens as San Diego pushed across a run in the ninth inning.

The Cavers’ Dave Conger reached base on an error and Steve Allen pinch ran. John Harmon’s double scored Allen from first.

San Diego (8-1) maintained a one-game, City Prep League lead over Hoover, which beat Point Loma, 3-0.

5/15/55

Point Loma took a first-inning, 4-0 lead over visiting San Diego and kept the Cavers at a distance until San Diego scored a run in the eighth inning and three in the ninth to tie.

The Cavers manufactured three runs in the 11^th inning to win, 7-4.

The rally include a bunt hit, fielder’s choice, sacrifice bunt, catcher’s error for one run, a sacrifice fly for another run, a base on balls, and Joe Dini’s double, which scored John Harmon.

—Dave Jordan’s one-hitter was enough for La Jolla to handcuff Lincoln, 3-0.

—Grossmont (10-1) locked  the Metropolitan League title with an 8-2 win over Chula Vista (8-3) at Grossmont.

Dick Williams, Allen Hall, and Jerry Barrows each hit home runs for the Foothillers.

—Brown Military had 14 hits, but took more advantage of 13 Julian errors in a 29-6 victory in the mountain community.

5/19/55

San Diego won its second straight CPL title and third in the six-year history of the league with a 2-1, 10-inning victory over visiting Lincoln.

Deron Johnson’s double with one out in the 10^th scored Don Leslie from second base and gave the Cavers a league record of 11-1, all 11 wins coming after an opening-game, 7-1 loss to Hoover.

Hoover finished second at 10-2. Lincoln, which lost three of its last four, was third at 6-6, followed by La Jolla and Point Loma, each 5-7; Kearny, 4-8, and Mission Bay, 1-11.

Lincoln’s Vince Kilpela and the Cavers’ Kent Haws battled into the 10^th, when Haws walked Kilpela to start the inning and was relieved by Johnson, who retired the side.

Johnson (6-1) was credited with the victory, but the league’s winningest pitcher was Hoover’s Larry Elliot (7-0).

—Elliot relieved Joel Mogy in a 5-5 game in the top of the sixth inning. The Cardinals scored 13 runs in the bottom of the sixth for an 18-5 victory over Kearny.

5/20/55

Grossmont, which toiled in the City Prep League from 1951-54 and won the CIF Southern Section championship in ’51, was back home in the Metropolitan loop and a 11-1 success.

Coach John Hancock’s Foothillers drubbed Helix, 11-2, in the final league game to finish two games ahead of Chula Vista (9-3). Helix was 6-6 and Mar Vista and Sweetwater, each 2-10, brought up the rear.

5/25/55

Hoover’s baseball season was over, but many of the Cardinals already were preparing for the opening of the American Legion Post 492 season.

Meanwhile, Post 6, winner of national championships with largely San Diego High players in 1938 and ’41, was resuming competition after several years’ absence.

Legion qualification was for players age 13-19.

5/27/55

Deron Johnson struck out 16, allowed 4 singles, and tripled and singled in three runs as San Diego stunned Baldwin Park, 13-0, in a second-round playoff (the Cavers received a first-round bye) at Beeson Field on the Marine Corps Recruit Depot base.

Jim Gilchrist doubled twice and had four hits. John Harmon and Dave Conger each had a single and double and combined for five runs batted in.

The Braves did not advance a runner past second base.

Grossmont hurdler Skip Fenn struck out 16 and his teammates lashed Oceanside pitching for 18 hits in a 21-2 Foothillers’ small schools, semifinals playoff romp.  Grossmont was scheduled to play Army-Navy in the first round, but the cadets declined to participate, forfeiting.

Allen Hall homered twice and Gary Freymiller doubled and homered, positioning the La Mesans for a championship game against Puente, which topped Thermal Coachella Valley, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

6/2/55

The usually reliable San Diego defense betrayed the Cavers with seven errors that led to four unearned runs and a stunning, 7-3 loss to the 22-6 Fullerton Indians, who shocked the Cavers in the 1954 playoffs.

The game was played at La Palma Park in Anaheim, two miles South of the Fullerton campus.

The Cavers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Jim Gilchrist’s home run.  They broke a tie in the fifth to lead, 3-2, when Deron Johnson’s third consecutive double scored Gilchrist.

Johnson replaced Kent Haws on the mound in the sixth inning and was the victim of two unearned runs that gave the Indians a 6-3 lead.

Fullerton, which lost to Los Angeles Loyola in the 1954 finals, would bow again in the finals, losing in 14 innings, 6-5, to Montebello.

6/3/55

Gary Freymiller doubled and tripled and drove in four runs, and Skip Fenn pitched Grossmont to an 8-2 championship game victory over Puente.

Fenn struck out 11, giving him 105 in his last 81 innings and an overall record of 14-2.

Coach John Hancock was at the helm when the Foothillers won the Southern Section title in 1951.