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By Loren Kopff
@LorenKopff on Twitter
Whenever the Gahr High baseball team faces San Gabriel Valley League rival Warren High, you can pretty much count on a close game with the winning margin by either team coming by a couple of runs. But no one expected the outcome of this past Tuesday’s to be lopsided by more than 10 runs.
Gahr erupted for six runs in the bottom of the second inning and five more in the fourth and cruised to a 15-3 victory over the Bears in a battle of undefeated teams in the league. The Gladiators (14-7, 5-0) swept Warren last season with both games decided by two runs. Other than a 10-0 win against Warren in 2016, the last time the Gladiators routed the Bears came in 2011 with 29-2, 15-0 and 13-5 results.
“I will say that I feel that as a whole, we are swinging the bat better,” said Gahr head coach Gerardo Perez. “Our approaches have improved, our at-bats, our plans, the combination of both…we’ve been maturing at the plate. I’ve told our team that I think we have the capability to be a good offensive team as far as hitting.”
Gahr, which has won four in a row and nine out of the last 10 games, sent 12 batters to the plate in the second inning but got just three hits. A pair of Warren pitchers combined to walk four Gahr batters and hit another. Senior shortstop Michael Perez and senior third baseman Delvan Gomez each had a run-scoring singles, junior first baseman Jayden Cruz had a sacrifice fly to bring in a run and junior center fielder Xavier Estrada was walked with the bases loaded to plate another run.
In the next inning, senior designated hitter Julian Mungarro’s single brought in Cruz, who was hit by a pitch to begin the inning. Two pitches after Mungarro’s hit, junior catcher Edward Morales singled to right field to make it 9-2.
Gahr put the game away in the fourth inning, sending eight to the plate and getting a run-scoring trip from Gomez and an RBI double from junior second baseman Tyrese Turner as some of the highlights.
In all, Gahr picked up 13 hits with Gomez going three for four and Turner two for three, had five batters reach on walks, four get hit by pitches and one reach on an error. Senior Anthony Diaz worked the first three innings, giving up two runs, two hits, two walks and striking out two while junior Jason Dressel worked the final four innings, retiring the final eight and 10 of the last 11 he faced to pick up the win.
“I’m very comfortable with us not hitting our stride yet,” Gerardo Perez said. “But I want to see steps individually.”
Gahr visited Warren on Apr. 26 to complete the home and home series and will host Paramount on Tuesday, hoping to seal down one of the top two spots in the league as the title could be decided on the final week of the regular season when Gahr faces Downey High, which began this week undefeated in league action as well.
“As long as kids can handle getting up after getting punched in the face and after they can get up on the horse and get back into it, I think it’s a good thing,” Gerardo Perez said. “We’ve been resilient; we have. And we’ve been challenged early. Early on, our strength of schedule was extremely high. I think we’ve found our niche.”
In other baseball action, the miserable season for Artesia High continues as it was pounded by Norwalk High 23-0 this past Wednesday in Suburban League action. The host Lancers (9-9, 3-4) scored six unearned runs in the bottom of the second, then exploded for 11 more the next inning.
Senior designated hitter Isaac Aguilar went three for four, scored three runs and drove in two while senior pitcher Anthony Gonzalez went three for five, scored twice and drove in two runs. Junior right fielder Chase Baca went two for four with five RBI and three runs scored while senior shortstop Kevin Ramirez (three RBI) and senior center fielder Richard Lozano also picked up a pair of hits.
Artesia (1-21, 0-9) had six hits from six different players and has been outscored 162-1 in league competition. The two teams will meet at Artesia today before the Pioneers host Mayfair High on Wednesday while Norwalk entertains La Mirada High on Wednesday as well.
In a battle of undefeated Suburban League teams, John Glenn High fell to La Mirada 3-1 this past Wednesday. The Eagles (16-6, 6-1), ranked third in the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division 4 poll, will visit the Matadores, ranked fifth in Division 1, today before visiting Cerritos High on Wednesday,
Valley Christian High dropped a 4-3 home encounter to Whittier Christian High to fall to 8-12 overall and winless in six Olympic League contests. The two teams, which faced each other on Apr. 26, will meet again today at Whittier Christian. V.C. will then travel to Maranatha on Tuesday. The Minutemen are ranked fourth in Division 3 and are on top of the league standings.
Whitney High was blanked by Crean Lutheran High 13-0 thins past Tuesday to fall to 5-8 overall and 2-5 in the Academy League. The two teams will meet today at Crean Lutheran before Whitney travels to Sage Hill on Tuesday.
SOFTBALL
The highlight of the week came from Cerritos where senior pitcher Jennifer Morinishi pitched a ho-hitter against Norwalk this past Tuesday in a 6-0 win. The Lady Dons have won 11 straight games, improving to 15-4, 8-0 while Norwalk stood at 7-9, 3-5. Cerritos visited Bellflower High on Apr. 26 and will travel to Mayfair High on Thursday while the Lady Lancers were home to La Mirada on Apr. 26 and will entertain Mayfair on Tuesday and Glenn on Thursday.
Gahr took over first place in the San Gabriel Valley League following a 7-3 win against Downey High this past Tuesday. The Lady Gladiators (17-4, 5-0) hosted last place Dominguez High on Apr. 26 and will welcome fifth place Lynwood High on Tuesday. They could clinch the league title as early as Thursday when they travel to Warren High.
Glenn fell to Bellflower 20-5 this past Tuesday to remain winless in eight league games. The Lady Eagles travelled to Mayfair on Apr. 26 while Valley Christian picked up a 5-4 win at Heritage Christian High this past Tuesday to improve to 7-8, 1-3 in the Olympic League. The Lady Crusaders hosted Samueli Academy on Apr. 26 and will go to Village Christian High on Tuesday before hosting Whittier Christian High on Thursday.
Whitney went out of Academy League action to host winless Saddleback High this past Monday and came away with an 18-6 victory, improving to 3-8 at the time. The Lady Wildcats scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and nine more in the next inning. Sophomore third baseman Susana Toscano went three for four and scored four runs while sophomore shortstop Gabrielle Madjus went two for four and drove in three runs. Junior pitcher Taylor Genera also had three RBI while striking out 10 batters in five innings of work. The Lady Wildcats, who would then drop a 10-0 decision to Oxford Academy this past Wednesday, will visit Calvary Chapel Downey on Tuesday.
