Baseball, softball, track and field start their second season

Photo by George Laase. Record-setting—Culver City long jumper Kevin Beacham displays his winning form with a leap of 23 feet last Saturday at the Division II CIF finals.
Photo by George Laase. Postseason play—Centaurs junior pitcher Jay Sterner will lead Culver City into the CIF playoffs this Friday against Quartz Hill. Here, against Santa Monica High, Sterner pitched a no-hitter during the team’s 1-0 loss.

Three of Culver City’s spring teams begin their second season in the CIF playoffs and the CIF track and field finals this week. The baseball, softball and track and field teams hope that their success in the regular season can put them in a good position to make a run deep into the playoffs and finals.

The girls softball team started the playoffs with an 11-0 victory over Gabrielino High School last Monday at Culver City. They advanced to the second round of the playoffs last Tuesday when traveled to the Santa Barbara area to take on a very good Dos Pueblos team is 20-6 overall and a first place 10-2 record in the Channel league.

The Lady Centaurs are 15-9 overall and finished 6-4 behind Santa Monica and Hawthorne in the Ocean league. Their 11-0 victory on Monday featured the pitching and hitting of their seniors stars Jessica Faber and Lisa Kamba.

“Jessica pitched a great game and Lisa hit a three run home run,” said coach John Sargent. “The girls are hungry. They love this game.”

Other girls that played well in the victory over Gabrielino were Mary Bilbao, Natalie Capa, Melody Rodriquez, Dominique Powell and Sabrina Perez. “We have had a lot of injuries this season but we continued to compete,” said Sargent. “I am proud of this team.”

Culver City’s baseball team travels to the Lancaster area to battle the Quartz Hill Rebels on Friday at 4 p.m. in the first round of the playoffs. The Rebels are 19-9 and 13-1 in Golden League play. The Centaurs placed second in the Ocean league with record of 7-3 and they are 17-10 overall.

The Centaurs had an opportunity to win the Ocean league last week but they dropped two games to first place Santa Monica. Their Tuesday’s (May 13) 1-0 loss to Santa Monica was really heart breaking because their star pitcher Jay Sterner threw a no hitter. The good news is that Sterner will be on the mound Friday.

“We will have Jay ready to go on Friday,” said coach Rick Prieto. “He is peaking at the right time.” Sterner, a junior is also one of the best hitters on the team.

Once again timely hitting and injuries hurt the Centaurs against Santa Monica. Although coach Prieto hates to use injuries as an excuse three of his top four seniors have not been able to play consistently all season because of injuries.

“I don’t use injuries as an excuse,” said Prieto. “Every player we have should be able to step up if someone gets hurt. Our biggest problem is not being able to drive runners in when they are in scoring position. We need to get the job done.”

Culver City’s senior track and field stars will compete in the CIF finals Saturday at Cerritos College in Norwalk. Kevin Beacham and Kyndahl Carter will be representing Culver City. Beacham will compete in the boy’s long jump. He is one of the top long jumpers in California and hopes to win the event on Saturday.

“Kevin is a great athlete who has trained very hard to be in this position,” said boys’ coach Jahmal Wright. Beacham, who won the Division II long jump with a leap of 23 feet last Saturday, is in a great position to advance to the state meet in two weeks.

Carter will run the 100 hurdles and the 300 hurdles in the CIF finals. Last Saturday she placed seventh in the 300 and ninth in the 100 hurdles at Moorpark High School.

“I think Kyndahl has a better chance in 300 hurdles but she is very good in the 100 hurdles too,” said the girls coach and former USC great Rayfield Beaton. The field events start at 10:30 a.m. and the first running event starts at 1 p.m.