EL SEGUNDO HERALD May 16, 2019 Page 7
Eagles from page 5
Giselle Segura was second in the shotput
and third in the discus. Marcus Ortiz won
the frosh/soph 800m. Kai Vasquez won the
frosh/soph boys pole vault and Jackson Hick
the boys frosh/soph triple jump.
The girls 4x400 relay team consisted of
Madeline Desmone, Tyler Jones, Isabella
Mai and Lauren Davis. Davis in the 200m
and Dexter Koester in the pole vault each
advanced to the CIF-SS Division 3 finals.
The relay team ran a respectable 4:07. Davis
finished just outside of medaling and Koester
matched his school record, but fell short of
medaling.
Baseball Team’s
Magical Season Ends
The Eagles were invited to the big dance, the
CIF Southern Section Division 2 playoffs, after
winning the Ocean League. After dispensing
of Santa Fe in the first round, they faced a
decidedly overconfident top-seeded Arcadia
team in the second round. They upended the
Apaches 3-2 in 11 innings to advance to the
third round against Santa Margarita where
the dance and season ended.
You could call this season’s version of the
Eagles a Cinderella story. Not many thought
they would win the program’s 37th league title
or even 15 games on the season. But nobody
told the 18 members of the team or their five
coaches. The Eagles wound up winning the
Ocean League and for good measure ended
the season with a 21-9 record. It marked the
40thtime in the last 59 years that the Eagles
have won 20 or more games in a season.
Against the number one team, according to
the CIF polls and seeding, the Eagles trailed
1-0 in the sixth inning. They were on the
ropes and on the verge of elimination when
assistant coach David Eno said, “It’s time
for the baseball gods to be on our side,”
referring to a needed comeback.
With one out, Benny Casillas reached base
on a fielder’s choice. Matt Romero hit a flare
to right field that took a perfect bounce and
scooted past Gavin Vogel for a triple that
scored Casillas. Then Dylan Marquez-Wasson
hit a ball nearly in the same place for a single
that easily scored Romero for a 2-1 lead.
In the top of the seventh, Arcadia tied
the game when Jeffery Castillo hit an RBI
double and went to third base on a fielder’s
choice. With one out, Ian Bonham dove to
his right and caught a line drive down the
third base line. All in one motion by catching
the ball, he tagged the bag that doubled
up Castillo for the third out. That double
play that ended the inning saved a run and
extended the season for the Eagles.
The game eventually went into the 11th
inning when those baseball gods listened and
El Segundo’s dance card was punched to
the quarterfinals. Casillas walked, Marquez-
Wasson beat out an infield single and Julian
Rodriquez hit another ball to shallow right
field that easily scored Casillas. The walk-off,
game-winning hit ignited a celebration that
stunned the Arcadia faithful and delighted a
full house of Eagle supporters. The 11-inning
CIF playoff game was the third longest in
the school’s history behind 13- and 18-inning
games in the 1960s.
El Segundo traveled to Santa Margarita
to face quite possibly its toughest opponent
this season. The clock struck midnight on the
Eagles and their glass slipper shattered when
Santa Margarita dealt El Segundo a 4-0 loss.
El Segundo couldn’t put together much
offense all game long. The Eagles’ woes
started to lead off the game when Ethan
Burner hit a laser line drive one bouncer
to right fielder Connor Bane. He played it
perfectly and threw out the speedy Burner by
a step. Romero was thrown out at the plate
in the second inning and the Eagles hit into
two double plays.
The season didn’t end on a sour note
because of the loss. The baseball gods may
not have sided with the Eagles in this game,
but they certainly did for 21 other games.
Softball Team Advances
to Semifinals
The Eagles overwhelmed Dos Pueblos
6-0 and then took down Rialto 4-3 in eight
innings to advance to the CIF-Southern Section
Division 4 semifinals. It’s the first time
in 10 years the program has gone this deep
in the playoffs.
El Segundo used a pair of three-run innings
and great pitching to defeat Dos Pueblos. In
the fourth inning of a scoreless game, the
Eagles scored three runs on an RBI double
by Sophia Marrero and RBIs by Laila Phillips
and Kaila Little. In the sixth inning Katie
Croxall, Phillips and Little each drove in
runs to make it 6-0. Kaili Reitano went the
distance, striking out 12.
El Segundo’s long bus ride to Rialto had
no ill effects against a solid Knights team.
In the second inning, Marrero and Phillips
each doubled for a 1-0 advantage. The lead
stretched to 3-0 in the third inning on an RBI
double by Adri Hebert and an RBI single
by Julia Chavez. The Knights scored single
runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to
tie the game at 3-3.
In the eighth inning, the Eagles got backto
back doubles from Marrero and Reitano to
take the 4-3 lead. In the bottom half of the
inning, the Knights got a lead-off single and
a one out infield single. Reitano induced a
strikeout and then a pop fly to close out the
game and send the Eagles to the semifinals
this past Tuesday on the road to play Sultana
in Hesperia.
The winner advances to the CIF-SS Division
4 championship game set to be played
at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine. •
The Eagles had a successful season finishing as Ocean League champions and winning 21 games.
Tyler Jones (far right) hands off to Isabella Mai during the 4X400 Meter Relay.
The Eagles celebrate Julian Rodriquez’s 11th inning walk-off RBI single against Arcadia.
Madeline Desemone starts the 4x400 Meter Relay in the CIF-SS Track Finals.
Matt Romero drills a single in the second inning against Santa
Margarita.
Brendan McAndrews gets set to tag out Santa Margarita’s Jonny
Giannola in the CIF-SS quarterfinal game.
Assistant coach Wil Parsons thanks Kyle McMullin for a great
season and becoming the program’s first Eagle Scout.
Ethan Burner shut down top-seeded Arcadia over the final
five innings.