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TORRANCE TRIBUNE June 18, 2015 Page 3 You are invited! DESTINATION: ART ARTWALK AND RECEPTION Saturday, June 27, 2015 | 6-9 p.m. THE ARTWALK INCLUDES DESTINATION: ART ASSOCIATE ARTISTS SHOWCASE RECEPTION Come see this diverse group of artists in their annual exhibition. Live music, appetizers and wine. 1815 W. 213th St., #135, Torrance DESTINATION: ART GALLERY & STUDIO ARTISTS With a live band on the Plaza by Buffalo Fire Department, 1261 Cabrillo Ave., Torrance THE NEW APC FINE ARTS GALLERY RE-OPENING Come see the re-designed space and new artwork by Ron Libbrecht and company. 1621 Cabrillo Ave., Torrance FOR MORE INFORMATION | (310) 742-3192 WWW.DESTINATION-ART.NET 15-2286ps_sby-ie-15-013 ©2015 lacmta Go Metro to the Special Olympics World Games Skip the tra;c and parking costs and Go Metro to the Special Olympics World Games, July 25 through August 2. Metro’s bus and rail lines make it easy to reach game venues across LA County, where over 7,000 athletes from around the world will compete in 25 Olympic-style sports. Learn more at metro.net/worldgames. Dump the Pump and Go Metro On June 18, 2015, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Metro and public transportation systems across the country will celebrate the 10th Annual National Dump the Pump Day. With LA County gas prices being among the highest in the country, riding public transit is an economical way to save money. Metro Partners with Zipcar In an e=ort to provide LA transit riders with more transportation options and improve connectivity to Metro stops, Zipcar, the world’s leading car sharing network, and Metro have teamed up to provide vehicles for hourly or daily reservations at 10 Metro Park & Ride locations. Find out more at zipcar.com/metrola. See something? Say something. Almost one million people are victims of human tra;cking each year. Many of them are right here in LA County. If you have reason to believe someone might be a victim of human tra;cking, don’t be silent – report it. Call 888.950.SAFE. To learn more, visit metro.net/dontbesilent. metro.net @metrolosangeles losangelesmetro Spartans Get One More Chance By Adam Serrao The 2015 baseball season has officially come to a close and much like last year, the South High Spartans are hanging their heads at the end of it. Not because of a disappointing season. The Spartans and head coach Grady Sain had the best season in the entire Pioneer League and almost rallied to take the CIF championship trophy. That, in itself, however, is the problem. “Almosts” never count. The Spartans made their way to the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 championship game, much like they did last year, but were beaten out by Serrano in a close, 2-1 game. While much controversy surrounded the end of the game, the South High Spartans managed to wade through it, clear their minds, and find a way to play together for one last time. The 46th Annual South Bay Athletic Club Senior All-Star Game took place last Friday night and gave the South High Spartans one extra opportunity to get back on the baseball diamond and clear their heads of the disappointing way that their season ended. All-Star games aren’t about taking it to your opponent. They aren’t even about winning. They are, however, about having fun and appreciating the talent on display after a long, grueling season. Some of that talent included familiar names from around the Pioneer league and certain individual and stand-out Spartans. One of those Spartans was starting pitching and staff ace Drake Pingel. Pingel started for the Blue team of All-Stars and pitched two innings in the game. In a very contrasting fashion to his regular season play, Pingel allowed one run in his performance, while giving up two hits and three walks with two strikeouts. Pingel’s Blue team wound up defeating the Red team by a score of 6-3 at El Segundo’s Recreation Park. While they were teammates in the regular season, South pitcher Nick Beardsley was forced to face his colleague Pingel in this game. Beardsley pitched for the Red All-Stars and in three innings, didn’t allow one run. There was no doubting the fact that he rubbed that in Pingel’s face later on. Beardsley and Pingel weren’t the only Spartans on the field, though. Taylor Carmona started in left field for the Red team and later moved in to catch Beardsley. Kawika Hubbell also played in the game and fell victim to Beardsley’s fastball, striking out as a member of the Blue team while wishing he was still able to watch his pitcher pitch, not face him at the plate. The All-Star game provided much levity for a South High team that still feels like they got robbed in the championship game just one week earlier. In their 2-1 loss to Serrano in the in the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 championship game, the Spartans lost on the last play of the game. With the score tied at 1-1, Serrano loaded the bases in their half of the inning with only one out. Second baseman Josh Rotuna fielded a ground ball hit his way and threw it to shortstop Kawika Hubbell for one out. Hubbell then threw to first base and teammate Matt Diederich, but his throw was offline. Diederich bobbled the ball shortly before securing it and in his effort to possess the ball, removed his foot from the first base bag. Originally, the umpires called the runner out at first base and the inning was over. South had what they thought was an inning-ending double play and the game would move on into extra innings. The Serrano head coach, however, appealed the call at first base and upon an umpires conference, the ruling was overturned. The runner was ruled safe at first, thus allowing the inning to continue. With one less out, Serrano’s runner at third base was allowed to score and register the winning run. An overturned call ended South High’s season and bid for a CIF championship trophy. The California Baseball Association’s President, Phil Jenks, was called upon to comment on the play. “The first-base umpire was in good position if it’s a good throw,” he said. “But it’s a bad throw. The first baseman stretched directly toward (the umpire), and he saw that the first baseman didn’t control the ball right away. The umpire didn’t see the first baseman’s back foot. He was not 100 percent sure.” Basically, Jenks is stating the case for the umpires conference, saying that the play deserved a consultation because of all of the moving factors involved. Coach Grady Sain still wasn’t nearly pleased. “I think our baseball community deserves an explanation from CIF,” Sain stated. “I just keep going to the word ‘integrity.’” CIF later reviewed the play and ruled in favor of the umpires decision. “It’s unfortunate,” Jenks said. “I understand the emotions of it. It’s a terrible way to end a game, but umpires are paid to make tough, unemotional decisions.” The tough, unemotional decision cost the Spartans a chance at the CIF trophy, but what is done, is done. If anything can be taken away from the situation it’s that the South High Spartans had a team that was good enough to make it to back-to-back CIF championship games and made their last appearance nothing less than entertaining, to say the least. The All-Star Game provided the players of South High one last chance to play baseball, this time with nothing on the line. After such a miserable end to the season, Pingel, Beardsley, Hubbell and Carmona were able to have fun again. The Spartans represented themselves nicely in the Blue vs. Red game, at last putting a punctuation on a season that will surely never be forgotten. • USA Women Take Center Stage By Adam Serrao It’s hard to believe that it has already been four years since the United States Women’s soccer team lost in the 2011 World Cup final to Japan on penalty kicks. That is, however, precisely where the U.S. Women’s soccer team is expected to be: in the final. Though it has been a long and hard 16 years now since we all saw Brandi Chastain rip off her jersey in pure joy and excitement when the Women’s team of 1999 beat China to win the World Cup Final at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, there is still no grading curve existent. Either the team advances to the final and wins it all, or their run in this year’s World Cup is labeled as an unsuccessful one. Up to this point, it has been clear that the women of the U.S. team have needed just a bit of time to adapt to the grand stage of the World Cup. With the potential of the team and the talent that is on it, however, this World Cup team may just be one of the best in U.S. Women’s history. There is no question that our own U.S. Women’s World Cup soccer team ranks up there among the best in the entire world. That, however, does not explain the 16-year World Cup drought that the team and all of its fans have been experiencing. Naturally, the U.S. isn’t going to win the Cup every year that they compete, but there is reason to believe that this year’s team will not leave the tournament empty handed. “We’re ready to move forward and try to take the Cup and bring it back to the U.S.,” Defender Meghan Klingenberg said. “We put in way too much time and effort to let something like that slip.” The time and effort that Klingenberg speaks of has now been put in under three different coaches. Tom Sermanni took over for Pia Sundhage after she won a gold medal as coach of the Women’s team in the 2012 Olympics and later left to coach her native team of Sweden. Sermanni didn’t seem to be doing so well at the helm, so Jill Ellis took over and now looks to lead this team to glory in this year’s Cup. If this team is going to get its taste of glory, it will have to learn from its prior experiences and leave the demons of the past behind. Since tasting victory in 1999, the U.S. women’s club has finished in third place twice in 2003 and 2007 and has finished as the runners-up in their 2011 penalty-kick matchup with Japan. “I know the expectations,” said coach Ellis. “It’s been a long time. That’s the focus, that’s the goal, and that is what we plan to do.” The team’s most popular and perhaps best player, Abby Wambach, put it best when speaking of the team’s new goal. “All of us have to be willing to be forever disappointed in not winning,” she said. “That’s what it takes. You have to be willing to give in to it. You have to completely allow yourself to be crushed by something; it’s like love. If we give in to it, then I think we have a chance to do this.” The teams love for the sport and for each other certainly goes unquestioned. The only issue left at hand is their ability, or lack thereof, to both leave their past behind and improve on it for future success. See USA Women, page 6


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