By Jonathan Lee
They call spring the season of love. With flowers blossoming, birds singing and hot women everywhere, it’s a wonder that a certain teenage boy, “Don Jon,” could concentrate on anything but the ladies. However, the successful launch of the spring sports season at Santa Monica High School has everyone talking. That is, those who don’t currently have their lips locked.
The baseball team has probably garnered the most school-wide attention so far. Led by senior ace Kyle Johnson, the Samo pitching rotation is dominating opponents. Along with seniors Joey Coriaty, Alex Gomez, Tim Livingston and Brandon Schwartz, several junior pitchers have demonstrated experience and patience on the mound. Junior Max Hacker surrendered just one hit against Palisades on March 6 — in six innings — and led his team to an 11-0 blowout. Stuart Boardman, Spencer Knox and Mike Walsh are also cultivating their pitching skills as the season progresses.
The Vikings also are loaded offensively. Powerful hitters in the starting lineup include seniors Todd Baynes and Jason Mungarro, and junior Cody Decker. With talented players on both the offensive and defensive fronts, the Vikings are confident in their quest for a 2004 Bay League Title. They face El Segundo at home on March 24.
Led by Debbie Skaggs, the softball team is also off to a great start. At the Alverno tournament on March 6 and 13, the Vikings outscored non-league opponents Buckley, Eagle Rock and Mayfield 24-0, 5-1 and 11-0, respectively. The Vikings then proceeded to overwhelm Alverno, which won the Division VI championship last year, 11-0.
Senior catcher and co-captain Rosa Ordaz, one of the most gifted hitters in the history of Samo baseball, is living up to expectations and has been able to share the offensive workload with the players around her. Sophomore Tyra Maxwell returns as a starting pitcher and has shown flashes of greatness. The team travels to El Segundo on March 24 to take on what should be an evenly-matched team.
In the track and field team’s last season in the very competitive Bay league before realigning to Ocean League, the team is trying to achieve a final Bay League Championship. Despite the opposition of powerhouses like Peninsula and Mira Costa, the team is confident that its abundance of talented individual performers can compensate for the many athletes without much experience. Senior Tim McGrath, who qualified for state competition last year in the high jump, is building on his success and past experience. Fellow seniors Kevin Hornesby and Taj Lands have the potential to place in the top three in most shot put and discus events. On the women’s side of throwing events, junior Sabrina Fields hopes to solidify her reputation as one of the Bay League’s best women throwers. With strong athletes in almost every event, the team heads into the March 25 meet at Peninsula.
Seniors George Campbell, Elliot Eslamboly, Justin Gordon and Alex Morshed lead the boys volleyball team into the 2004 season. Hosting the West Torrance Warriors on March 16, the players consistently set each other up for kills and served. Just a few minutes into the first game of the match, Samo showed its superior skills and won 25-14. The Vikings faced a little more difficulty in the second game but still took a 25-17 advantage. With two wins, Samo needed just one more to win the match.
In the third game, the Vikings took an early lead. However, the Warriors were able to rally from behind and tied the game up 6- 6. Samo heated up at this point and won 25- 16, winning the match three games to none. The team faces Torrance today at home at 3:15 p.m. (Jonathan Lee is a sports editor at The Samohi and enjoys being Homecoming Duke, writing, playing sports and hanging out with his homeboys and homegirls. He)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 23, 2004. Read the original PDF.