Even a first round loss in the CIF playoffs hasn’t prevented Santa Monica High baseball coach Kurt Schwengel from being pleased with the Vikings’ season.
Samohi was eliminated last Thursday, 8-3, by Knight High of Palmdale.
The Vikings held a 1-0 lead until the visiting team pit together a four-run inning.
The loss followed Samohi’s unbeaten Ocean League showing. The Vikings went 10-0 in the league and finished the coach’s first season with a 20-11 record.
The Ocean League didn’t do well in the first playoff round. All four of its teams who received berths, Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills and Hawthorne, lost.
Second place Culver City traveled to Elsinore and was defeated, 3-0. The Centaurs ended their season with three straight losses, including two to Santa Monica.
Schwengel, who became Samohi’s coach after Sheldon Philip-Guide was dismissed, pointed out the positives of the season – 20 wins and the league championship.
However, Samohi lost in the first playoff round for the third consecutive year.
NEW ROADS
Coach Matt Steinhaus’ heavy-hitting team became one of the Westside’s biggest success stories with victories in its first two CIF playoff games.
New Roads defeated Coastal Christian of Arroyo Grande, 21-5 and followed with a 17-6 win over Pacific Lutheran of Torrance.
However, the season then ended in a 14-3 loss to Temecula Prep.
PACIFICA CHRISTIAN
An 8-4 loss to Calvary Chapel of Downey in a CIF playoff wild card game ended the Seawolves’ season with an 11-5 record.
VENICE
The Gondoliers won their first round LA City Section playoff game, 8-7 over Carson as Dana Fox drove in the winning run..
Wolfie Tash had two doubles and three RBI.
SOFTBALL
SANTA MONICA
The Ocean League champion Vikings won their first round CIF playoff game, 3-2 over Hesperia.
With the game scoreless entering the sixth inning both teams scored two runs. Then Samohi won in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Marissa Padilla.
CROSSROADS
The Roadrunners qualified for the CIF playoffs but lost their first round game to Mesa Grande Academy, 19-3.
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