South Bay Baseball Top 10 - 3/16/09

1. Palos Verdes (5-0) – The Sea Kings could not have asked for a better start to the season than five dominating performances capped by a 20-9 trashing of South Torrance in the El Segundo Gold Division championship game. Southlandpreps is most impressed with the fact that the Sea Kings only gave up two runs combined in their first four games.

2. West Torrance (4-1) – After three straight wins to open the season, including a 5-4 victory at El Segundo, the Warriors fell in the El Segundo Blue Division semi-final to eventually runner-up California, 10-2. West only managed to score more than five runs twice in their first five games.

3. El Segundo (3-1) – A tough one run loss to West at home took El Segundo out of the running for the El Segundo tournament title, but it was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect week. Four strong pitching performances that saw no opponent score more than 5 runs bodes well for El Segundo.

4. South Torrance (4-1) - Outside of Saturday’s El Segundo Gold division championship game loss to PV, the Spartans have looked strong to open the ’09 campaign. Three straight shutout wins to start the season and head to head victories over Redondo and Mira Costa puts South up there as an early favorite in the Pioneer league with El Segundo and Torrance.

5. Torrance (4-1) – After a 3-0 start to the season in which Torrance scored at least ten runs in each game, the Tartars could not manage to score a run in their 7-0 loss at PV. 11-5 and 10-1 wins over Narbonne and Banning, respectively, highlighted the week for Torrance.

6. Narbonne (4-1) – After dropping their opener to Torrance 11-5, Narbonne bounced back with four straight wins including two shutouts to finish off the El Segundo Tournament at 4-1. A big week awaits with El Camino Real and Palos Verdes on the docket.

7. Mira Costa (3-2) – A 3-0 start to the season was marred somewhat by two straight four run loses to South Torrance and Gahr. 4-1 Santa Monica is up next for the Mustangs.

8. Peninsula (3-2) – A very promising 3-0 start to the week saw the Panthers drop their next two and finish the week 3-2. While it’s encouraging that the Panthers are scoring 8.4 runs per game, they’re also giving up 7.6.

9. North Torrance (3-1-1) – Two one run victories against marginal competition and a shutout loss at Mira Costa leaves us wondering just how good North is at this early stage of the season. 1-4 Bishop Montgomery and 0-1 Animo Leadership await this week.

10. San Pedro (3-2) – Outside of a 10-0 loss to St. John Bosco, San Pedro had a solid opening to the season including a shutout 6-0 victory against cross-town rival Mary Star. The Pirates will get another shot at Peninsula who they dropped a 7-5 decision to on March.

Bubble: Carson (3-2), Santa Monica (4-1)