Baseball season wrap up

Led by head coach Kurt Schwengel, this year’s varsity baseball team has had a historic year. As of now, the team is undefeated in Ocean League and after batting .381, the team has broken its single season record for batting averages. As a result, Samo is ranked 105th in the state and has already clinched a spot in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoffs.“We have to credit our [successful] batting to our coach,” Aakeem Allahjah (’14) said. “He comes out and throws a lot of batting practice, [and makes sure we’re well adjusted for any right or left-handed pitcher we might face.] As a team, we’re always hitting and working on our swing, and it really keeps us going.”As one of Samo’s captains and natural leaders, Matt Kassowitz (’15) has been dominant this year, with a batting average of .471. He’s been a consistent scorer, and has hit more home runs than any other Samo player. Additionally, Kassowitz has become a reliable asset as the team’s starting catcher.“He’s the man,” Allahjah said. “We have a lot of confidence in him and we know that he’s the guy we want (up to bat) in clutch situations. [The team] knows that if a runner on first tries to steal [a base],  Matt will most likely throw him out. He plays a big role in our team’s confidence and our team identity. He just puts us on a whole new level.”On the defensive end, Samo’s pitching has been steady. Averaging just 1.73 earned runs per game, Samo ranks 10th wins throughout the state. Overall, the starting pitching has been the spotlight of the defense. Two pitchers in particular, Alex Gironda (’14) and Andrew Brown (’15), have accumulated almost half of Samo’s total wins.“We’ve all worked really hard and maintained our arms well,” said Gironda. “The team has managed to stay healthy and one of my fellow pitchers, Andrew Brown, has been great this year. He’s a really talented pitcher and I’m excited to see where baseball takes him in the future.”Gironda threw a no-hitter against West Covina in the team’s first CIF playoff game. But in the next game, Samo was knocked out of the playoffs by Palos Verdes High School. However, Palos Verdes was disqualified after violating the CIF rules for throwing an illegal batting practice. According to the CIF rulebook, teams are not allowed to throw any type of batting practice before a playoff game. While overhand throwing is considered batting practice, underhand throwing or soft toss is considered legal. When this was shown to the CIF officials, Palos Verdes was disqualified. As of now Palos Verdes High School is making an appeal, but until then Samo is scheduled to play Paloma Valley High School, which is seeded first in their conference, on Friday May 30th.“They were throwing overhand batting practice when we arrived and there’s a rule that you can’t do that, apparently,” Gironda said. “Honestly, I feel terrible for the Palos Verdes players. It’s pretty messed up.”srietta@thesamohi.com